The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-03-04
A STRIKING LETTER.
THE INSIDE VIEWS OF KEEN OBJ
SERvERS-WHAT EX-GOv. PILLS


Republican, unnamed. 1t let's the x rays
into the hearts Of men. We quote from
the Sentinel:
We take the liberty Of publishing the
following extracts from private letter
to the editor of the Sentinel. The author
is one of the best known men in the state
"a stalwart Republican, a gentleman of
high Character and distinguished ability
We commend his patriotic utterances to
the consideration of the time servers and
party worshippers who see in politics Moth
ing but partisan triumphs and spells Of
office:
My Dear Frank:
1 have read your letter Of yesterday
with much interest and it has the right
ring. Unless 1 mistake the signs of the
times there are political breakers ahead
within the near future. The conditions
OF business and finance are becoming in
tolerable. and as time goes on will get
worse instead of better, and should the
silver issue be forced to the front. as it
bids fair to be. there may be a general
overturning even in this state. The ques-
ton with me is how best to carry on the
work without sacrificing convictions. Ours
is the only true Republican faith, Frank;
it is the doctrine taught by those great
men whose names and deeds made the
history of our party glorious in the past
and to follow their teaching and the plain
requirements Of justice in the present cri-
sis, is to be a Republican in the highest
and best sense of the term. On the other
hand the gold standard is the experiment
already shown to be a cruel failure and
those who would follow it are preaching a
new faith which they seek to coerce us in
to embracing. The principles we contend
for in this contest are as true today as
they were in the old days when our party
had within it something of the divine po-
litical foresight of Abraham Lincoln
COnopfhinC Of Of
Grant and something of the genius and
Americanism of Blaine. Now
Frank, when you find a day or so to spare
I wish you would come up and let us go
over the situation and take counsel
among ourselves as to what course to
pursue. The situation perplexes and dis
tresses me. but one thing is apparent and
that is that we must be prudent and care
full of taking a radical step lest it be in the
wrong direction. I personally care
SO little about any Office that will cheer
fully take my musket and enlist as d pri-
vate. but let us get under the right banner.
OF course there is ultimately but one
side for you and I, and that is for the cause
of the weak many against the powerful
few. We are bound by every recollection
and tradition of our lives to stand with the
people in the final struggle. l am filled
with alarm oftimes when I contemplate
the consequences that are bound up in
the battle that sooner or later must be
fought to the utter destruction of one
of the contending parties. 1t is as true to-
day as it was when Daniel Webster said
it, that no government can long endure,
the tendency of those laws is to cOncen-
trate the wealth in the hands of the few
and leave the masses of the people poor
and dependent.
I have already written more than I in
tended by way of answer to yours; but as
soon as you can get away come up.
then xyo have from the Penny Press
of this city, remarkable statement of the
view of Ex-Governor Pillsbury on the tar
iff
Both John S. and Charles A. Pillsbury
have expressed themselves as being OPP
posed to instructing delegates to the ST
Louis convention for anybody Chas A.
Pillsbury has expressed himself mildly for
Davis but is thought to be for Reed as
second choice. John S. Pillsbury declared
himself unreservedly against Mckinley,
but said that Reed, Allison or Morton
would do. Regarding McWKinley he said:
Il am decidedly of the opinion that Maj
Mckinley is not the man of the hour. He
is splendid mana man of unquestioned
ability, of remarkably agreeable personal
ity. But the Republican party cannot, in
my Judgment, afford to nominate him. 1t
was McKinley's high protection which
made the Republicans lose before. To take
him and the protection which his candi-
dacy means would be to place the party in
a hazardous position. What the country
needs most of all is a sound strong man.
I am in favor Of a tariff which shall prove
sufficient to run the government. I am
not in favor of a tariff that will make one
section of the country prosperous, to the
detriment of the other sections. The Nc
Kinley tariff did a great deal to build up
monopolies.'
And then Frank Day publishes the fol-
lowing significant article:
The Minneapolis Times, rank gold bug
organ, reluctantly confesses that it is USE
less to longer deny the fact that there is a
tremendous sentiment in favor Of free sill
yer in the country. Three months ago the
Times would have denounced the senti-
ments contained in the following para
graph as rank idiocy, and yet we find it
in that paper of last Saturday. Listen:
Republicans may have occasion to laugh
out of the other corner Of their mouths
before the close of the approaching cam
paign. The Republican party swarms
with voters who will be glad Of an OPP
portunity to vote for free silver national
ticket. This town is alive with them. and
in the state at large and indeed, through
out the entire Northwest, a free silver
ticket, headed by an able, upright candi-
date of national reputation, would draw
from the Republican party One-fourth to
one-third of it's voting strength. AS for
the Democratic party it is practically
without organization in the west and
south. and destitute Of any hope of sue
cess on the national field for several years
to come. Certainly there is not western
state which it has the ghost of a show Of
carrying this year. Does anybody ina
CINE that the Democratic voerst, dsheart-
ened and Disguised are going to vote for A
forlorn hope if any prospect Of defeating
Republican expectations and turning Re-
publican bluff and hrag into humliating
defeat? Besides a very large percentage
of democrats are for free silver, and have a
strong inclination towards Populism.
The Times further says that 1.-The silver
craze is one of the many indications that
the country is in bad way; that farmers
and other workers are disconnected with
their condition. They are told on all sides
that currency is in a disgraceful state
that we have eight kinds of dollars and
seven Of them discredited by the very
government that issues them. What won
der if they have 'unsound' views on the
currency question:?
The remarks of the Times are little short
of sensational They amount to an admis-
sion that the daily press of this state is
practically without influence with its
readers. Nights and days and Sundays
have the Pioneer Press, Globe. Dispatch
Tribune, Times. Journal and the lesser
lights in the country frantically inveighed
against silver, denouncng in the most vio-
lent language all those who advocated BIZ
metallism as laid down in Republican
platforms, as cranks, repudiationists and
traitors to the interests of the country.
In spite of all that and in spite of the
powerful influence Of the bankers, and the
tremendous lever of official patronage in
the hands of the INSCRIPTIONS tyrant in
the white house-n spite of all this lead
err Of the gold standard champions practi-