The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-08-08
D. 0. MAC s GOOD STORY
Interesting Dialogue Between
Webb MeNaH and Newt Try.
Related by d. O Nc Cray in the
Republic.
Some Old Republican Financial
PlanAs Flung Into the Breach to
Study Over.


A few days ago Webb AIcNaII. the
leader of the Republican free silver
bolt in the Sixth district, was in To-
peka. He met his old friend Newt. Try
Of Fort Scott, who has recently been
nominated by the Republicans for
member of the Kansas legislature
These two men have been the two old
cronies" of the Republican party of
Kansas for years. They have slept to-
gether at state conventions, chummed
together at grand lodge meetings. drunk
Kansas drug store booze out OF the
same bottle, and rounded up many a
delegation of Kansas Jays" when the
bosses had on hand a scaIy job to run
through the legislature or a state con-
Vention. The meeting here was the
first since Webb jumped over the fence
into the free silver pasture.
Try was sitting in front of the Cope
land hotel. where Kansas statesmen
who drift into Topeka cOngregate. He
was dilating upon the political cOndi-
tons IN Fort Scott and bourbon county
when he observed McNal strolllng up
the street. AS the statesman from the
Sixth district approached wearing Is
to badge that covered the left lapel
of his coat, Try addressed him in this
choice SalutiOn, which is a part of the
vocabulary of all Kansas statesmen
who have taken the degrees of the or
by -, Webb, you've played -. I
thought you would be the last Republi-
can to leave the party. Well, remem-
y
Scott a few years ago when an old Pop
ulist jumped you and told you that the
Republican party would be wiped from
the face of the earth. You turned on
him in your wrath and said: Colonel
when that time comes you will find one
Republican left and voting the ticket,
and that Republican will be Webb Nc
Nall And now you have gone over to
the Democratic party Great 49,,
Webb"
The Cliff DweIIer from the great
Invest 6iGonn GPTfP6 nv this
brief but pointed lecture Wise men
change. but fools, never" was the re-
ply. The fools. he insisted, composed
the membership of the Republican par
ty in Kansas, because the party had
changed, but they had not yet discOV-
cred the fact. During the past six
years" he continued. the men who
have mapped out the policy ard dicta-
ted the platforms of the Republican
party in this state, and who have con-
structed the state congressional and
county platforms, have been teaching
US fellows that the free coinage of sill /
yer would be q good thing for the coun-
try. have been an apt scholar. I have /
accepted their prOnunciam entOS as good /
Republican doctrine, and have, from /
every stump and rostrum in the Sixth 1
district, proclaimed these principles as /
sound Republican doctrine. The great /
John J. ingalls,, the idol Of hero wor- T
shippers, was one of my teachers. The +
splendid Preston B. Plumb. died free !
silver advocate; in fact, all of the men |
who have been prominent in RepubH- |
can politics in Kansas during the past |
six years have given US a free silver !
diet garnfshed with gold
Try undertook to interrupt Sta tesman /
NcNall but that gentleman had the |
floor and proceeded with his argument. |
Pulling from his inside pocket an old, /
rusty memorandum. he said: Here is |
the money plank of the Republican /
party of Kansas, adopted at the state /
convention in $780, and he read as fol- |
lows:
90 The practical operation of the sill |
yer act now ia force, recently passed |
by Republican majority, and opposed |
by a Democratic minority. in both |
houses of congress, is rapidly increas-
ing the value Of silver. and is a good |
step in the right direction, but We, the /
Republicans of Kansas, demand free /
coinage of silver
That plank was adopted by a rising |
vote" said McNall, and such gold /
standard Statesmen as Dick Blue. Joe /
Hudson, Governor Morrill, and J. r.. /
Burton observed this thing with a sat /
isfactiOn that betOkened cOntentment /
and pride.
But that isn't all the evidence I have
on that subject You will remember /
that 1 thought was running for con-
gress up in the Sixth in 1880 Well, I /
didn't run to speak of. I was nomina-
ted on a free silver platform that de-
clared for unlimited coinage, but for
some reason the people didn't have any
confidence in the platforms that year
especially Republican platforms, and
the result was that I was short about |
5000 votes necessary in the matter of /
securing a certificate of election. That
was the year jerry Simpson went over
the Big Seventh district on the no i
socks issue. His opponent, you, know
was Col. Jim HauOWeu, the silk under |
wear statesman Of the Arkansas. If the
people had manifested any confidence
in Republican promises that year Hal
lowell would have gone to congress. but
they were una Bile to harmonic his silk
undershirts and socks with the plat
form which declared;
we favor the free and unlimited
coinage of silver and such other legis-
lation as may be necessary to insure an
quate to the growing demands of our
trade and population. And we COM
mend the recently enacted silver law |
as a long step in the right direction
That" quOth the gentleman from
Smith county. lis the kind of doctrine
the Republicans of Kansas have been
taught from 1890 down to the present /
time. and pointing the finger of scorn
at Ury) you would have us make asses
Of ourselves now and go back on our
own record. But that plank is not the
only one in the Seventh district plat
form which indicated the trend of the
Republican party along reform lines.
Here is one for you to take with you to
your closet tonight:
Is We favor Ghe issue of full legal ten
der treasury notes in such amounts as
may be necessary for the proper trans
action Of the business of the country. |
without reference to the whims or the
demands of those who desire to control
the financial affairs of the nation for
purely speculative purposes
That said McNau ought to be
ehgrossed ana forwarded to Marc Han
ma as a Kansas suvenir. And then,