The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1896-04-23
PLATFORMS AND SILVER
What Will the Two Old Political Par
ties Do For 1t?
ISSUE MUST BE SQUARELY NET
The Plank For the Silver Men to Sup
port Must Mean the Free and I'm
limited Coinage of Silver at
the Ratio of Is to l.

Every day the question is asked {:
what will the next national cOnven
tions of the republican and democratic
parties do with reference to silver:'
To answer this question definitely
now is, of course, impossible, for the
situation may very materially change
during the next few months.
But it is about as certain rs any fu-
will endeavor to evade the direct issue.
With this probability strong before
u, silver men should sleep with at
least one eye open.
In both parties they have been frc-
quently deceived The trainers of the
platforms have played the part of lin
guistic acrobats. They have formu-
lated declarations 50 ingeniously
worded as to be acceptable to both
sides. The pledging Of Il party to obi
metalllsn (Without defining it,,
coupled with sentimental dcmands for
'honcst money, good money. -
the best money in the world, - the
maintenance Of 'parlty, "onc dollar
as good as any ether dollar in intrinsic
aud debt-paying power, are expires
sions through which the -metallists
of the country have been frequently
betrayed, and if it happens again it
will be their own fault. Those quail
tications are intended simply as loop
holes through which to escape and
avoid doing anything No matter
what propositions of silver coinage
may be brought forward, it can always
be antagonized upon the plea that
parity Will be disturbed, and one
dollar lose that grand quality of
being "equal to every other dollar -
The democratic party has stronger
silver "wing' than has the republican
party But in view of recent events,
with an administration bitterly hostile
to any step toward the remoletization
of silver, the press and the money
power on the sa ne side, it is almost
too much to hope that the silver men
can dominate the convention 1t may
declare for the 'equal use of both met
ais as standard money and the coinage
OF both without discrimination against
either, i'll one clause, but there will
certainly be some other clause which
will qualify and destroy it.
If either convention is in favor of
restoring silver to the exact position
1t occupied prior to 1873, Il declaration
to that effect can be made in three
lines OF PRINT that no human being ca.
pable OF reading can possibly misap-
prehend. Perfect -metallism car
only be reached by placing both metals
upon an exactly equal footing before
the law in the matter Of coinage and
legal tender. There is a simple form
ula that everybody familiar with the
course of this discussion perfectly un-
derstands.
1.-The free coinage of both metals al
the ratio Of lG to /, with full lega
tender functions accorded to each >
That covers the ground and nothing
less will satisfy any man who fully un
derstands the question and is deter
mined that it shall be settled. The
friends of silver restoration may be
certain that any ambiguity which finds
a place in political platform is "i
cunning device of the enemy an(
that every Outand out gold man viii
plant himself firmly upon it., while
every half hearted silver man vii
make it an excuse for an adverse vote
Bear this in mind, and stamp anything
else than a at-footed, unqualified dec
laratiOn for free coinage at Is to as
fraud, for you can rest assured it vii
be so intended. And not only this
the candidate named must have sucl
"a past record as will make it certain
that he can be relied upon to carry on
the declaration in good faith-nothinl
less will do. National Bi Metallist.