Evening star., 1896-07-22
THE SILVER PARTY
!,
Opening Of the National Conversion
At St. Louis.
LITTLE PUBLA INTEREST MANIFESTED
The Galleries. es.Were Almost Desti-
tute of Spectators
M r. n EVIL A NDS' EECH

| ST. LOUIS, July 22.-The delegates to the
national silver organization were slow in
! assembling at the Grand Music Hail. and
| there were not enough visitors to fill the
galleries when j. X Mott, chairman of the
| national committee called the convention
to order He, too. was tardy, and it was
| long after II O'Clock whom he stepped to
| the platform and raped for order.
But 1t was not surprising that the dele
| gates, the visitors and the chairman should
have been Slow in coming together. The
weather was intensely hot. 1t was of that
variety of heat that one finds in the steam
| reom at Turkish bath. 1t raincd last
| night, and today the sun came up in a
! clear sky, with scarcely a breath of air
stirring, and as the day advanced the heat
| intensified until the scorching rays of the
] sun became almost unbearabler
The hall had been attractiyely drana,l
! win hags and bunting, but the atnlos-
phere was so close and hot that it was Al
most suifocating when Chairman Motl
came forward to call the convention to ~
DER The delegates, for the moment cea SING
the use or fans, and reused from the torpor
caused by the awful heat, INDUCED in some
enthuslastic cheering. Prayer was offered
After which Miss Lille B. Pierce of this
| city read the Daclarati ton of Indenendanca
lhis caused another outburst of applause
"hen the call for the convention was
read FRANCIS q. Newlands of Nevada was
introduced by Chairman Mott as temno.
rary chairman of the convention Thouen n
the galleries of the hail We're almost Va
cant. the delegates gave him 4 vigorous re-
ceptloh. In taking the chair he said:
thairman 1cWIands' Adtlress
he national silver party meets today to
determine what course will best advance
'he cause winch we have at heart. The
iepuolicah party has declared for the gold
STANDARD, save so far its disastrous eon-
sequences may be averted by an interna-
'iohai adjustment with the leading com
mercial nations of the world. Practically
.iiiS means SoId monometall,sm, for under
the system of finance inaug,rated by Har-
rlsol ana continued by Cleveland silver Is
denied its tiEt=hohorN use as redemption
money ana has become silnply the ma
.e'idi upon Whlcn is stamped q gold prom
lse. And SO our grnenkacks ON traas,,',,
notes ana silver certitica tes instead of he
ing money. have been turned into a gold
ueDt, ana the primary money of the cOun-
ty Is cohhned to the limited amount of
soia' approximately $J{n, ,1;0toO- which an
ADVERSE balance of trade is constrntjv de-
pleuhg. with all the attendant evils of CON
unuins bond issues.
ne d' mocrattc party has declared fo.
.He iiee ana unlimited coinage OF silver at
ratio or l6 TO /, without awaiting inter
nal,1nal acafon.a w hile it has made othe.
deciarations in its PLATFORM it has an
iiouhcea thar SILVER is the paramount issue
ol tHe DAY, ana that to il all other ones
tloAs are to pc slbordnated. 1t has noni
hateu canidath Of unimpeachable char.
acter OF existed ability, of inf1exjbla fnter-
.J' % ihsh purpose. VINO has never fall
tered Tor lroment in his devotion IN tbo
cause OF biBetalAsm. Firm but ,7ot bao1
stiohS, confident, bat not sejf-sl,ttiriar,t
.iear 10 the people, but not demasogic. de-
!. ,s. "'..eu ior REFORM, yet without single
!'cehdiary sRaeCh or p4ssiora.,. uttar.nr.
10 h.,
n!''at!oh ol -tate ofatorical and logical oiIaii
e, ~. :, eoHFigeous and enthusiastic,
~ 1e'ioerats and wise he stands as the
ideai candidate of a movement which
though termed a movement for rara,nl
ieaHy means a return to the wise consary
at!s!n of thers
ne issue mas been presented hy a Marty
Whlch mas been recently discrefited baro.,o
the country by the financial ana ind,s5..;.,
disturbances which it has created ~ ro,,,b
the repeal of. the Sherman act ana a.,
nna'a ~. ealelieu ara actual tariff legislation
DfaSged INTO financial agitation nv tl,a do.
termined will of an executive whom - hac
since repudiated. it proposes not merely tn
revise existing legislation already enacted
, ~. ~ 90 ldrther and declare for the free
ana unlimited coinage of silver. and hesides
II proposes to guacantee the co,,ntr,
AGAINST further industrial disturbance ami
any agitation for further changes in tba
tari11 laW, except such as are necessary to
make up the deficit of revenue
'Ihe latter announcement is nartic,,1,ric
81 ing 10 many OF us who believe that
the SILVER question and moderate protection
are twin issues, that the former means
pfotectloE to the American farmer arains.
the disastrous competition of silver co,,II
.,ies' Una. the latter means protection To
the American manufacturer and his en,
pioyes against the disastrous comuptit;,n ,f
cheap foreign labor, and that il is on1y ~,
the union of the productive forces of ,be
country whether in the field or the factory
lor mutual protection. that the remorselsss
n a
ed Whilst 1t would have been wjsar 10
conline the democratic platform to the is
sues concerning which bimetallsts would
~ liot cli1er. tnus securing the complete uni
Hcatlon OF all the silver forces yet the sim
pie question is presented to sincere bi,oatai
ilsts throughout the country and that s
whether they will permit differences as 10
hoh-essentlal issues to divide them-or
Whether, preserving their independence of
conviction and action as to non-essanti.r.
they shall accept the brilliant leader whom
the democracy has named and unitinr oh
ene SILVER forces wherever organized into
one lnVlnclbAe army, march to victory i'm
November next. l apprehend that the sin
gleness OF purpose which has thus far
characterized this organization will he an
paren. i, m our , delioerations here, and that
It's action will be inspired by the highest
patriotism and by an earnest desire for the
advancement of the great cause which
means so much to humanity
Debased Money Not Their Aim.
1T Is not intended to pay debts with
ooc dollars. or drive away gold, or to de-
base our currency. Our purpose simnly
is by Increasing the coinage and use of
silver and by giving it equal privileges
with gold to raise its value and by dimin-
ishing the strain gold, which gold mo-
nometallism has caused, to take away it's
unjust appreciation and thus by nulline
up the value OF silver and pulling down
the value Of gold to restore the old ratio.
so that sixteen ounces of silver will he
worth in bullion as we'll as in coin one
ounce Of go41.t Thus, the old unit of value
the dollar--based on both metals instead
of one. will BE restored and we shall have
gold dollar worth one hundred cents in
silver and u silver dollar worth one hun
dred cents jim g9ld. If we are asked why
this ratio Is determined upon our answer
is not only that that has been the Gus
tomary ratio for years, 5ut also that the
total stock hof silver coin in the world is
four thousand million dollars: that the
total stock of gold coin is approx:mately
the same. and that if the total stocks Of
silver and ,seh rwere each melted into a
solid mass the silver mass would be about
sixteen times as great in weight as The
gold nlass.R We also answer that TO-DAY
the relativei production of the two metals
is in approximately the same proportion
We must establish by law some relation
of value between the two metals. And