The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-03
CONSIDERS THAT TODAY HE rs THE
IDEAL DEMOCRAT OF THE
UNITED STATES.
HIS STAND AS TO LABOR.
MISSOURI GOVERNOR SAYS HIS MAN
HAS BEEN "OF THE PEO-
PLE.N
EXPECTS NOTHING OF THE EAST.
As Personifica ton Of Silver Idea He
Will Be Opposed to the Last
There.

Sf11CAGO, july Z-GOV. Stone, of
Missouri, was asked to-day if he had
noted the report that the Eastern gold
standard delegates were tending toward
Gov. Boies. He answered that he had
seen such report in the newspapers.
and had heard such talk in the Hobbies.
but knew nothing as to its truth
Continuing, the governor said that Mr.
Bland and his friends had not eX-
pected and do not expect any support
from that source. He said: "Mr.
BANDS stand is the personification of
the free coinage idea 1t is utterly
impossible in the very nature of
things, that there should be any alli-
ance between him and the single
standard gold people, If he is nomi-
mated, he will be nominated by the
votes of delegates elected as free sill
yer coinage men. I am sure Mr.
BANDS nomination will be opposed to
the utmost and his defeat sought by
every means possible, by the gold
party. One thing more: The states
represented here by the single gold
standard delegates will not probably
cast a single electoral vote for the
nominee of this convention. If Mr..
Bland is nominated he will be nomi-
mated by the delegates from the states
whose electoral vote must be relied
upon for success at the polls''
The governor was asked if he was
aware that two or three gentlemen
prominent in labor organizations were
not partial to Mr.. BANDS nomination,
ION the ground that he has not been
the active friend of labor"
That is strange objection to make
to Mr.. Bland" was the reply. "His
whole life has been identified with
the industrial and producing classes
of the country. He has not played
to the galleries for mere effect, but
his whole public career has been one
long battle in favor of the people-of
the great masses. Look at the man
and his history For % years he was
a representative in congress. In all
that time he never rode to Washing
ton or anywhere on free passes. He
paid his own way and that of his fam
lily, not that he was antagonistic to
railroads or to any legitimate enter
prise; but knowing that many impor-
tant matters in which these corpora
tons were interested would be the sub
jects Of legislation, he did not think 1t
proper for him to accept favors, great
or small.
HE never made any display of
things of this kind and only few peo-
pie are aware Of the fact to which I
allude, but it is true. He voted against
the back-salary grab, and refused to
accept the money from the treasury,
and on another occasion when an ex-
ira session of congress was called, to
begin Immediately upon the close of
the regular session, and before he left
Washington, he refused to accept the
milage for the extra session, when the
appropriation therefor was passed over
his protest.
HE was for years one of the most
prominent factors in congress, at the
head of one of the great committees,
and one of the influential members of
the house; yet, year ago when he
retired from congress he was still a
poor man. He went down on his farm
near Lebanon, Mo-, and has been there
engaged in the difficult task Of making
an honest living by agriculture. To
illustrate his character, it Is an actual
fact that on the very day the Texas
state convention was in session to
send delegates here, and when it was
known that his name would be before
that convention, he was out actively
aiding his men in the hay field.
There is another incident illustrat-
ing his character: Since he left con-
gress, the citizens Of Ouray, Col, sent
Mr.. Bland a handsome silver service
as an expression of their regard for
his great work for the cause of free
silver, but even under such circum-
stances as these stated, he declined
to accept it, and returned it. For any
man, therefore, to say that Richard P.
Bland Is in any sense, even in the
slightest degree, unfriendly to the in
dustrial classes of the country, is worse
than absurd. The statement is contra
dicted by his whole life. Although
Bland is such a man as I describe, he
Is also a broad man Of large expert
ence in public affairs, conservative.
just and patriotic. He is a man of
wide reading, q man Of books, who
thinks and has a lofty conception Of
American citizenship. He stands to-
day as the ideal Democrat Of Amer
lea, and would make an ideal candi-
date for the presidency"