The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1897-03-12

an unnecessary tribute to the silver
cause.
As hypocrisy is said to be the tribute
which vice pays to virtue, so interna-
tional bimetallism is confession by
the gold standard men VINO voted for
it that it is much to be preferred over
the gold standard. The grsat body of
the republicans in congress would have
been glad if they could have buried
the international monetary conference
bill in the crypt in the endorsement
of the capitol building. They hated to
offend their masters and patrons in
Wall street. They hated to give Gro
yer Cleveland a chance to say to the
gold men: 81 told you So" They have
good reason to fear the passage by the
republicans of an international mon
etary conference bill, that will result
in the building up of an Out-and-out
political party openly favoring the gold
standard. The Indianapolis cOnven-
ton and the subsequent conference of
of bankers at the same city, together
with all other forms, modes and shows
of gold monometalism, have already
formed a nucleus for such a party.
Grover Cleveland will be its head, or
he will name his subititute. What the
gold standard forces, with the great
money power at their back, demand is
unfinching support of the gold stand
standard, with no ifs or ands. Already
they are murmuring that Mckinley is
going to be controlled by "the pOliti-
cians," and not by "the business mel"
They do not fear that he will do any
thing for the silver cause, but they say
it weakens their own power to have a
president, elected by them, deal in
any soft words with the bimetsllists.
They say that no man can serve two
masters. They believe that every egg
is perfectly sweet or it is rotten. There
in no such thing as a moderately good
egg.
Perhaps our new president will be
able to satisfy either the gold men or
the bimetallists. If he is for the gold
standard, he is No. for international
bimetallism, even with the consent of
England If be is for bimetallism by
an international agreement he ought
logically to be for independent bimet-
allism in case of a failure to secure En-
glands consent to an international
agreement. If he says anything in ia
vOr of either side, he will offend the
other side. If he says something in
favor of both sides, he will please nei-
ther, and if he says nothing he will Of
fend both.
His best way out of the complication
would be to construe the St. Louis
platform as favoring, first, bimetallism
on an international agreement; second,
the gold standard pending the negoti-
atoms for an international agreement,
and, third, Independent bimetallism as
soon as reasonable efforts in favor of
international bimetallism shall have
resulted in failure.
1t is absurd to suppose that the BIZ
metalIism, declared in the st. Louis
platform to be desirable, is to be aban-
doned wholly because all other ma
tions will not agree to it. By every
rule in the construction of law and in
morals, the republican party is commit
ted only to its best efforts during
reasonable time to seizure an interna-
ional agreement and to maintain the
gold standard only during that reason
able time. President Mckinley has
the power to enforce this perfectly
fair construction. If he does not take
that view of it he will destroy his party
and his administration with it. He
must remember that Senator Stewart.
of Nevada, remained with the repub-
licau party up to 1890 in the vain hope
that the party would maintain its silver
pledges. He must remember that Sen
ators Teller, Jones of Nevada, Dubois,
Mantle, Pettigrew and others remained
in the republican party until last June
in the hope that the party would re-
deem its pledges in favor of silver coin
age. and that they only left it when
the st. Louis platform was adopted,
which they construed as denying all
hope of bimetallism unless Great Brit
ain would agree to it. If Maior McKin-
ley shall now prove to the remaining
bimetallists in the party that Senator
Teller and his friends we're right, and
that Great Britain can make the gold
standard perpetual in this country by
a refusal to consent to an information
al agreement, how does Major McKin-