Catoctin clarion., 1896-06-25
The Political Situation and
it's Import.

Some interesting combinations in the
political field may now be forecasted by
no mere than an ordinary draft upon
the imagination.
We must first realize that the recent
surprising drift of the great South and
Southwest towards Free Silver has, in
alarge measure occasioned the displace'
ment Of the Tariff bv the Coinage issue.
So long as Free Coinage Of silver held
first place only in the mining States, its
weight in determining Nationa. elections
could be and was ignored and the two
great parties were permitted to arrai1n
each for the demerits of the others the.
ory of the Tariff; in word, during the
past sixteen years. or since the war is
sues have been eliminated from our Ma.
tional contests, the two theories of Tar
if, for Protection as urged by the Re
publicans, for Revenue as urged by the
Democrats, have served to divide them
on lines of the most positive distinct
ness, always overshadowing and crowd
ing to the wall, every minor question.
With the voters of the Free Silver
party they concerned themselves some
years only far enough to "straddle' in
the National platforms both parties have
ing been guilty of double dealing in this
matter, within the past eight years.
Now, however, that it seems certain
that that section of the country to which
one ct the great parties has been lndebt'
ed for it's strength, yea, even its exist
ence, has exchanged the Tariff for the
Free Silver issue, the latter has sudden
" become momentous and the wise po.
litical heads of both parties have been
set a.whirling by the Kaleidoscope
changes wrought in the positions OF the
two parties in the different sections Of
the country. While, in the East, they
assume to differ on the Tariff, yet, the
chief matter Of concern, confessedly by
both public men and newspapers, is the
coinage question and on this the two
parties are in perfect accord, their State
Convention planks being as alike as two
peas and their orators and editors vlelng
with each other in their endeavors to up
rear defense against the onslaught Of
Free Silver. We have the queer and
confusing spectacle of a Democratic
administration policy, fatty endorsed
by Republican National Convention
and that within nineteen months Of an
election wherein that administration re-
ceived crushing rebuke, largely upon
the grounds Of its uncompromising posi-
sition on the question Of maintaining
our finances upon Gold basis.
We find, further, the Southern wing
of Democracy, hitherto extreme in its
position on the Tariff, and the Western
wing Of Republicanism, equally radical
in its position on the Tariff, both appa.
rently eager to ignore that great issue,
and to pool interests in the new one, the
Free Coinage of Silver.
We see bolt from Republican Ma
tional Convention by the most uncom-
promising of the apostles of Protection,
choosing instead thereof, ,FreeSilver and
one need be neither prophet nor the
son of one, to foretell with certainty, a
similar episode atChicago, where for Sill
yer or for Gold, as the vote shall deter
mine the minority, such minority will
bot and in so boiling will virtually de.
clare that for the Coinage issue they ig-
more and are ready to sacrifice al that
they have maintained in the past, as
to the tariff.
What is the logical inference to be
drawn from this array Of evidence of the
breaking up of old party lines, threat
ened by the combinations referred to
above?
Does 1t not look like an exchange Of
issues; no longer the manufacturing