The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-11

1t is not of great interest in the pres
ent campaign except as it bears upon
the political development of the future.
We We're told by employees Of the min
ing syndicate and by a few persons
who would rather see the Democratic
party destroyed for all time to come
than to relinquish the temporary prom
lnence which they achieved and used
so unworthily for a few short months,
that free silver is to be the slogan
Laying aside the arguments that
have been worn threadbare in the last
few months, take only the practical
side of the question. AS we have said
once before, men will not continue to
play losing game in politics forever
You cannot get up enthusiasm enough
to run a campaign or even keep an
organization together unless the indi-
vidual members believe that there is
some chance for them to win. Now,
what possible combination Of circum-
stances can hold out any hope of sue
cess to free silver party in this coun-
try hereafter? 1t is all right to talk
about how small a change in the pop
ular vote would have changed the re-
suit, but what are the prospects of it?
Look at this solid block of eighteen
states that nothing can ever reverse on
the silver question, that have rolled up
majorities for sound money against
which it is as useless to buck as it
would be to propose an ordinance of
secession to popular vote, and see into
what cul-de-sac the free silver lead
ers would conduct their followers. Sup
pose that they could in some future
campaign carry Kentucky and both
the Dakotas; suppose that they could
hold all the Rocky Mountain states,
together with Kansas and Ne
braska; suppose that they could win
back West Virginia; suppose that they
could make clean sweep of the Pa
cific coast; if they could make all these
gains over this year, in which no ef-
fort has been left neglected, in which
w RNAAONO IACS nave pOIISu d Lar
greater vote than they ever will again,
what would then be their situation?
They would not be one step further
| advanced toward the presidency. Still
| there would stand in the way this solid
! block of eighteen states, with electoral
votes enough to elect a president and
fourteen to spare, which no persua-
sion and no argument could change
from their unalterabfe conviction. At
each trial their majority against any
form of fiat money will grow greater,
rather than less. To talk about per-
petuating the free silver issue in our
politics in the face Of such a perpetual
veto on it as exists here is to talk non
| sense. 1t is upon this fact that we rely
for the subsistence of the silver uues-
ton. The men who have been most
active in carrying it forward this year
are not the speculative theorists, but
practical men of politics have thought
that there was something in it," Not
more conclusively did the result of
the rebellion demonstrate the impossi-
bility of secession than the result of
this election has demonstrated the i'm
possibility of any free silver party con-
trolling this republic. AS the people
come to understand that more thor
oughly, they will give their attention
to the upbuilding Of parties on new
and different issues, and decline further
traffic with one that has been so i'm
mutually settled.