The Irish standard., 1896-10-24
SENATOR PALMER.


for the purpose Of enligAtening the people
upon the blessings Of the gold standard,
and yet when Palmer was elected to tho
United States senate it was upon the
promise that he would support free silver.
At the time the Illinois legislature was
evenly divided between the Democrats and
Republicans. There were three Populists
in the house-Moore, Cockrell and Tau
beneck-and it was necessary that at
least two of these should add their votes
to either side before a choice could be
made. After long delay, in which all
manner of combinations were made and
discarded, Moore and Cockrell concluded
to vote for Palmer. 1t was generally
known or believed that this decision on
their part was arrived at after a stiff
game of poker had been played the night
before in which in some mysterious way
the two Populists won large sums OF
money. Their opponents in the game had
no kind Of luck whatever. 1t was an open
secret that Palmer knew how the mems
minds had undergone change in SO short
time. Jerry Simpson, Of sockless fame,
was the chief promoter in the enterprise
and he mildly tells the story N this way:
while in Springfield, ILL.,, during that
memorable contest, I called upon Mr..
Palmer, at his room, in company with
Messrs. Moore and Cockreli, two of the
three Alliance members of the legislature
at that time, to ascertain how he stood on
the money question.
''He answered us that he would, If
elected, vote for free coinage OF silver,
and went further and said he believed in
the government issuing paper currency.
with this assurance, went to Washing
ton. where met Mr.. Springer, of Illinois,
who introduced me to Senator German
and Other members Of the Democratic ma
tional committee, whom assured that if
the Democrats IN the legislature OF South
| Dakota would vote for Kyle, Messrs.
Moore and Cockrell would vote for
! Palmer, and so word was sent to South
Dakota; kyle was elected. and in day
! or two following Palmer was elected.
"And now, In conclusion, let me say that
he (Palmer) never could have been elected
had he not pledged himself for silver, and
I feel sure that Messrs. Moore and Cock
rell will bear me out in this statement"
The evening pastime with the poker
chips Jerry did not think it necessary to
mention.
When Cockre1l and Moore had voted in
jo.nt convention Taubeneck wept. He
never had faith in Palmer.
IN this connection some comments re-
garding the tendency Of Palmer's mind
may be given from the Boston Republic:
At last we have statesman with the
courage to raise his voice above the din
of contention and strife and to speak out
boldly what all the syndicates, trusts and
millionaires actually believe. This man
is John NJ Palmer, a senator of the United
States from Illinois, and now masquerad-
ing az a candidate for the presidency.
Senator Palmer goes further than Edward
Lauterbach or Ambassador Bayard. He
IS for monarchy in this country. In a
speech delivered at Detroit, on Monday
evening Of this week, he said:
t.For myself would prefer to live I'M
der a righteous monarchy rather than SUBJ
NIT to such principles as those declared
by the Chicago convention"
There is not a. well-informed man in
any large city who has not heard the same
sentiment expressed inprivate. Rich men
who have amassed great fortunes, mem
beers of trusts and syndicates, will tell you
that they are tired of this agitation every
four wears. It disturbs business; 1t unset
ties values, but worst Of all, it stirs up
the people and reminds them OF their
rights. eve ought to have more stable
government" they say, "a government
that will have settled policy that we can
rely upon. We ought to have limited
monarchy"
Az we have said, Mr.. Palmer is the first.
statesman who has had the courage to pro-
claim publicly his belief. He Is, We ven.
ture to say, the first candidate for the
presidency Of q republic who was willing
to say that he did not believe in 2 repub-
loan form Of government. Are we drifting
toward the monarchy? Ell. VA.
is ID II
WORDS OF PRAISE.
-. y, rr,.l, .1uar,d nraises