Evening star., 1896-11-17
COMING CAUCUSES
Difficulty Expected in Meeting on
Party Lines.
THE FACTIONS TO Be CONSIDERED
Some Think the Gatherings Should
Be on Policies.
A NEW RTY VAN T E D

When Congress meets men belonging to a
variety of parties will come face to face at
the Capitol, and politicians are now busy
in discussing how these various factions
will line up in caucus meetings. There will
be the republicans, silver men, democrats,
national democrats and populists, with one
or two independents"
The most important question to be solved
is how, with this array of varied opinion,
caucuses will be held by any of the par
ties, as party lines have been almost OBJ
liberated by lines of policies. Democrats do
not like to talk for publication yet about
the course they think should be pursued in
regard to the national democrats. There
is no concealing m the part of extreme
free silver men of a disinclination to have
further party affiliation with gold demo-
Gratis who left their party after the Chicago
convention to help elect Mr.. Mckinley, un-
less those men come back to their party or
ganization, standing squarely on the last
democratic platform, free silver and all.
If the Palmer and Buckner democrats
had merely bolted the Chicago convention
and remained inactive the case, it is ar
gued. would have been different, but when
they formed a new party under the cog
romen national democracy" they placed
themselves as decidedly outside Of the
regular democracy as If they had become
republicans. and much more so than if they
had become populists. Free silver demo-
Gratis do not believe the gold democrats will
make any effort to go into caucus with the
regular democrats, but will go off and eau
Gus by themselves as the populistS do. 1t
is argued that the only way in which the
national democracy could attend a demo-
cratic caucus would be by special invita-
tion.
To Break Up Party Lines. -
This condition brings UP variety of pos
sihilities which are all of intense interest
to party men of every faction in the Senate
and House of Representatives. There are
not a few who believe that the day for
the complete breaking up of parties, In the
sense in which they have been known in
the past. has come. They say the ten
dency for the last twelve years has been
toward this end. Mugwumpism. which
developed to great proportions in New York
state when Mr.. Cleveland was first elected
TO the presidency, may escape in the future
the ridicule at first heaped upon it. 1t is
claimed that for the past twelve years
people have asked less and less what party
they will vote for, and have considered
what policies they could vote for This
ders the parties great stumbling blocks in
the path of many, for great numbers of
democrats believe in tariff for revenue only
and the gold standard, while large
faction among the republicans wants
a protective tariff and the free coinage of
gold and silver at the ratio OF 16 to 1.
Outlines of Policy.
Many prominent politicians think it is
absurd fer them to call caucuses on party
lines, and that the true method should be
10 concur on lines of policy, though such
course would be an anomaly, because a
caucus is for the purpose of a party de-
Gliding the policy it shall pursue a
given measure. In order to keep together
all the strength possible on various policies
of government, a sentiment is growing in
favor of encouraging caucuSeS on various
issues, so that silver men can be silver men
and at the same time be either protection
lists or tariff for revenue only men. Not
only do the democrats see the advantage
they would gain by getting accessions to
their ranks from those republicans who
refused to kick over party traces during
the last election, but the protectionists see
that they are equally interested in getting
the votes of those five free silver Senators
who are supposed to be as good protec-
tionists now as when before they walked
out of the st. Louis convention. Both pro-
tectionists and free silver men feel that by
friendly concessions they may gain the
support of men who agree with them on
one issue and disagree on another men
who hold to their position between the two
Old parties as tenaciously as other men
mold 10 all that their party teaches
What Some Politicians Look For.
For these reasons various politicians are
looking favorably on the holding Of "slver
caucuses, protection caucuses" and where
purely party measures are to be considered
on party caucuses. II such plans are car
RED cut they will result in all sorts of
knotty questions for democrats and repub-
Hcans to deal with, and the caucIses
would be quite different from the caucus
oil past Congresses, though the tendency
10 independent action that has been deyei-
oplns Tor several years will cause it to be
shorn of some of it's novelty Under s,,ch
a method the gold or national democrats
would caucus with the republicans on
financial questions. while silver republicans
would on such occasions be gathered in the
democratic fold.