The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-07
THEY HAVE ..Brr OFF, TOO MUCH,

DdIdnCe.
THEY HAVE "BIr OFF" roo MUCH.
Down on the street, where force is
more sought than elegance in express
sion, they have phrase to express
greed that has overreached itself. 1t
has bit off more than it can chew"
they say. The saying expresses tersely
and exactly the condition now of the
silver mining interests of this country.
just as it expressed the condition Of the
manufacturing, interests, both of the
same kidney, when they achieved what
they thought their triumph in 1890.
Greed never is stated, whether 1t in
spires manufacturer or a miner or.
any one else. It's appetite grows by
what 1t feeds ION. It's cry is ever
More, more" like the hungry daugh-
tiers of the Iorse-leech Moderation
never can be predicated Of it. Given
the inch it demands the ell. 1t accepts
concessions begrudgingly as only in
stallments Of rights due it, and clam
OOe@oNAOooaJ
withheld
So with the silver miners. Their
movement for free coinage only began
when the market price of their product
would make the mint, hitherto avoided
by them, more profitable than the gen
eral market. It gathered intensity as
the margin widened. They played
their cards shrewdly. They took their
cue from the manufactures 1t was not
themselves for whom they were labor
ing, but for the oppressed of the money
power, the poor farmer, the trampled
laborer. i. In their behalf they demand
ed not a sensible method of utilizing
their product on the same terms that
any other product is used, but a forced
restoration. Silver must have unre-
stricted access to coinage at a ratio
that had departed never to return.
They nailed sixteen-to-one at their
masthead. They made that their ulti-
matum. A cowardly concession was
Allison act 1t but stimulated their APP
petite. They never ceased their cry for
q day. An agitation fund" became a
fixed institution with them. They took
advantage Of the necessities Of the Re
publicans in 1890 and reluctantly &C.
cepted the Sherman act as the best
then attainab1e. Meanwhile they car
ried on their campaign of what they
were pleased toscall education" The
panic Of '9S came to aid them with its
distress. They rallied their forces and
captured the organization Of the party
traditionally OPPOSED to financial fall
lacies. They secured the Endorsement
of the Populists. They exulted in July
over their ultimate victory.
For time it looked as if this latest
form Of greed in politics was to be
successful. Democrats who rejected the
heresy fell into slime for variety of
reasons. One must not be too partic-
ular about the weapon that knocks out
the enemy The end iustiaes the means.
Free coinage may be bad, but Repub-
licanism is far worse. 1t is after all,
uniication, under one standard. of
the hitherto divided opponents. of Re
publicanism. Free coinage is but the
expedient, not the end. And so on. The
campaign has been on but little more
than month. Signs of subsistence are
everywhere visible. The fever that
made the Chicago convention delirious
reached its crisis when its nominee ac-
cepted his nomination in Madison
square. The sober second thought is
being taken. Men are asking them
selves: Can men make something out
of nothing? If not, then how can q
government of and by men? The moral
side grows prominent Is it right? Is
1t honest? The reserve fund of COM
mon sense comes into action and men
realize that money is not money unless
1t has in each coin the value the mar
ket places on its material The forces
of morality, honesty and common
sense are fast arraying themselves
against this rape of the public by the
silver miners. W 2
They will meet-Iin November the de-
feat greed ever deserves. They have
''bitten off more than sthey can chew"
They have overleaped their mark. Had
they in the beginning, or even now,
asked merely that what the vast ma
jority of the people believe is just, that
one of the legitimate markets for their
product. the MINES might be restored
to them at which they might get the
equivalent in coins ofsfts market value;
had they assenteds to some plan of COIN
age on the commercial ratio, unques-
tfonably. in the present state Of pub
lie opinion and monetary knowledge,
it would have been accorded
them. But 1t was not market they
wanted; it was protection" an appli-
cation to them of the favoritism shown
the manufacturers They have staked
all on it. and they have lost. The coun-
try can settle down to the assurance