St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-20
MEN AND EASTERN MANU-
FACTURERs.
TRYING TO GET TOGETHER
NO JOINT ACTION TAKEN, BUT
THOSE PRESENT SEEMED WELL
SATISFIED.
BIMETALLIsM AND PROTECTION
Issue by the Senator's From
the Far West.

WASHINGTON, March ia confer
ence was held here today between the
Republican silver senators who voted
against the consideration of the house
tariff bill in the senate and a number
of manufa cturereS for the purpose of,
if possible, arriving at an understand
ing on which the silver advocates and
the protectionists can unite. The meet
ing was brought about largely through
the efforts of Messrs. William Will
helm, of Pottsville, Pa, and r. E. De-
fenderfer, the latter a Philadelphia
manufacturer and secretary of the BIZ
metallic club. The conference was pre-
liminary to others which will probably
be held, and while it resulted in no joint
declaration. those present expressed
themselves as satisfied that the result
would be to promote both interests,
and that an important step had been
taken in bringing them nearer togeth-
er. The meeting resulted from a cor
respondence between Mr.. Wilhelm and
Senators Teller of Colorado; Dubois,
of Idaho; Carter and Mantle, of Mon
tana; Cannon, of Utah, and Jones, of
Nevada. These senators were all pres
ent at today's meeting, as were also
Representatives Hartman, of Montana
Allen, of Utah, and Wilson, of Idaho,
and also representatives of various
manufacturing interests.
The conference was organized by
choosing Senator Dubois as chairman
and Mr.. Wilhelm secretary.
Brief speeches were made by all the
senators present. They defined their
position in such manner as to make it
plain to the manufacturers that there
could be no protective tariff legislation
either at this session of congress or
the next without the rehabilitation of
silver, and that bimetallism and pro-
lection as regarded from their stand
point, constituted an indivisible issue
before. the country,
Some of the manufacturers indorsed
this position as being the logic Of the
country's necessities and political con-
ditfons. President Dornan of the Man.
ufacturers' Club Of Philadelphia, ex-
pressed the opinion that the tariff du-
ties could not be made high enough to
protect manufacturers if the country
remained on a gold basis. James Dob
son, carpet manufacturer, came out
unqualifiedly for free coinage, by inter-
national agreement, if possible, other
lieved that independent action would
induce international action Free coin
age might create temporary disturb
ances, but it was the quickest way to
permanent relief of the ills from which
the country is now suffering. Henry A.
Frye, of Philadelphia, said that the
sooner the country took independent
action for bimetallism, the better it
would be. Charles Heber Clark, ed
itor of the Manufacturer, of Philadel-
phia, said he labored to convince the
manufacturers that protection would
only prove efficacious in conjunction
with the restoration of silver. Rich
ard Campion declared himself in favor
of the restoration of silver, but thought
that the cause of bimetallism was not
advanced by the defeat of the revenue
measure.
The senators expressed the opinion
that this was the first note of warn
ing against the adoption of single
gold standard plank in the ST. Louis
platform, or the nomination of a gold
standard man on a straddle plank.
Many letters in harmony with the pur-
poses of the meeting were received
from manufacturers throughout the
country. Senator Camerons name was
mentioned incidentally in connection
with the presidency during the meeting,
and met with evident approval by many
present.