The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-02-29
AN APPROACHING CRISIS.

A gentleman high in official circles
in the general government at Washing
ton, writing to highly respected gen.
tleman in this city, says:
Il hope you are in good health, and
that you may survive long enough to
see the American people with unani-
nifty declare that they are in favor of
as good money for this government and
its citizens as any money which the
world has ever seen. If, on the other
hand, you live long enough to see the
free coinage Of silver at the ratio of
is to l, you will have outliYed the
credit of the country, its honor, its
Integrity and its tranquility. The finan-
cial and political conditions of the
states Of South America are a fair
reflex Of a degraded currency system"
That statement unQuestionabIy rep
resents the sentiment of the east on
the money question; and giving our
fellow citizens in the east credit for
the same honesty of convictions that
we claim for the American people of
the west, it will be seen how utterly
Impossible agreement upon a financial
policy for the government is between
those sections; how hopeless is recon-
Citation between the single gold stand
ard people and the free coinage of
silver advocates. An old patriot long
ago said that it was natural to man
to indulge in the illusion of hope. we
are apt" said he, in language some
a painful truth, and listen to the song
of that siren, till she transforms US
into beasts" The friends of silver in
the past have hoped that patient dis
cussion and the pledges to bimetaIlism
secured in the national platforms
would result IN such recognition Of
silver as would lead in time to it's
complete restoration to equal coinage
and legal tender privileges with gold
at fixed legal ratio. Those hopes
have only led to repeated disappoint-
ments, until now, after years of effort.
we find ourselves drifted further apart
than ever. Or, what would be a more
correct representation of the case, we
begin to discover at last how far we
have been apart all this time. Under
such circumstances it cannot be
expected that things will go on in
the future as they have in the past.
1t cannot be that we will act the same
now that our eyes are open as we did
when we had them closed by the fond
Illusions Of hope. To do so
would class US among that num-
Der of foolish people who, hav-
ing eyes, see not; and, having
ears, hear not the things which SO
nearly concern our temporal salvation.
1t is useless to longer deceive ourselves
with the illusions of hope. The con-
troversy has reached that stage Of de-
velopment when it must be put on new
ground. To longer allow ourselves to
be satisfied with platform declarations
in favor of bimetallism. and then per-
nit the gold standard people to give
such Interpretation to bimetallism as
to avoid forever the coinage of silver.
is too bumiliating to be longer endured. |
The time approaches when the Demo-
cratic party must meet in primaries
and conventions to determine what |
Democrats in Utah shall do, and action
should not much longer be deferred.
Confident that the great bulk of be- |
levers in the free coinage of silver is |
outside Of the Rocky mountain west, we
would favor splitting the convention |
either by driving the gold men out or |
by silver men walking out; and in !
either event raising the true standard |
Of Democracy, by reafirming all the |
doctrines of the noble old party whose |
life is coeYal with the life of the gov
and begin that struggle for |
free coinage of gold and silver and |
honest government that in the end |
must win. But if that is to be the [
course that Utah Democrats shall de- |
termine upon, there is no time to lose.
The party should be early called into
and its course decided |
upon; and in the event of the one we
favor being selected, correspondence
with state Democratic organizations
IF other states should be entered into.
that we may bring the Democracy of
other states to act with US. and thus
render our action all the more i'm
oortant. But the time has come to
act; and it is but honorable that we
should serve notice upon our eastern
friends. as they are indirectly every
lay serving notice upon the advocates
If bimetallism, that the time for
with this question has
passed. Something straightforward
md honest must now be done. The
ssue must be SO stated that the hum
olest and plainest man can understand
t and that the most skilful phrase
uggler cannot twist from its plain
meaning. Let us have the decks
cleared for action-then let US have
action, prompt. determined. vigorous,
glorious That is the shortest route
o victory for free coinage.