The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1896-09-01

and Face tho Facts-The Great White
Wave.
iTashingtcn Cor. New York world.l
There al, tco many people in this
| country who arc hiding their eyes to
great facts. They place themselves III
the position cf the ostrich pursued by
all enemy. They do not wish to gaze on
what they term the specter CT silver.
| So they hold their hands over their
faces and cry cut, i cannot see it COM
ing'"
The speaker was an especially distin-
| guishcd senator, who expressed himself
| privately to the writer on the financial
question There is enough said in pri-
vate here in Washington at the present
time on the silver question to cause a
| chill to pass over those whose convic-
| tions and interests are wrappcd\ in the
| single gold standard side of the contro-
versy.
People in New York and in the cast
| have scanty conception of the strength
Of the silver sentiment ut the west and
south. The press which enlightens them
OH public affairs is almost q unit in favor
Of gold standard. The real situation
throughout the length and breadth Of
the United States west of the middle
states is not com pretended in New York
or New England
| If the private utterances Of public men
on the silver question could be published
as formal interviews, a portion of the
country would receive a tremendous
shock. have conversed with numerous
persons whose names, if I were at lib
erty to give them, would be we'll known
to every reader. The burden Of what
was said was that the silver movement
| is gaining hand over fist throughout the
country; that while there are diversi-
fed views as to the extent or the condi-
tions under which silver is favored,
there is determination on the part Of the
majority Of the politicians Of the south
and west to make silver. and not gold.
the dominant element in the national
currency.
A leading Republican senator, who is
we'll known as an advocate Of gold, de-
clared his belief to me that if the ques-
tion of gold versus silver were to be
submitted pure and simple to the peo-
pie of the United States an overwhelm-
ing majority would be rolled up for the
| white money.
| This senator would not dare to ex-
press such an opinion for publication.
Nothing would tempt me-" he said
1T would be ruinous for me to do So ,"
| nj l.. 90 10
ters many public men from even whis-
pering what they think.
| General Charles Grosvenor, McKin-
ley manager, recently informed an &C
| quaintance that the silver movement
was gaining in Ohio He was merely
narrating fact and not using it as an
argument.
| The president Of one of Chicago's
great national banks recently stated
that he had been studying the views of
the 400 or more of his banker corre-
spondents, and he has concluded that
silver has got to come. This bank presi-
dent is very wealthy. He has begun to
draw gold contracts and leases, and will
put all his affairs on gold basis. There
is no more ardent gold man in the
country than he. A Democratic sound
money senator, not Senator Brice, told
me today that Ohio and Kentucky would
be carried for silver.
1.-The convention at Chicago will be
in the hands of the silver men,, he said.
II do not believe in silver except as a
subsidiary coinage, but my political fu-
ture is uncertain unless my constituents
change their views.
lam assured by Pennsylvanians who
know the situation thoroughly in that
state that if the silver question were
presented fairly and squarely to the peo.
pie without being mixed with politics,
and rid of interference by capital or
manufactures. it would receive an enor-
nous vote.
| Senator Cameron has been in Mexico
studying the condition Of the country
under silver. He returned more jealous
than before am informed by good au-
thority that at recent meeting Of the
| Democratic state committee Of Vermont
the members wished to put some kind
of recognition Of silver in the platform
q the convention Just held. bradley