The herald., 1896-07-19


There is no mistaking the real tactics
Of the party leaders. Conscious Of the
danger that their selfish scheme of max
ing a home market for silver may be
overwhelmingly voted down at the eec-
ton, they marshal a host of side issues
out of which they may excite popu-
lar discomfort and awaken the mob
spirit and frighten theo orderly
supporters of sound money into
surrender. Their game Is transparent
and well understood and excites no con-
Germ among the classes against whom it
is directed. They stand unmoved upon
the foundation of common sense and
common honesty which has never failed
to shield the country from the shock of
civil disoontents. The more open the
temptations or the threats of demagogic
leaders, the more ready our people have
ever been to come to the rescue; and
the spirit and the dictation of the Chi
cago convention were just the ipcen-
tives needed to rally the friends Of
American principles and institutions for
overwhelming defense. Hence the pub
lie readily perceive that the Democratic
convention has made certain the cleo
ticn of the party of sound money and
honest finance in November. In this
sense, the political situation is both
clearer and safer today than 1t was a
week ago, and confidence is more solid.
The greenback craze twenty years ago
had many features in common with the
silver furore of the present day. 1t ap-
pealed to the weak spots in human ma
ture, and its crafty managers played up
on the feelings and prejudices of tho
working man, and the poor artisans, and
the skilled laborerS particularly, who arr
very easily persuaded that they are
greatly underpaid for their services.
The promises of abundance of money
O. 0n xxrifh mi 1n1r n,tf fT
everybody willing to work, were the al
Turing bats held out to every man who
had vote. How the fiat money was to
be got into circulation after it left the
printing press was part of the subject
too remote for inquiry, or was regarded
as an impertinent question presumably
put by hard money crank. The idea
of something for nothing always ap~
peals forcibly to the imagination of
those who have had to struggle for every
dollar they have obtained.
So far as the fiat money is concerned,
the enterprise of the old greenbackers
had some points of superiority to that
of the modern silverites. In the latter
case, 1T Is part fiat and part intrinsic
value; and the Solons of the modern sill
verites propose to create an inverted py-
ramid, and expect the lower part to
sustain the entire weight of the top
heavy structure. The scheme of the old
greenbacker was more scientific; for he
made the nation at large the immense
base of his pyramid, leaving illimitable
space for it's height even to the moon and
stars.
There are some interesting points in
the parallel between the financial man
ayers, the men with the doodle" who
ran the greenback Utopia. and those
who are now supplying the sinews of
war for the promised land of silver in
prospect.
Peter Cooper was easy of approach
and had ready ear for every tale of
woe. Upon this weakness the crafty
tricksterS, the needy agents who at
tended to his canvass, played with never
failing success. 1t was pitiable to see.
as an eyewitness of some of those
scenes during the sreenback campaign
has told me- the grand old man being
heeced by those political larpies through
the relation Of some story of distress in
the west. III Ill the check was forth
coming to relieve 1t.
Joues of Nevada l am told, is very
similar in his yielding propensities to
Peter Cooper. ard will give up" quite
as easily, with this difference that he
may become utterly oblivious after
wards as to where it has gone, or to
whom he has givcn l..
1t is said that Silver King Stewart is
almost of the same stripe as his royal
brother Jones. l allude to these facts
in no unfriendly spirit, but simply to
show the enticing field that is open to
these modern adventurers in politics
these parasites of the silver kings whose
great anxiety is to make use of the un-
hr-~;+ ..-.----.~-- sf +t>- ,saillionaires fol
J their selfish purposes.
| But seriously speaking, though the
| silver movement has cut a broader
/ swath than the greenback adventure
yet when the wind gets out of it. after
the convention, it will be found that it
has very little more of the quality of
durability in it than the older scheme of
imitation.
The solid educational campaign tried
the old scheme and found;it sadly want
ing. The balloon collapsed long before
November, 1876 and the scheming ad-
venturers retired into private life. leav-
ing their candidates in the consomme,
with the memcry of a few months ex-
ed cash
This historic analogy in finance and
politics will. all proba ability. preserve it's
palallelism to the end Of the chapter.
Mckinley will undoubtedly be elected.
in which event the gold standard will
be maintained: our nationaE credit will
be sustained. our securities will find
throng holders both at home and
abroad, panic will be averted and a boom
Will be inaugurated. not Only in Wall
street. but throughout our broad land.
with which no old time revival can COM
pare in point of prosperity.