Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-10-16

great a task for even the gold syndicate
TO again infict Cleveland on long suffer-
ing. nut now aroused people.
Mr.. Mckinley was notified that he could
stand on the forthcoming gold plank or
step aside and make place for candidate
who would. Had Mr.. Mckinley been a
strong man, a man with any political self
respect, he would have resented this insult
and bided his time. confident that the peo-
pie Of the United States would crafty his
ambition TO be president. But he was a
weak man. lie would rather be president
than be right. He meekly surrendered all
his opinions and agreed to stultify an hon
orable past, abandon his followers and de-
liver them into the gold camp.
The St. Louis convention declared for
gold and nominated Mr.. Mckinley. This
was done against the protest of Thomas
Plat, of New York who had certain ideas
about political morality, and who was sus-
picious regarding the conversion of Nc
Kinley. He did not trust him. He knew
that deep in his heart Mckinley was for
silver, and he openly declared that a man
who would sacrifice his political principles
for the honor of nomination would, if
elected, break a promise and turn traitor
to gold.
But the leaders of the gold combine were
satisfied that Mr.. Mckinley would stay
bought" and nominated him. They were
confident that the majority of the people
were either fools or so ignorant as to be
swayed by the purchased newspapers or
bulldozed by the bulldozed manufacturers.
so they finished the work or the convention
and the gold press sounded its praises of
candidate and platform
The forcing of a gold plank into the Re
publican platform cost the English syndi-
cate not less than $1,000 900. They then
turned their attention to the Democratic
convention; ". c. Whitney had the mon
ey The gold press laughed with scorn at
the claims of the silver leaders. They
sneeringly asserted in their columns that
Whitney would purchase the convention
and convert the Democracy 10 honest mon
ey The result is a matter of history.
Whitney with all his millions could not
purchase a delegation Thousands OF dol
lars We're thrust into the faces OF men who
never had five hundred dollars in their
lives. but they stood firm for their con-
victious The Chicago convention declar-
ed for the free coinage of silver without
waiting for the consent Of any nation on
earth.
The gold clique had lost. The failure of
their plan to capture the Democratic con-
vontion made their overwhelming defeat
almost a certainty They realized that in
three months discussion of the money
question the details Of the conspiracy
would be made public. Their only hope
was in n lying press. They brazonly pro-
claimed themselves the defenders Of the
national honor. They stole the American
flag and with the gold of the Lombard
street bankers juggling In their pockets de-
nounced the honest people of America as
thieves. regulators and anarchists.
Now follow this closely.
Early in the campaign a newspaper pub
lished an extract which it credited TO the
London Financial News. Other papers
copied il. The London Financial News is
the recognized English authority on all
financial matters. The article In question
was said to have been published on the ed
itorial page Of the London Financial News
on April 90 1891. and read as follows:
There Is a plain moral in the remark that
IL the United States would venture 10 cut
herself adrift from Europe and take out
right to silver she would have all America
and Asia at her back and would command
the markets OF both continents. The bar
rler of gold would be more fatal than any
barrier of a custom house. The bond of
silver would be stronger than any bond of
free trade.
There can be no doubt about il that if
the United States We're to adopt a silver
basis tomorrow British trade would be
ruined before the year was out. Every
American industry would be protected,
not only at home, but at every other mark
et OF course. the states would suffer
to a certain extent through having to pay
their obligations abroad in gold; but the
loss on exchange under this head would be
a mere drop in the bucket compared with
the profits to be reaped from the markets
of South America and Asia, to say nothing
Of Europe.
The marvel Is that the United States has
not long ago seized the opportunity, and
but for the belief that the way of England
is necessarily the way TO commercial sue
cess and prosperity. undoubtedly it would
have been done long ago. Now, Ameri-
cans are awakening to the fact that so
long as they narrow their ambition to be-
come a larger England they cannot beat
us. II has been piece Of luck that it has
never occurred to the Americans to scoop
us out of the world markets by going on
a silver basis, and it might serve us right
If. irritated by the contemptuous apathy
of our government to the gravity Of the
srr1s rot a -
freezing out gold. 1t could easily be done
A howl Of rage went up from the gold
bug press. They denounced the article as
a forgery. They called upon the American
people 70 witness that the free silver lun-
atics and regulators were adding the
crime Of forgery to that of besmirching the
national honors. Among the papers more
frantic in their expressions of rage We're
the New York Sun. New York World
New York Herald, Chicago Tribune, Chi
cago Chronicle, Chicago Inter-Ocean,
Louisville Courier-Journal, Omaha Bee,
ST. Louis Globe Milwaukee Sentinel and
many other purchased or mortgaged gold
bug organs.
They said 1t was preposterous to sup
pose a paper of the standing of the Lon
don Financial News would say such a
thing: that free silver would ruin the coun-
try. and every intelligent person, be he
Euglishman or American. knew it.
Why did they so vehemently deny the
authenticity of the article? Why did the
publication of the alleged extract throw
them into commissions of rage and the pro-
mitigation of heated editorials? The an
swer is plain. The London Financial News
had stated in the blunt English fashion
simple truth. 1t came from so high
source that il had to be discounted and its