Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-03-26
Sound Money Statesmanship.

The following extract appeared in
the Republic of March 18th, in connec-
ton with fake account of meeting
held by the silver men of st. Louis at
which Governor Stone was present:
IL shall leave here on the afternoon
train of Wednesday and shall be &C
companied by State Treasurer Lon ".
Stephens. shall go to some private
house for supper, and go thence to the
Office of Excise Commissioner Nick M.
Bell, Twelfth and Market, where you
will meet me without fail not later
than 8 P. NJ.
81 have notified the Police Commits
sioners. Bannerman, Lee and Forster,
the Election Commissioners. Higgins
and Harris, the Chief of Police. Harri-
gan; Colonel Guinzburg of my staff.
Coal Oil Inspector Bronaugh and all OF
my other appointees that can trust,
to be on hand at the time and place
above mentioned.
1--WE must spare no effort to defeat
the goldbugs of St. Louis, as it will be
dangerous to disfranchise districts be-
cause they select goldbug delegates to
the Chicago Convention. The caucus
will be strictly private, as / wish to
avoid notoriety and newspaper sensa-
ton. Yours, truly.
s"WILLIAM j. STONE"
The Governor in the Post Dispatch of
the same date denounces the above
letter as q forgery. He denies that
he ever wrote any such letter, or that
he ever authorized any one to do so
for him, or that it was written with
his knowledge. This made q square
issue which people looked to see met
by either fac-simile of the letter in
question. or an apology. Naturally,
1t was concluded that if the letter was
forgery the Republic had been i'm
opportunity to exonerate itself from
what on its face would be regarded by
fair-minded men as a very questionable
piece of business; but nothing of the
kind occurred. On the following day
it published scurrilous editorial in
which the Governor was denounced as
q petty boss, his motives impugned,
and a vast deal of Billingsgate vomit-
ed forth; but it was admitted that Gov.
Stone had not written the letter to
which that paper had affixed his name.
This makes an ordinary man rub his
eyes. Dave Francis has always been
regarded as an acute politician and
his factotum and manager, Charles
Knapp. while not looked upon as the
wisest man upon the continent, has
been deemed careful of the reputation
Of his paper. This remarkable per-
Torrance can only be accounted for on
the theory that the administration or
gan of st. Louis finds the tide against
it SO strong that its managers have
lost their heads and have become COM
pIetely ratified.
1t is childish in Manager Knapp to
accuse Governor Stone of being petty
OOSS U6C6uS6 u0 10 " VI
ganize the silver forces of this State,
and because he does not regularly re-
port to the Sound Money Club at the
Office of John W. Noble. OF course
Sound Money men are taking the world
at large into their confidence. OF
course. our singularly open and frank
fellow-citizen, Col. Bill Phelps. is tell
Ing the people Of Southwest Missouri
the true reason why he wants goldbug
delegates to represent silver constit-
uencies at Chicago. OF course, the
Sound Money innocents are letting
the people know all about the conspir-
acy they have entered into to defeat
the will OF the majority of this State
by having men selected as delegates
to the National Convention who will
refuse to obey instructions when the
proper time comes. These men have NO