Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-05-06
sIBLEY's LETTER.
Earnest. Hopeful Words Written BY the
Pennsylvania Ex-Congressman and Ma
tional Rimetallfsts.

Earnest. Hopeful Words Written BY the
PENNSYLVANIA Ex-Congressman and Ma
tional Bimetallists.
The following is a copy of the letter
written by the Hon. Joseph c. SlDley,
the noted eX-Congressman of Pennsyl-.
van:a. and national bimetalist, sent TO
the secretary of the Bimetalic Club IN
acknowledgment Of the notification that
he had been elected a honorary member
of The local organization:
Il beg TO acknowledge receipt OF
your esteemed favor Of April l2th,
which l find upon my return home from
Washington. notifying me of my cleo
I ton as honorary member of the Blme-
talic Club. l trust you will convey to
your officers and members my appre-
citation of the honor bestowed. l as
sure YOU that the best recompense one
can have for honest and ardent effort
in behalf of principles which enacted
into legislation have for their object
the betterment and uplift OF all our
common humanity, is the fact that
somewhere among good men and true
there is recognition of those efforts;
and such manifestation as comes in
your notification is, therefore, by me
most highly appreciated. | enclose a
New York draft for $500 in payment
of membership fee. and am proud to
accept and be enrolled in your list OF
honorary members.
Each day mere ald more demon
strates the correctness of the conten-
! ton Of our friends, that in bimetalism
! - 3 e., Tho rQllaf
from the hardships now affecting ana
tormening American productive indus
try. Those who are looking to the
tariff for relief are merely treating
symptoms and not disease. | had hoped
that four years of object lesson under
| the single gold standard would have
sufficed, and that last year the people
| would have been prepared TO make
four years more of such misery i'm
possible. However, ii seems that we
complicated the issue by the introdunc-
ton of other issues, which however
defensible in good morals, diverted and
distracted the attention of the people
from the leading issue concerning the
merits of that which for more than
twenty years they had had object
lessons without number. Our Republic
can friends. in their platform, in their
newspapers and on the stump, through
the threats of ten thousand orators,
pledged 10 the American people an era
of unbounded prosperity contingent
alone upon the election of their candi-
dates. Some of them doubtless be-
ieved the statements they made. Others
must have recognized the impossibility
Of fulfillment of such pledges. The
duty of keeping good their promises is
now obligatory. l hope they may sue
coed, yet we almost know that they
must fail. and through the organization
of all good friends who love their coun-
try and their fellow men, the truth
must be kept before the people that
there can be no permanent prosperity
possible to our people under the dwarf
ing. blighting .paralyzing operations OF
the single gold standard. And in the
support of such standard they must
realize each year they must contribute
a greater and greater portion OF all the
products Of human industry for its
maintenance.
Fortunately our Republican friends
control all branches of government,
and therefore they cannot shlrk the re-
sponsibility or place the defeat of pros
perity on opposition shoulders. To
them the people confided the supreme
power, and their duty is to fulfill their
pledges: and when the future has dem
onstTa,ed. as it musj, the inutility of
their plans. the futility Of their meas
ures. newspaper clamOr and the con-
centration of selfish interests will be
powerless to stay the tide of popular
sentiment and patriotic impulse which
will again demand an American fnan-
cial system for American people. In
the loyal efforts TO speed the coming
of the brighter day. l sincerely hope
that the Bime,alic Club. of Wheeling,
will play no inconspicuous part.
l have the honor to be,
Sincerely. your friend,
JOSEPH c. SHELLEY.