St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-16
n any question it was on this one The

on any question 1t was on this one. The
advantage, the weather-gage, was with
the silverites. A panic had strewn the
commercial sea with wrecks. ALI over
the land men were distressed for
money. Values had shrunk, money
had sought hidden recesses and refused
to be coaxed out, equity holders saw
their holdings slipping away and car
rying with them their accumulations
and hopes of fortune.
With every one wanting money, with
the times making money the imperious
need on every hand, what more ia
vorable condition than this could have
been devised or imagined for the pres
entation of scheme for making money
"cheap" and plenty? Back of and re-
inforcing the movement was the ira
ditional and habitual use of silver as
current money. Silver dollars circu-
lated freely, performing all the func-
tons of money, and still their further
coinage was denied Silver mines were
producing it and unlimited quantities
lay in the earth easy of reach, ready TO
be made into money. Surely, if ever
cause went into the battle of the
polls panoplied in armor it was this.
Here in Minnesota, among the farm
ers of the Second and Seventh congress
sional districts, where its strength was
thought to be overwhelming, the con-
test was made on this question. Gov.
Nelson opened his campaign with an
onslaught on free coinage. Represent
alive McCleary made that the objective
of his campaign. It was fair fight TO
the finish and free coinage was beaten
out of sight. In Missouri the only Dem
ocratic representatives reelected were
those who had opposed free coinage
Every advocate of it, from Bland down,
was defeated. In Illinois every Demo-
cratic candidate for congress who had
argued for the vitiating of our cur
rency went down. This year a special
test was made at the bye election in
the Eighteenth district, and a Demo-
cratic majority of 5000 turned, when
Lane asked it to approve Of the heresy,
into Republican majority of the same
size. In Ohio they could not control
the Democratic state convention. A
Republican governor sits in the eXecu-
tive chair in old Kentucky because q
Democratic candidate defied his party
and made free coinage his issue. A
Republican may go to the senate from
that state because Joe Blackburn made
of his campaign. In Tennessee Josiah
Patterson led the fight for sound money
and won while his free coinage col
leagues for the most part remained at
home.
But why particularize more? Save
in Mississippi, in every state in which
determined contest was waged the
adherents of free coinage were defeat
ed and their proposed policy was re-
jected by the electorate. And now, in
the face of this fair verdict of the vot-
ers, these Apaches of coinage retreat
to the senate and tell the people Of
IiC OiilCu Clitco Illdl tliSy Call have no
financial legislation whatever that does
not give to silver the freedom of our
mints, not at its value, but
at twice that amount. And the
pity is that the people cannot
follow these men as Miles followed
Geronimo into the lava beds and force
a surrender. Protected by the i'm
mobility Of our form of government,
they are safe from assault and i'm
pregnable to public opinion. The SEN
ate has become the lava beds of the
Apaches of finance.