The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-04-25
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON. April %. 1895

CIaIlc parry WHICH MI. OleNelanu
has stirred up over the silver ques-
ton. They have expected for some
time that the Democratic party
would split into silver and gold
factions before the opening Of the
Presidential campaign, and those
expectations seem now to be in
fair way of materializing into facts.
They are merely amused by the
chimerical assertions of certain of
Mr.. Cleveland's followers, that the
Republican party would support
Mr.. Cleveland on a single gold
standard platform. They know
that not even a small section of the
Republican party could under any
combination of circumstances be
brought to support Mr.. Cleveland
upon any platform. They are quite
as much amused by the assertion
that the Republican party, outside
of the extreme western states, is a
gold standard party. OF course it
is needless to say to any intelligent
Republican, and most Republicans
are intelligent, whether he liyes
north, east, south or west, that the
Republican party is not, never has
been and is not likely to be a single
standard party.
The Republican party has, since
the question has been raised, re-
peatedly declared in its national
platforms in favor of bimetallsm,
which the Century Dictionary thus
defines; ''The use of two metals
as money at relative values set by
legislative enactment. The union
of two metals in circulation as
money at fixed rate. Specifically,
that system Of coinage which recog-
nizes both coins of silver and coins
of gold as legal tender to any
amount, or the concurrent use of
coins of two metals as q circulating
medium at fixed relative value"
There is no indication that the next
Republican national convention will
do otherwise than reaffirm that
declaration. There is only one
single standard gold party, and
that is the Cleveland wing of the
Democratic party.
Even rock ribbed Democrats had
to smile when the official announce
ment was made that the Treasury
department would 10 longer collect
and dissimilate statistics relating
to the manufacture of tin and terne
plate in the United States. The
reason was plain. Every publica-
ton Of figures showing the increase
of this industry, which was one of
those established by the Mckinley
tariff law, was officially giving the
lie to every Democratic editor and
stump speaker who took part in
the last Presidential campaign, all
of whom had declared in the most
positive terms that there was no
such thing as the manufacture of
tin and terne plates for commercial
purposes in the United States, and
predicted that three months after
the election it would be impossible
to find an American tin plate fac
tory at work. But the makers of
the Mckinley law knew what they
were about. They gave the manu-
facture of tin and terne plate such
a firm footing in the United States
that it has continued to grow, al
though its growth has been slow
since the enactment of the Demo
cratic Tariff. Had the Republican
party continued in power there
would too day have been no need to
import a pound of tin or terne
plate.
Secretary Morton continues to
make an exhibition of himself,
through his daily interviews on the
beef question. He seriously pre-
sents arguments to prove what
everybody has known from the first
that the price of beef was forced
up and kept up by the beef trust,
and then just as seriously amour
ces his inability to do anything to
holm tha 1,oo,,la Really ha ie n