Birmingham state herald., 1896-12-12
STILL TRYING TO FOOL THE PEo-
 pr .IF

senators was held in the senate marble
 room. Of that caucus Senator John Sher-
 man was chairman. A part of the action
 taken by that caucus was the adoption of
 the following resolution:
 Resolved, That at a special committee of five members of this caucus be ap- pointed to recommend some plan where by legislation may be had at this session | of congress looking to an international l conference with leading commercial na-
 tions of the world for the promotion of bimetallism."
 Here is a proposition that should bring the New York World and each of the lesser lights who bolted the democratic
 party along with it to their feet at once. The proposition involved in the resolu-
 ton is one that gave the World and its | following no little trouble and worry dur | ing the last presidential campaign. It is | a proposition to double the value of the l products of the silver mines of the United | States.
 Newspaper readers have not forgotten how the democrats of the country were | assailed by the boiling press. The reg 1 ular old time republican press joined in the crusade also, for desiring to double the value of silver bullion.
 The number of columns of space that were consumed in the effort to show what an outrage it would be for the silver mine owners to be enabled by an act of con- gress to dispose of the products of their mines at 100 per cent. profit will never
 be known.
 Now comes the republican senators in
 party caucus and provide for the appoint
 ment of a special committee to be com
 posed of five republican senators, said committee to be charged with the duty
 of preparing a measure looking to the
 establishment of bimetallism in the
 United States.
 If the committee succeeds and bi-
 metallism is the result, the crime CD of
 saddling upon the people of this country
 @ law giving to the despised silver mine
 owners a profit of 100 per cent. over and
 above that which they are now receiv-
 ing on the output of their mines, will
 have been committed. Yet, not word
 of condemnation of this outrageous CD proposition do we read in the columns of the papers that were only yesterday, as it were, declaring that the people who were advocating the very same principle which is involved in this action of the republican senators, were the very rank est of fools, demagogues, repudiatonists and anarchists.
 Understand the State Herald is not
 agitating the silver question, and does not wish to be so understood. We are
 simply attempting to direct public atten-
 tion to the fact that the action of the
 republican senators in resolving to go
 forth in the attempt to get rid of the
 single gold standard is a vindication of
 the declaration of the democratic nomi-
 nee for president that the gold stand
 ard is not regarded by the republican
 party as the best standard, and that
 the republican party proposed in it's St.
 Louis platform to surrender the rights
 of 7O.oO0.00O of American people to estab-
 fish financial system of their own to
 few foreign powers.
 We also desire to direct public atten-
 tion to the fact that the newspapers that bolted the democratic party and sought to defeat it's nominees because the party declared for bimetallism were anything but honest in the course they pursued, which fact is clearly established by their failure to raise their voices now against the proposition of the republican sena- tors. as expressed in senatorial caucus, to do the very same thing for which these papers condemned the democratic party
 If the gold standard was the best for this country while MT. Bryan was a can
 didate for President, it is the best now,
 and the newspapers that said then it was
 best. by their failure to say so now es- tablish the fact that they were saying
 what they did say during the campaign for cash and not because of honest con
 victions.
 The democratic proposition is to open
 the hints of the United States to the free coinage of gold and silver at the ratio of
 16 to 1 independent of the desires of any
 other nation. That, said the New York
 World and all of it's followers, would be
 an outrage, because it would give the
 silver mine owners a 100 per cent. profit
 on the products of their mines Now the
 republican senatorial caucus resolves to
 attempt to procure the consent of other nations to join this country in opening the
 hints to the free coinage of gold and sil-
 yer and not a time do we hear any gold
 bug paper cry that such action would be
 an outrage because the mine owner would receive 100 per cent. on his silver bullion.
 The State Herald would not be under- stood as having reached the conclusion that the republicans expect to accomplish anything in the direction of bimetallism
 by international agreement. Not by any
 means. They are simply paving the way
 to continue to fool the people. They fooled the people into supporting Mckinley on the promise of international bimetalism, and now they are going to pretend that they are honestly engaged in an effort to carry out the promise made in their platform, through their press and from the stump.
 Neither would we be understood as be- lieving that the bolting newspapers that said so many hard things about the dem ocratic party and the candidate during the campaign because of the proposition to coin silver and gold free at 16 to 1 are ready to cease fighting in the interest of the gold trust which they serve, simp- ly because they have failed to raise cry against the action of the republican senators. Not at all It is an open se-