The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-10
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH JONES z


! Senator James K. Jones, of Arkan-
sas, was made chairman of the ma
ttonal committee elected by the
Chicago convention with unanimity.
He was in many ways fit choice. He
Us an able man. He has good executive
ability. He has political training. He
is familiar with campaigning. He has
shown shrewdness in the complex con-
Fd1tons that he has had to meet, He
has brought German into camp, and
Hill only waits the Formally Of his
state convention to march over. To be
sure, the versatile reporters have made
him do some denying Of interviews
but that is what all men thus promi-
nent have sooner or later to do. It
does not disparage his capacity for
leadership, which, as we say, is of
good quality.
But the senator chairman is evident
ly persona non grata to an element in
Ills following. Already the mutterings
or mutiny are to be heard. They catch
onto the wires and traverse the coun-
try and get into type. They are only
dark hints, innuendoes. He let the St
Louis convention get away from him
and mix things up by nominating Wat
lson, they say. True; and he let the
sun get away with the weather. And
tone is as much his fault as the other.
1f there be fault and anything but
providence in either But whatever
may or may not be the matter with
Jones, he will probably be deposed
when the full committee meets; that is
the "fulP' committee. And so the
whole gaping, suspended country is
set to guessing what is the matter
with Jones'
One guess is just as good as another:
possibly better. We offer one The
silver mine owners were not strong at
Chicago. Their followers were. The sill
Yer mine owners do not trust Jones
They have cause to. The last thing
they want is silver dollars for their
bullion. They want free coinage of
their bullion into paper that can be re-
deemed in gold; what the Republicans
gave them in the Sherman act of 1890:
practically what they gave them in the
silver certificates of the Allison act Of
1878. The prospect of having to cart
away the silver dollars into which
their bullion might be converted at
the minis at the rate of one dollar for
each BIN grains appalls them The
other fellows who are shouting for
more silver dollars think the miners
want the real dollars, and that some
way, unexplained, they will get them
That is where they are being fooled.
just as the protectionists fooled the
farmers and worxingmen
Jones Is a good deal of a Democrat.
That is why they distrust him. He
showed them his Democracy a couple
OF years ago. in the closing days Of
the Fifty-third congress- He thought
this whole silver question might be
settled on lines that are Democratic.
So he offered in the senate
bin that provided that the
owner of silver bullion might take
it to the minis and get its market
value in standard dollars. That was
the substance of it. That would be
free coinage at the commercial ratio.
The miner gets all his silver is worth,
and the government makes what profit
there may be in it; which 1t should.
as it and not the miner is the indorser
of the dollars. No wonder the fellows
who want 200 cents for their dollars
worth of bullion do not like the leader
ship and influence Of Jones. We do
not blame them. 1t bodies Ill for their
scheme, should Bryan be elected
Jones is in the senate. He is the head
OF the party. He is a very able man.
Congress might conclude to give them
only cent per cent for their bullion if
Jones leads. Therefore Jones must get