The herald., 1896-06-20
HENRY GEORGE AT THE
REPUBLICAN CONVENTION

ST. LOUIS. June 1.-THE newspaper
men who have been saying that every
thing had been determined in Hanna
straddle councils and Mckinley, gold
and prosperity" programs finally de-
cided upon were, it Is now clear. some
which it was confidently expected would
conclude it's business today. has ad-
journed after two sessions without even
the introduction of the platform. for
though there is force enough to carry 1t,
1t Is clearly evident In the PLATFORM
committee itself that it will involve
struggle that will open to the world the
difficulties, not of nominations. but of
election, that have so unexpectedly
loomed up before the candidate of pro
lection and prosperity"
In the pretty restaurant in the VAIN
wright building, where the arrange
ments suggest a railroad dining car,
sat at noontime near professional man
from Cleveland, with Tippecanoe bad;;e5
op. who Is here for Ohio's favor;te son.
He had just come from the morning ses-
sion of the convention. and lamented the
delay caused by the request of the plat
form committee for more time.
II suppose 1t will be gold.' said the
Cleveland man, a shade of regret in his
voice.
"Can Mckinley be elected?,. continued
Yes, ,"hesitatingly replied the Cleve-
land man; yes, think so. 1t is not as
good as a straddle plank If we could
only get a straddle plank our speakers
could go out to whoop it up for Mck1n-
ley and free silver in the west and for
Mckinley and gold in the east, and Nc
Kinley could be elected sure. 1t we must
have gold it won't be as easy. We ought
to have a straddle plank. But still L
think Mckinley can be elected anyhow"
This I take to be as true an express
ion of the real feeling of Ohio supporters
of Mckinley on the very eve OF decisive
action as Hanna. or Herrick, or Mckin-
ley himself could give. if they could be
free t. speak frankly.
They still yearn for that comfortable
thing, a "straddle plank" and while un-
able to get that without fight, shrink
from the prospect of fight for even the
next most comfortable thing, gold
plank.
In the meatime, delays are danger
GUS" The danger to Mckinley's NOM
ination does not yet appear, but that to
his election does.
Enough is now clear to make it certain
that this will be historic convention.
marking the drawing of new political
line. The great party which began it's
formal existence by arousing all the
bitterness of a sectional question seems
likely 10 come 10 It's IOIIlldl tllI III Dlt-
terness of what seems for the present
like another sectional question.
The line of division is not now of lati-
tude, but of longitude-not between
north and SOUTH but between east and
west On this sectional division the pol
iticians now seem confidently to figure
For the present they are doubtless right
But is the union really threatened
by a new and necessarily sectional di-
vision in our politics which must con-
tinue to breed strife until one section
Overcomes the other?
The dangers are grave enough, but
| they do not seem to me to involve this
| supreme danger. The slavery question
| was really a sectional question, for when
it became a political issue all the slaves
were owned in the South and none at
| all in the North. But there is in reality
| no such clear sectional line for division
| on the money question. The East has
| not all the gold, nor the West all the
| silver This, however, may be the best
money The people of one section are
as much interested in getting it and
using it as can be the people of the
| other.
But there is nothing in soil or climate
| or occupation or in the character and
| habits of the people of the two sections
| of our country to account for this. 1t
may at first seem that it is due to a
constant flow of capital from older to
newer sections of the country for invest
ment But this is not large enough to
account for the phenomena.
OF real capital--that is to say, of real
| wealth Cthe products Of labor, used in
the production of more wealth-the flow
| from the East to the West cannot be
much, and in the aggregate the flow is
really from the West to the East
L. The real explanation lies in our treat
| ment of land as though it were produc!
of labor. The land of the West. the
natural element to which the labor OF