The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-05
DEAD AND BURIED.


its predecessors, should trouble us no
more. That issue Is cheap money in
general, and free coinage Of silver at
the ratio of 16 to 1 in particular. Twice
now within a quarter of a century have
the people settled this question de-
cisively They allowed the Greenback
party to become menacing, and to lin
ger along for several years after that
before they put it out of it's pain. In
a more plausible and specious form this
issue came back to us twenty years
later in the crusade Of the owners of
silver mines for a government market
for their product. This time there
were elements of real danger. 1t was
not proposition for money entirely
fiat, but one contemplating only a seal
ing down Of so cents on a dollar. Ittook
refuge behind a coin already existing,
and covered it's ugly features with
veil of plausible deceit. 1t gathered
crew of weak but attractive argu-
ments, and threw their bewilderment
about the people. 1t added to the nat
ural strength already in the cheap
money movement the artificial strength
! of one Of the great political parties.
The vote for free silver this year con-
plus as many more votes, at least,
which were cast under protest, because
the candidates representing cheap
money bore the Democratic name.
Thus presented with the strongest pos
sible following, with the best chance
that any such issue ever had, or ever
can have, to win in this country, the
free coinage scheme has been beaten
overwhelmingly by the popular vote
Such majority is arrayed against it
as was never cast in the history Of
this country before. 1t is as dead as
Nebuchadnezzar, and the Lord be
praised for it.
We shall hear no more of the '1aek
of money OF final redemption" Never
again will "the crime Of 1872 be dan
died before our terrified eyes. "The an
probation of gold" will not alright in
| nocent children from their sleep. The
whole stock of catch words and phras-
es that have done duty for so manv
years is sent to the lumber room.
We are not yet ready to appreciate
the infinite relief and advantage of the
change that has come to us. It is
not merely the dominant issue of this
particular campaign that has been put
into its grave and buried deep, it is
the whole flock of birds of evil omen
that have lowered about our banuuets
and spoiled the odor of our feasts for
more than twenty years. Day in and
day out they have been leading to this
event. Never a session of congress that
did not have before it the proposition
for free silver. and that did not spend
weary days and weeks in listening to
the threadbare platitudes of Jones and
Stewart and the rest of the subcon-
tractors Of the mine owning syndicate.
and the more honest, but no less To-
quacious people whom they had be-
| fooled. For two decades investment
in this country has been limited, and
our reputation has suffered by the pc
rennial agitation for a debasement Of
our monetary system
Nothing can compare with the re-
lief that comes to us from the lifting
Of this burden. The cheap money issue
ic
| reanimate. The cranks and those
who worked for a percentage in the
silver interest will continue their
clamor, but they are only petty crew.
The great rank and file that stood be-
hind them will desert To the familiar
truth that nothing succeeds like sue
cess" we may add it's equally true CO.
relative that nothing fails like failure
Neither the political leader nor the
average voter cares to be soundIy
beaten more than once. Nine out of
every ten Democrats who yielded to
the silver fallacy this year consented
to it because they believed that 1t
would win. If it had been known to
be certain loser, can anybody i'm
agine that the Chicago convention or
the Minnesota state Democratic con-
vention, or any Of the other conyen-
| tons outside of the mining states.
would have picked up the banner of
| 16 to l? Now, at last, this thing is
definitely disposed Of They have told
us all through this campaign that
never before had the people of this
country had an opportunity to vote
| straight for or against the free coin
| age of silver, and to declare their con-
demnation or conformation of the act
! of 1873. That opportunity has come
| and gone. We have taken our pIebes-
cite. The votes are counted and free
silver is in minority of something
like a million.
| In the reform of parties that Is now
to take place, in the search for new
issues and the shaping into better form
! the old ones, the 16 to proposition can
find no place. 1t was worth while to
! ma this contest to lay forever at
rests this wretched ghost that has