The record-union., 1896-07-26

that God has licensed him to work the
shears. He usually seems to take that
view, though, and 1T is that notion or
his greater worth which is going to
wreck him-him and his. AS to this
silver issue, I'm on the side of free COIN
age, and have been since the change in
the basic unit was made in 1873 l am
for the restoration of the historical
parity, and think that when we get free
coinage again of silver as well as gold,
the country will know good times. But,
independently of a monetary standard,
as a matter by itself, it warns my Re
publican heart to see what free silver
has come to mean to the fieeced masses.
The strength of silver is not in the COM
prehension of what 1 believe must be
it's benefits, but in the sudden and clear
perception by common men of its larger
import, it's fundamental significance. In
days past, when / wanted to form a
judgment Of how an election was going,
l sounded my personal acquaintances,
and, rejecting on how I felt myself, ap-
piled the average to the country and
never made a mistake. did this in and
around COulterville just before l came
down, and four out Of six Republicans
that I've known from boyhood said they
were going to vote for Bryan-not that
they knew anything about free silver,
but just because they wanted to regis
ter a general kick. That desire to regis
ter a general kick will this year. or some
other year, save or wreck the United
States. This Republic was created for
men, not for dollars
Mr.. Goodman wasn't excited. He
made his off-hand talk to me while he
was buying things to trim into civil
lied shape the log house into which he is
retreating as man of leisure to con-
tinue his studies of prehistoric America.
If the issues of the contest were not
men believe, it would be diverting to
observe the at-sea state of the gentle
men of both parties, who take it for
granted that it is their function to guide
the public mind This time the public
mind is guiding itself, and has not
asked their assistance. Gavin McNab,
the head-center of the Junta, and all his
associates in command, who feel sure
that they have brains, are for gold They
haven't doubt but that the party is go
ing to the devil; still the party Is the
party, and as such they respect it,
John P. Young, Mr.. de Young's intel
lect on the Chronicle is not more will
ing to submit to majority judgment on
the question of monetary standards
than are the leaders of the local Democ-
racy. Their obedience to authority
ought, one might respectfully say, to
qualify them to enter the priesthood.
Mr.. Young has been for some years a
very conspicuous figure among the
Western advocates Of free silver. Sen
ator Jones of Nevada-in his most re-
cent three-day speech on the two met
ais, their union throughout recorded
time and their scandalous divorce in
l3-quoted Mr.. Young with as much
reverence as though he were bimetal-
lie Minister Of Finance in France or
President of the Bank Of England. the
country which makes politics in ours by
virtue of the law of contraries. It is
scarcely a year since all our dead walls
were billed with a highly attractive
poster telling that the Sunday ."Chron-
icle" would contain a handbook of Mr..
Young's conclusions as student of
finance. I have that handbook now, and
agree with Senator Jones that west of
the Missouri Cor is it the Mississippi?)
there is no more learned or convincing
proponent of 16 to 1 than my friend
Young Nevertheless, when the "Chron-
lcle," as party paper, saw fit to aban-
don Its stand, Mr.. Young was, by the
necessity Of his position, required to su-
pervise the job. Some managing editors
would have resigned rather than do it.
but Mr.. Young, careless Of his personal
fame as an authority on finance, saw
that a higher duty called him: he
promptly discarded Is to /, and turned
his editorial attention to different issues
with vigor that commands the metro
politan journalists professional admi-
ration. The Democratic leaders are
equally forward in abnegation Men
who few weeks ago told me that free
silver was an absurdity to which thev
never would assent lest, if for no other
reason, they should be classified as
idiots, now front me with the statement
that not to be for free silver is to make
advertisement that one has a sordid.
servile soul, which attaches itself to the
classes and not to the masses.
Men of experience are thoroughly
ena. What party spirit won't do in the
case of politicians, newspaper propri
etors, editors and the rest of the dan
gerous classes, it would need a more
profound student of mental pathology
than myself to decide. But Democrats
and Republicans of another sort scorn
these compliances. On the streets. in
hotel offices, the clubs, the saloons. the
-1a-
to meet under circumstances where pri-
Vate business Is not the insistent inter-
est-one hears free silver and the gold
standard discussed; not often with def
mite knowledge, but always with desire
for facts on which deter1ninative opin-
ions may be formed. 1t was the same
way with the tariff four and eight years
ago. Those who don't move among the
people don't understand them, and
therefore know nothing of their hunger
to be right. In a drug store yesterday,
to point the assertion, heard a working
man in his shirt sleeves vehemently ar
guing in behalf of a single gold stand
ard. His audience consisted of four
well-dressed men, and, to my surprise.
they were all for silver. They listened
intently and met argument with argu-
ment. On neither side was there enough
information to move anybody, but the
energy with which the controversial
lists fired and fell back indicated that
whatever the deep generic forces may
accomplish in this political wrestle-
and without question they will be
nightly operative-the average man, the
ordinary American, will want to be
provided with facts, which, one way or
the other, will render him confident that
he knows what he iS about when he