The Saint Paul globe., 1896-08-01
BILLY BRYAN's AUTOGRAPH
AT THE BOTvTOM OF LETTER Is
TREASURED BY THE
LEAGUE.
COINAGE CLIENTELE
SILVER
Holds "a CharactertsticaIIy Enthu-
siastic Meeting at Assembly
Hall.

| at Assembly hall. The storm probably
was responsible for the light attendance
as only sixty persons were present.
John Dale was chairman Of the meet
| ing, and what the audience lacked in
numbers was made up in enthusiasm.
AT the last meeting of the league a
! committee of two each from the Demo-
cratic, Populist and Republican mem
bers of the organization were appointed
| to select an executive committee of fif-
teen. The committee SO appointed,
were not ready with report, and the
| chair was directed to see that the ex-
! ecutive committee was selected and to
| report the names at an adjourned
meeting to be held on Monday night
| 1t was argued that it was of the ut
most Importance that the executive
committee should be ready to confer
! with delegates to the Democratic state
| convention which meets in Minneapolis
| on Tuesday next. A proposition to form
| clubs in each precinct of the county for
/ the purpose of doing missionary work
with the voters was talked about, but
no definite action was taken
c. A. Fleming, who attended the sill
yer convention at St. Louis, related to
the meeting the action taken by the
convention. The interest, he said, was
not as great as at the Republican or
Democratic conventions, owing to the
fact that there was no contest. The
Populist convention, he claimed was
practically unanimous for Bryan, but
there was strong opposition to Sewall
The Southern Populists, he said, were
very bitter against the Democrats, and
for this the wise fhiYcr dOVo
in not nominating Sewall The Pop
ulists, he said, would hold the Demo-
Gratis in check, and the Democrats
would do the same with the Populists.
The committees of both parties, he con-
tended, if properly conducted, would
be strengthened all through He ad-
vised the members how to meet the ar
guments of the gold men, and cited
the statement that the free coinage of
silver meant the dumping of silver in
the United States. The speaker said
this was not correct, as a glance at
the statistics would show that even If
all the silver was dumped here which
was not needed in other countries, it
would not amount to more than So per
capita. Within one year after the free
coinage of silver at a ratio of 16 to
L, A1S ooAO, ollNSA nOOlA OS Lie IuOI6
valuable metal. In 1873, he stated sill
yer was a trifie more valuable than
gold, and after free coinage was es-
tablished and silver was more in use
the white metal would rise and gold
go down, so that the two metals would
be very close together All the mem
bers of the league he. advised to study
up the question of free silver, so that
i III
that there was a strong sentiment in
ST. Paul for the free coinage of silver,
even if the newspapers denied the fact
He explained in answer to a question
that the way to get silver in circula-
tion after free. coinage had been es-
tablished was to take the metal to the
mint, have the money coined, and then
take it and spend it the same as other
money. The parity Of the metals he
said, should be allowed to take care of
itself
Benn Davis urged the necessity of
securing daily paper in the state to
advocate the free silver question
Literature was all right in a way, but
it could not be distributed and did not
have the effect that a paper issued
every day had. The gold men, he said
knew what the free silver stampede
meant and there was a much greater
question behind it. The free coinage
| of silver at a ratio of 16 to l would be
an entering wedge to the destruction
Of monopolies and trusts in the coun-
try and this was what was making
the gold men work SO hard to convince
the people that the gold standard was
| the right thing. The people, he said
did not want to repudiate the debt but
they wanted to say to the foreign
capitalists, I'VE will pay all that we
have agreed but want no more of your
money
Lloyd Peabody said there was urgent
need for a daily paper. The gold men
had the best talent that could be pro-
cured in every city and the papers
daily kept repeating the old song about
an honest dollar, a good dollar, so that
men who had not the time to inform
themselves of the fallacy of the argu-
ment were led to believe there was
something to the cry The gold men in
st. Paul, he said, had in their employ
on the newspapers as able. unscrupu-
louS, and mendacious writer's as there
| were in any city in the country
N. S. BeardSley told of a case of
intimidation which had been brought
to his notice in st. Paul by prominent
manufacturer. The man, he said,
visited his employees and told them
that if Mckinley was not elected the
be called in and a cut made in the
office and factory force. Another en-
ployer, he stated, had endeavored to
secure from the banks enough Mexican
silver dollars to pay off his men with
the idea that by so doing he could give
them an object lesson against the free
coinage of silver. The Mexican dollars
| were not to be obtained but it was not
the business mans fault that the
scheme was not carried through.
l. c. W. Hall read statistics showing
that three quarters of the population
of the world used silver, or currency
founded on it, while one quarter used
gold. Nine tenths of the people in the
humber walks of life used only silver
money. and until something else took
the place of money it was impossible
to get along without silver The silver
question, as at present before the peo-
pie, he likened to the free soil ques-
ton in the ffties and predicted that
the victory would be won in much the
same manner only without the horrors
of war.
An autograph letter from w. J. Bry-
an was read, thanking the league for
the kind expressions of good will which