The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-30
GOLDBUGS TO FILIBUSTER AT
CHICAGO.


At last those gentlemen who are
members of the Democratic party and
who desire that it shall declare for
the single gold standard, are awaken
ing to the fact that the strong prob
ability is the silver Democrats will
control the Democratic national con-
vention. Until quite recently they have
not thought this possible, so all their
talk was as to. what method they
should adopt in dealing with possible
bolts by the silver men. Now all their
talk is how they can, as a minority,
defeat the will of the majority in the
convention.
The New York Evening Posts Wash
ington correspondent tells of the latest
plan. The key to the whole situation
is the famous two-thirds rule It is
gravely stated that if neither faction
at Chicago has a two-thirds ma jority,
the struggle will, for awhile, resolve
itself into simple contest of endur-
ance. 1t is stated that if the gold stand
ard delegates are in majority, no
matter how small, they can afford to
stand out till the crack of doom, if
need be, to raise their number to the
necessary two-t thirds 1t is announced
that if the silver men are in control,
their leaders will try the expedient of
abolishing the two-thirds rule and
nominatin by bare majority. The
correspondent says this would be so
serious a violation of party precedent
that the gold standard men would feel
justified, and would unquestionably be
upheld by the best authorities on party
discipline, in refusing to participate
further in, or be bound by, the action
of the convention; and their withdraw
al at that juncture, after extending an
invitation to all regularly elected dele
gates who adhere to the Democratic
two-thirds rule to join them, would
leave the original convention free to
go on with its work of wrecking the
party, and at the same time assure
any second convention which the aGwo-
Gates of the two-thirds rule may hold
against successful assault on the
ground of "irregularity." And then
the Withdrawing faction would be, in
deed, in a party sense, the more reg
ular'' Of the two; for there is no rule,
and no precedent in the history of the
Democratic party, which would forbid
convention to sit forever and a day
waiting for a two-thirds vote, and on
the other hand the two-thirds rule has
abundant justification for its existence.
having resulted in a highly respectable
series of nominations up to the time
when the Populist gang got possession
of the party
That is all very fine and shows how
the gold standard Democrats are
cudgelling their brains to discover
some scheme whereby they may defeat
the will of the masses of the party.
There is nothing sacred in the two
thirds rule, and if a majority of the
convention desires to change it so that
the nomination can be made on a
majority vote, they can do so, whether
that majority be for gold or for silver.
This talk about the violation of a
party precedent in this matter of the
two-thirds rule is mere twaddle Those
gentlemen who are so devoted to it
now, in the hope that they may get a
gold man nominated, have not looked
with such holy horror upon the propo-
sition to make Mr. Cleveland the par
tvs candidate for third term in viola
ton of every tradition of the Demo-
cratic party, and solely because he is
for the gold standard, no matter what
it costs the country or whether it
absolutely annihilates the Democratic
party.
We think we are safe in saying that
if the silver men control the Demo-
cratic national convention they will
not allow the gold men to thwart them
in their purpose by invoking the two
thirds rule. The convention will make
its own rules and it will scarcely adopt
one whereby the minority will be able
to dictate terms to the majority.