The Portland daily press., 1896-04-25

currency rseemed to the astute Hanna
about the proper thing and so those were
adopted But the fashion set by Ohio
didn't prove popular. Even the strong
Mckinley states refused to copy the
straddle on the currency and went to re-
standard. Outside of three or four
states. and those small onas and with
few votes in the electoral colle,e; the Re-
publicans have been uniformly out
spoken against the free coinage of silver
except by international agreement
Even the South which has been supposed
to be pretty we'll saturated with the free
silver idea has expressed itself in favor of
sound money with far more definiteness
than the great commercial and industrial
state of Ohio.
Meanwhile the currency question has
been pressing to the front and it has beer
growing more evident that it will be tn
leading issue in the campaign. 1t is be-
ginning to be seen that the cause of pro-
lection is just as safe with any other of
the candidates mentioned, rs Mckinley;
and it is beginning to be seen too that If
the Ohio platform correctly represents
the views Of Mr.. McKinley-and as IL was
approved by him before it's adoption there
can be little doubt of 1.-THE is a-stradtile
the currency fence. This view of his
position, his boomers are beginning to
discover, augurs i'll for his success at st,
Louis, and they are now busy deSising
ways to relieve him. There are two gen.
eral methodssunder discussion One is
to contend that this view of his position
is erroneous, and to claim that the Ohio
resolution is the strongest kind of a
sound money declaration. But unforta-
nately to prove that the Ohio resolution
is of that kind requires very long and
elaborate argument-the New York
Tribune found two columns of closely
printed argument necessary-and the
public, who have seen dozen conven-
tions declare for sound money so clearly
that no argument at all was needed to
show what they meant, have had their
preiudioes against the Ohio platform
strengthened rather than removed eby
the elaborate efforts to explain away its
apparent non-committal character. The
other method is to get Mr.. Mckinley to
come out with straight declaration in
favor of the gold standard. The trouble
with this is two fold. Such declaration
would either be tantamount to an ad-
mission that the Ohio plank was not the
anmistakable declaration in favor of the
gold standard, (which its concocters have
claimed, Or a confession that within a
month Mr.. Mckinley had changed from
tolerant attitude toward silver, which
drew to him the Kansas delegation, to
one of uncompromising hostility to the
white metal. The boomers are therefore
in a melancholy dilemma. TIE attempt
to make out the Ohio platform to be an
unequivocal declaration against free sill
yer and IN favor of the gold standard has
miserably failed, and the alternative of
a declaration by the candidate is full Of
embarrassment. Had the astute Hanna
known as much about Republican senti-
ment throughout the country when the
| Ohio convention was held as he knows
now resolution would have been adopt
cd which would not have required two
columns of argument to identify with
the cause of sound money. Brother
Hanna had his eye altogether too closely
concentrated on delegates. He thought
he could please the silver men and the
gold mon at the same time; he thought a
compromise resolution was the proper
caper. No doubt he sees now that it was
not.