Evening star., 1896-01-21
Gathering in Force for the Confer
ence Here Tome orrow.
SOME WHO HAVE ALREADY ARRIVED
Belief That a New Party Will Be
the Result.
ELIMIN AIRY COS SIP

The free silver men are gathering in force
for their conference in this city tomor-
row.
The conference is to be held in Willard s
Hall, and will be called to order at II
o'clock by Gen. A. ]. Warner Of Ohio, who
will probably be elected the presiding Off
GER of the gathering. The meeting will
be private, and none will be present exec pit
those who have been invited. 1t is ex-
pected that there will be at least one hun
dred prominent free silver men in attend
ance, and probably half of that number are
now in the city.
The conference was brought about by a
meeting in Chicago about three weeks ago
of the presidents of the three leading silver
organizations of the country-the American
Bimetallic League, the National Bime.allic
Union and the National Silver Committed
1t was agreed at that meeting to consoli-
date all the silver organizations under the
name of the American Bimetallic Union
with headquarters in Washington, Chicago
San Francisco and a point yet to be de-
cfded on in the south. Gen. A. j. Warner
was elected president of the consolidat ted
organization. 1t was also agreed to call a
conference of the silver leaders to be held
mere on the I'D, for the purpose Of ratify-
Ing the consolidation and for mapping out
program for the course to be purs led
by the silver men in the coming national
hight. Since that time the opinions of the
independent silver men have crystallizcd
into the belief that the only salvation is in
the launching of a new party, with silver
as the only issue So the conference tomor-
row will really have for it's main object the
establishment of a brand new political or
gdnization.
PfcturesQue Characters.
The preliminary caucuses and confabs of
the bimetallic men are in progress today at
the Sun building, on F street. Some pic
turesque characters can be seen in close
and es rnest conversation. Gen. j. b.
Weaver of Iowa is one of these characters;
Senator Marion Butler of North Carolina is
another. Then there are Gen. Warner and
Judge Starke of Ohio
Gen. Weaver and Senator Butler declare
they have nothing to do with the confer
ence, but are simply here to confer with
the silver men as to all the silver organiza-
tions and parties holding their national
conventions at the-s same time and place.
When the populist national committee met
in st. Louis last week it was aware of the
probability of new party being sprung
here this week and decided to leave open
the date for holding the popuIist national
convention until it conferred with the new
party leaders in Washington.
The following special committee was ap-
pointed to meet the silver men tomorrow:
v
Virginia; Senator Marion Butler, North
Carolina; I. NJ. Patterson, Colorado; J. c.
Bell. Colorado; c. NJ. Wardall, California;
J: H. Turner. Georgia; Z. g. Brown, Massa-
chusetts.
All the members Of this committee are
in town. They say that their only busi-
ness here is to carry out the instructions
of the national committee. They will take
no part in the conference.
Should the new party and the populists
agree to hold their national conventions
at the same time and place it will probably
mean a consolidation OF both into one
party, and the "silver love feast" which a
silver man told a Star reporter some time
ago would take place, would be carried out
to perfection.
General Weaver said today that the pop
ulist national convention would meet at
St. Louis at some date between the 7th and
I'D of July, after the old parties have held
their conventions. The date will be fixed
by the executive committee.
Some Of Those Here.
The following are some Of the free silver
men who are in the city to attend the con-
ference: r. c. Chambers of Utah, ex-Con-
gresham H. L. Bartine of Nevada, editor
of the Bimetallist; e. B. Light of Colorado,
]. r. Toole of Montana, Gen. A. j. Warner
of Ohio, George Mcintosh Of Utah, Judge
Stark of Ohio. ]. L. johnson and Gen. Rob-
ert Beverly of Virginia, DR.. ]. j. Mott of
North Carolina, Wharton Barker and John
H. Lorimer of Pennsylvania, Joseph Bat
telle of Vermont, Geo. P. Keeney of Califor-
mia, secretary OF the Bimetallic Union: e. C.
Warner Of Washington, Geo. S. Nixon of
Neva4a' ex-Congressman T. J. Clune and
Geo. w. Baker ef California, JOS C. Sibley
of Pennsylvania, G. P. Merrill of Montana,
DR.. Taylor of Chicago, Judge Miller Of Vir-
g.nia, Judge Cole of Iowa, A. c. Shinn of
Kansas.
Besides the foregoing it is limited that
large sprinkling of silver Congressman and
Senators will be On hand. They do not de-
sire SO much publicity to their presence
right now, as they may or NAV not fall into
the new party with open arms. They NAV
want to hang on where they are until they
see which way the political cat is going to
jump.