Birmingham state herald., 1896-07-01
THE "s1LvER CRAZE. IN NEW YORK

l THE SILVER CRAzE'' IN NEW YORK The great silver mass meeting at Coop CT Union, New York, Friday night opened the eyes of the country to the fact that in 1 the Metropolis, the stronghold of the gold | standard, there is a decided and growing 1 sentiment in favor of true bimetallsm | The artisan and laboring classes-in a comprehensive phrase, the wage earners of that city have not been blinded to their interest by the sophistries of the gold autocrats.
 It now develops that the farmers of New York state are turning to silver as the true and only remedy for their ills. The Herald is a "sound money" organ, but it is also a newspaper In it's issue of Sunday it devotes two columns of space to what 1t terms plain facts about the reStlessness of the rural counties and tlk vesfdly crystalizng sentiment in fa- &hen he pe silver, The Herald says: VI lones.y of the counties there Is no acrusaN atz lnization of the friends of free silver. @eA organization and an active free silver campaign would make many of the strongest republican counties in the state doubtful in November.
 "Even without an organization the free silver farmers knocked the sound money men off their feet in many places in this state in the recent democratic primaries. Here are a few instances:
 "They instructed for free silver in the county of Lewis, and the only ground on which it was possible for F. c. Schraub, the democratic leader of the county, to go to Chicago as a delegate was that he was free silver man at home and gold standard man in Saratoga.
 "The free silver forces ran away with the sound money men in Genesee county, which is the home of Smiling Bob Max well, leader of the Cleveland democracy in western New York.
 "On test vote they defeated the sound money friends of Roswell P. Flower in the convention in the Second Assembly district of Jefferson county, and could have carried free silver instructions in both districts had they been organized Unless there is a change in sentiment free silver will control the organization in both parties in St. Lawrence county this fall Thomas A. Spratt, one of the leaders, is only able to hold his place in the democracy by masquerading as free silver man at home, though in Saratoga he wore the sound money mask He is a delegate to Chicago.
 "The free silver democrats of Onon- daga and Monroe counties were in con trol of the delegations to Saratoga. They wanted a declaration for free coinage of silver at ratio of "A to 1 as a com promise"
 ys Herald, 'is one great debating society on the silver question. If the tariff does not intervene to force the farmers back to the republican lines St. Lawrence will cast 400O fewer votes for Mckinley than 1t did for Morton in 1894 The spread of the free silver sentiment in Jefferson county is astonishing. It bids fair to crystalize unless something is done to
  ed by the silver craze in Oswego county Silver men control the democratic organ ization. When the convention met 1t was only by fearful persuasion that the free silver men were prevented from in- structing the delegates to Saratoga for free silver. Party lines in Lewis county are badly broken by the silver sentiment. ..... Silver is gaining among the farmers of Onondaga, Madison and Oneida. The town of Remsen, in Oneida county, is hotbed of free silver.'
 The foregoing is an imperfect resume of the information in the issue of the Her aid referred to, but it is sufficient to show that the masses of the people in the east are awakening to the necessity which has long since impressed itself upon the south and west-immediate restoration of silver to its rightful place. By the way, eastern goldbug missionaries have work cut out for them right at their hands.