The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-10
RIVER AT 8 A. NJ.
Fall. &RiSa
THE FATE OF THE CUTTERS.


IT was a forceful saying which was
wrung out of the fevered heat OF the
struggle at st. Louis that 1.-The Al
mighty hates a gutter" 1t Is one that
with even greater aptness might be
made descriptive of the great struggle
at Chicago and all that has led up to
IT. The men who are beaten there,
sympathize with them as we may, be-
lieve that their cause is that Of JUS
tice and honor as we must are beaten
because they are ''quitters." They
were cutters almost before they be-
gan. The contrast between the be-
liefs of the advocates of silver mono
metallism and those of sound money
is no greater than the contrast be-
tween their actions from beginning to
end Of the movement that is leading up
to a great national crisis Why have
these silver monometallists carried the
day so easily everywhere, and why
does the subtle inspiration Of their en-
thusiasm creep out in wider circles and
infect thousands even Of those who
believe them to be mistaken in prac-
tice and wrong in principle? 1t is be-
cause they exhibit that determination
and tndomitable courage which, after
all, are the surest and most everlasting
foundations of respect and obedience
The advocates Of the free coinage of
silver have not for one moment shown
ns4 MI Tn oil h.
that they have been at their work, be-
lieving, during the first part of the
time, that they were doomed to defeat,
they have gone as cheerfully to the
battle as though their triumph was as
sured. They displayed none of the
signs Of cutters" They declared their
willingness to sacrifice to their beliefs
the material advantage of present and
future. They declared that If they
were beaten they were willing to go
forth from their fathers house and
make their fight in the desert, if need
be, until 1t should be won. This spirit
Is both convincing and contagious
From the foundation of the world it
has happened that the man who was
willing to do and to dare and to die
for his creed has been sure of a de-
voted following. So at this convention.
which they so easily controlled, the
silver men have rejected scornfully
every attempt at compromise, and
staked gladly their own future, as
well as the fate of the party which
they so unhappily control, upon the is
sue of the hour
Thus much of deadly bravery has
been displayed by men unutterably
and unalterably in the wrong.
What must we say, on the
contrary of those who had behind
them DEMONSTRATING force of principle
and the great cause Of the peoples in
terest and the nations honor? We can
say of them few good things except
that they were ranged upon the right
side. They may not have lacked spirit.
but they have certainly lacked un-
Outstanding. Confident, apparently.
without rhyme or reason, in the i'm
possibility of inducing a majority of
state conventions to approve the ei-
gantic blunder of free silver. they sat
still. while warning after warning
sounded in their ears and glanced be-
fore their eyes, and allowed the party
to be swept from It's feet by the swift
and rising. current of financial folly.
There is not the slightest doubt that
activity and earnestness and genuine
comprehension of the need of the hour
would have saved the party from this
dread emergency. If the leaders who
have made a losing fight at Chicago
had made that fight in the country al
large, 1t would have been a winning
one. Wherever Democrats took the
trouble to make a stand for sound
finance and the maintenance of party
doctrine they won easily. There was
10 more unpromising state than Mich
igan, yet the sound money men car
RED it. Florida has been the hot-bed
of free silver excitement, and the
sound money men carried 1t. A tight