Evening star., 1896-02-14
How It is Being Worked by the
Friends of Silver.
WHAT he WILL HAVE TO PROMISE
A Hope to Capture the State Of
Illinois.
ME ECTATIONS

tHe cdnUUaIe OF certain OF the conservative
| free silver democrats is true. The Morrison
boom, in fact, has reached somewhat large
proportions. and. it is claimed that it will
grow from now on. About a week ago it
was a noiseless affair, and when The Star
| published an interview with an extreme
| silverite claiming that that was to be the
program of certain of the silver men, there
was a deal of comment and considerable
criticism. The weil-known attitude of the
| silver men in the past that they would have
| no other nominee but an avowcd silver
| man was looked upon as an irrevocable
| position. They say now that the advocacy
of Morrison has string tied to it, and if
Morrison agrees to the string it will be
equivalent to making him a. silver man.
| They argue further that Morrison only re-
Gently denied that he was a gold standard
man, and say that he is bimetallist who
VIII agree that the will of his party shall
| be supreme. That is the string tied to the
| Morrison boom. If he will sign paper
| that he will not interfere with the legisla-
| ton of the silver men in the next Congress
he will receive the support of the conserva-
tive silver meIi at Chicago, and after he is
| nominated, if he should be so fortunate
| Those are the conditions, it is said under
which Morrison Will go before the conyeIt-
tion at Chicago. Another thing which
which makes Morrison pleasing to the sill
verites is that he is not liked by President
Cleveland. The silver men would like to
deal the President blow and get even
with him for his treatment of them.
How the Boom is Being Worked.
AS stated, the Morrison boom began
slowly several weeks ago. The supporters
of it, who understood to be principally
| Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas men, be-
gan to cautiously feel around their silver
| friends to ascertain how the project would
take IT seems n have IA ken al right with
q few exceptions. At each end of the Cap
itol the scheme has taken fairly well SO far
except among the extreme silver demo-
Gratis. They refuse to touch it. One of
them told Morrison supporter that the
plan could not be worked and that the peo-
pie of the south and west would not agree
10 it. They had had enough of promises, they
said, and did not want any more. They
were going 20 have the genuine stuff this
| time or nothing. They had considered the
Chicago platform four years ago sufficient
! platform for any man, but they had been
fooled. A man who would not consider that
platform as a pledge would hardly consider
| anything else he might promise.
That l. how The situation stands now and
how 1t will stand until the Chicago conven-
ton meets unless the unexpected turns up
to break into it.
One of the most adroit southern politicians
in the House-a silver man from a large
state-was asked if there was any truth in
the stories of silver support for Morrison.
"Yes,'' he frankly said, there is and
we are going to support Morrison at Chi
cago.''
"Will he make the pledge you expect of
him."
He certainly will. There is no doubt on
that point
What will the gold men say of hin?'
I'VE don't care what they say. They will
have to swallow him Or vote for ,epuk-
lican."
You talk as if you had no doubt that
the silver men will control the Chicago con-
vention.'
Nothing can prevent US controlling it,
show you the figures some time. We are
bound to have that convention with us
well, suppose you should have lare
majority in the convention, don't You Lnow
that the two-thirdS rule will govern in the
next convention?'
Yes. but if we have a majority in the
convention We will change the rule
Couldn't the gold men DO the same thing
II they had u bare majority:'
They dare not do It,, he said.
1t is n Compromise.
Under and above all the talk of the Nor
rison boom, however. is the question of
apreasing all elements of the party and of
trying TO unite it., The silver men say
that their gold brethren can hardly object
desired of him. That would be nothing
but an agreement that the will Of the
party, as expressed by the election of
members of Congress- should be carried
out. If the gold men believe they are
strongest in the party they could test their
belief by seeing which side could elect the
largest number, Of members to the House.
Morrison's position would be simply that
of holding his hands Off and consenting TO
let the majority have its way.
The Whitney Boom,
Among the Morrison silverites the Whit
ney boom from Mississippi is not looked
upon as amounting to anything, SO far as
the south and west are concerned. 1t
would not, they say, profit silver men any
thing to work 10 control the Chicago con-
venticn and then have Whitney nominated
He Is more likely to be the candidate of
the gold men. 1t is peculiar, however
| that In such rampant silver state as Mis-
s1ssippt Whitney could have got any back
ing at all, and there are those who say
they do nos believe that half what has
peen teiegrapned about it is true.
Meant to Catch Illinois.
While there has recently been a good
deal of confident talk among silver men
that they will control the Chicago conven-
| tion, the Morrison boom has for one of its
objects the catching of the Illinois delesa-
| ton. Should the delegates from that state
vote with the silver men for Morrison, it
would have big weight, and would go far
to giving the silverites the conven tion. But
Is there reasonable chance that the sill
yer men will be in the majority at Chicago?
Notwithstanding the boastful prediction of
the southern politician quoted above, it is
hard to see where the silver men expect
| to come in.
The next democratic convention will be
composed Of about 91S delegates including
those from the territories and the District
Of Columbia. Whichever side controls will
have to have not less than AGO delegates
Giving the silver men solid delegations from
| the south, not including Virginia, Mary
land or West Virginia, and a solid west,
| they would have only 374 men. Include
| Illinois forty-eight delegates, and the total
number would be but 40. This includes
| solid delegations from Kentucky and Kan
sas. but does not include the territories
Throughout the south and west the gold
men will elect delegates here and there
and the total number given above will be
| materially increased. The silver men, how
| ever, will pick up delegates in Ohio, In
diana, Iowa, Michigan. Minnesota, Virgin
| ia, West Virginia and Maryland. and these
will offset what they lose in the south and
west. North and east Of Maryland there