Mexico weekly ledger., 1896-03-05
Stone to the Silver Men.
THE GOVERNOR SAYS THEY
MUST RULE THE SEDALlA
CONVENTION.
He Sends Out Circulars Urging
the Friends of Free Coinage
to Organize For a
Fight.

1850. - Sir: L WOuln prefer 10
write you a personal autograph letter
If l could, but as / desire to write a
large number of similar letters to
Democrats throughout the State, /
am, in ord er to do that, compelled to
resort to the plan of a circnlar. 1
know that circulars are frequently
treated with more or less indifference,
but a resort to that method is a ne
cessity in this instance, and I trust
you will accord to this the same con-
you would give it if it were
an autograph letter.
My purpose in sending out this
communication is to promote the
effort l am making in conjunction
with others to organize those Demo-
Gratis in Missouri who favor a resolu-
ton in our national platform declar-
ing for the immediate free coinage of
silver into standard dollars at the
ratio of Is to l, and the nomination of
candidates for President and Vice
President who openly favor that
policy. The State Convention to Sc
lect delegates to the National Con-
vention will meet at Sedalia on April
Is next. The County Conventions
to appoint delegates to the Sedalia
will meet at different
dates during the latter part of March
and the first days of April. The dates
for these County Conventions will be
fixed for each county by its own COM
mittee. My hope and purpose is to
arouse the Democrats-the people
to the necessity of going actively to
work to C III the selection of coun-
ty delegates to the Sedalia Conven-
ton who are well-known and earnest
advocates of free silver coinage, and
who can be implicitly trusted to rep
resent their constituencies with fidel-
ity. l believe that a large majority
of the Democrats of this State favor
the free coinage of both gold and sill
yer; this majority, however, cannot
have its way, but will be overridden,
if the people are inactive, or if they
are careless or cowardly in the selec-
ton of their delegates.
/ write, therefore, to urge you, for
your interest and for the good of your
party and country, to take hold of the
work of organizing party friends
in your county, and particularly in
your own precinct, with the view of
sending free coinage men to your
County Convention, and through that
convention to send the strongest free
coinage Democrats of your county to
Sedalia. Remember that reforms even
at Washington must begin with the
people. Nothing can be accomplish
ed without organization, and precinct
organization is the basis of all organ
ization. You know full well that
ynrr own prosperity and that nf the
great mass of the people is involved
in the mighty struggle upon which
we are now entering. Should we
not, therefore-all of us-make that
our personal cause? Let us see our
and arouse every man to
action. am in correspondence with
many prominent and earnest men in
many States. We are going to make
a fight to rescue our party and coun-
try from the control of Wall street,
and to place the Government on a
higher plane.
This is your fight as much as mine.
You have as much at stake as /. I'm
less the people rally and make this
fight their own they cannot hope to
win. If all of us do u duty 1 believe
we can win a victory that will restore
prosperity to the people and save our
country from financial serfdom. Will
you not do your part? / write to urge
you to join in this effort and help to
give it an impetus that will sweep all
opposition before it. Work yourself
like a man in earnest, and get your
to join hands with you. The
forces against us are very strong. The
power of money, the power of pat
ronage and nearly all the metropoli-
tan papers are opposed to US. These
forces are organized and aggressive,
and they constitute a mighty combi-
nation. But / believe the great body
of the people n on the other side. If
| did not think so / would regard the
future of my country as hopeless. But
the people are not organized; and an
organized minority, with unlimited
means, is more potent than an unor-
majority. The effort l am
now making, in conjunction with 9TH
srs in Missouri and elsewhere, is to
organize the people SO that they may
De able to defend their rights and
make their will effective. In this work
ask your cooperation.
In this fight 1 state frankly my own
position. l shall favor the Sedalia con-
7ention sending a solid free silver del
to Chicago, ! shall favor the
of two delegates from each
congressional district, as has been
lone heretofore, as a matter of geo.
,raphical distribution; but l shall
tand with those who will insist on
very delegate being a pronounced
advocate of free silver coinage. / shall
AXE this position because / believe it
S right. / am in this fight to win it,
f possible, all the way up from the
'recinct to the national convention. /
10 not want to play politics like chill
Iren play mimic a want to fight
men should fight IN a battle, know
ng that victory means prosperity and
Iefeat disaster. The delegates to
Jhicago will represent the Missouri
Democracy. They go there to voice
he sentiment of this State. They do
lot go to voice simply the sentiment
# a district. If that were so then the
tate convention would have no right
instruct them. II a delegate goes
to speak for his district, how
ould he obey IN instruction of the
tate convention binding him to vote
.gainst the will of his immediate con-
tituents? Concede that a given dis
riot has the u~nqestioned right to Sc
ect it's own national delegates; con-
EIDE that the preponderating senti-
nent of that district favors gold
nonometallism ;conceed that the dele
,ates chosen from that district are
Pronounced gold men. Now. IL the