The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-29

Cisvsis.a,s srienes = Fatal E--Ssrp~ss-sut
70 Democracy sad seusa Msuey.

70 Democracy sad seusd Msuey.
WASHINGTON, May 2s.-Major Mckinley be-
ing apparently nominated with a quiet under
standing between him and Mark Hanna that
tho campaign is TO be made as far as possible
on tariff. attention turns to Chicago. What
will tho Democrats dol
This IA a question frequently asked. but never
answered. No oficeholder. no member OF Con-
gross, no leader, is willing even to guess. A few
weeks ago the administrator and the Mug
wumps had It all circumstantiaily laid out. tho
lines drawn and fixed. Then the platform was
to be for sound money, emf the candidate was
TO be named by Grover Cleveland, in the event
OF his determining Mt tho last moment not to
take II himself.
But all that IL changed. The condition ~
tho Administrator is almost forlorn. II any
hopes are entertained Of the nomination OF tho
President for a third term, they are nursed Sc
cretly. and by those only who Turk In the very
shadow Of tho candidate. That they are enter
tanned at all 10 inferred only from his refusal
TO speak when to speak. II not a candidate,
would relieve his party and his faction of al
most fatal cmbarrassments.
Mr.. Carlislo's candidacy has withered under
Cleveland's deadly silence. Billy Russell's is
dying under the suspicion that he was brought
out as q sort of forerunner of the third term
schemors. The power which Mr.. Cleveland
seemed to have six months ago to shape the
Convention and frame tho issues has been fritz
tered away and lost. or worse; for the active
favor OF the Administration and its peculiar
friends would now injure moro than It could
help any candidate.
Tho termination of the Cleveland reign would
be a relief to the party II tho collapse, Just on
the eve OF tho Convention. did not involve almost
certain disaster to the cause OF sound money. II
the silver men arc In q majority at Chicago, and
In n temper to reject all com promise. and there
by insure the election of Mckinley, with q Ro-
publican Congress uncertain on the money
question. tho sound money Democrats may
thank Mr.. Cleveland and his agents and office
holders for their plight. Three things have re-
comfy contributed heavily to depress tho sound
money side and to raise the silver side, or,
thanks to Mr.. Cleveland's course, the anti
Cleveland side, In tho Democratic fight.
II President Cleveland is not a candidate for
. third term, is there any reason why he should
not say sol He knows that the party Is stag
gering under the weight of the charge that he,
It's official head, three times honored by It's NOM
nation. and twice elected by It's votes, contem-
plates this assault upon the cherished traditions
Of the republic. He knows that tho cause of
sound money Is failing because It ia, by his
silence. identified with the third term: and that
tho outgivings of his friends and of1cehoiders
encourage the belief that his nomination at
Chicago is to follow the control of tho Con-
vention by the so~und-money wing. In all
the great States, where the fight for sound
money is being made against growing
odds. the sound-money men encounter the
invinciblo conviction that sound money and
tho third term are to be combined, II the Ad-
mintstration can command q majority. It
knocks them over In piles. 1t is doing more than
everything else to carry Illinois, Indiana. Ohio,
and Kentucky over to free silver. Senator Brice
started In to stem the tide in Ohio. but the worry
fact that he did SD at Cleveland's request was a
handicap, and now he AYERS that no and all
other seund-money men are paralyzed. and
everything is going to the devil everywhere for
want OF q letter from the President saying in
plain English that he is no better than George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson. and that
there must DO no nomination for a third term.
Brice's experience is only that Of every one
else. H. is doubtful II any relief is practicable
at this time of day. Should the President now
decide to get of the neck of the party. and give
It q chance, It would be too late to afford much
relief. The damage Is done, the delegates are
elected, or the fight is about over. No wide
awake Democratic politician in Washington
has tho least idea that Illinois. Ohio. Indiana, or
Kentucky can be saved. The Administration 10
simply amazed and Wandering.
In apparently authorized interviews in New
York, reprinted approvingly In his own Philadel-
phia organs. Chairman Harrity has stated that
there would be no free-siiver majority at Chi
caRo. because the National Committee was for
sound money and would not put on the roll the
names of silver delegates who were suspected
OF any disposition to bolt 1t is right to say that
Mr.. Harrity claims to have been misunderstood
and that he now says the passage of n resolu-
tion by the Convention itself requiring every
delegate to support the ticket was all that he
meant. But the denial does not pass current.
That the purpose to doctor the roll existed was
known before the report Of tho Chairman's
was printed. 1t has been frequently
intimated BY Cabinet officers and dependents OF
the administration And why. 1t is asked. are
the Cleveland gold standard people setting up
delegations wherever they are beaten.
and no matter how badly they are beaten. II
they do not expect to get on the roll, or, at least.
to keep the regular delegates off?
II sound money is killed at Chicago. 1t will
have been killed chiefly by Mr.. Cleveland's self
ish silence on the third term.