The Progress., 1896-08-08
IN POLITICAL FIELDS.
What is Being Done ard
Said
Bv Men Who Will Shape Onr Pub
lie Affairs.
,ro. our Regular G. ,rrespondent.

money question, 'ney Will 00A'"''1!
do SO this year. Never during this
correspondents twenty years expert
ence in Washington newspaper WORK
have the people shown snch intense
INTEREST in any question as they are
now showing in silver. Ordinarily
it is only the politicians who discuss
the issues of the National campaign,
but now literslly everybody Is discuss
ing silver and if the number OF peo-
ole who are still in donbt as to wheth-
er they oppose or favor the fre9 COIN
ACE of silver are seeking information
on the subject is proportionately as
large all over the country as in Wash
ipgtoa. it is perfectly clear that the
decision is at the present time hang
Ing III the balance, as it were, ana
that the majority is yet to be ronvlnc-
ed one way or the other. The com
mittee headquarters of all the parties
are constantly thronged with people
who want copies of all the documents
issued both for and against free com
age. All the local papers are con-
Quoting open discussions on the sub
iect and even the bootblacks are ask
ing their patrons the meaning OF free
coinage of silver at ratio OF 10 to l.
In quiet family gatherings the same
question is asked and discussed, ana
one is constantly surprised to learn
how much the wome have read on the
subject. The reason Tor tnlS
great interest is not hard to get at
Other National questions, however
important they may be- 40
not personally appeal to the average
man or woman, but when it comes
to money every body is at once inter-
ested, not only in how they are to
get it, but in its purchasing power
after they get it, The term cam
ps,gn Of education" has become some
what hackneyed Of late years, but II
is certain that it is the only correct
name for the present condition OF al
fairs. Both gold and silver Men
profess to believe that this educatlon
of the masses on the money question
is going to result in their winning
It will certainly result i'll the people
knowing more on the subject than
they ever knew before.
Acting Secretary Turner, who is II
temporary charge of the Natlona
Populist Headquarters, says the dem
, ocratic and populist National Com
: mittees will settle the Watson-Sewal
q business, and that it will be decided
in the interest Of the parties. rathe
then of either of the men. he ais
said: "a division of the electors
leaving both Watson and Sewall o
n their respective tickets will be a YER
easy matter in all the Southern state
where the election laws are not s
10 stringent as in some of the othe
IS states. No state in the South r
= ouires that the name of candida'
r shall appear but once on the tlcke
l. hence it viii! not create any confusio
:, or iDiure Bryan if the electors be d
- vided and half of them presented u
n der the caption Of Bryan and Sews
= and the other half standing for Bry'
AZ and Watson. The vote in each i
70 stance would count for Bryan" Sc
rotary Mercer, of the Repub
~ licsn Congressional committe
OF takes a somewhat different view
the mttter. He said: "The silly
to men are going to experience the
N first serious set back when they
:. tempt to form their fusion with Il
popul,s.s, especially i'll the south.
" do not believe the populists in th
q, section will consent to vote for dem
w cratic electors unless they are prom
TX ed share is the state Offices, and Il
=, the democrats will not feel dispose
to give. l believe that several OF Il
s. Southern states will give republic
It's maiorlties, and that the populist W
waist in bringing about that result
Others are expressing the. very f.
We tive opinion that the ''middle-of-tl
no road" populists will have preside
tial ticket Of their own before I
W campaign grows much older.
he The politicians are wonder1
y. whether that dry proclamation VIII
:ao,, Nlovolun1 isauo1 1ast W.