The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-03
CoURTING ANOTHER DEFEAT.

Mr.. Bryan's midsummer campaign, which
opened in this city on Tuesday night. has
distinct political significance. This is an
off year in politics, when, as rule. profess
sional politicians and campaign speakers
take a rest. The people want rest from
political agitation, and if left to themselves
would have it. Yet at such a time, and at
the very beginning of hot weather, Mr.
Bryan leaves his home in Nebraska for a
ten weeks speaking tour. His first date
was in this city From here he goes to
Cleveland Buffalo Toronto, Montreal, OF
tawa, Burlington, VT, and Troy, n. Y,
thence to Missouri and the Pacific coast
No man undertakes SO arduous a trip in the
summer months without an object in view,
nor, it may be added, without his expenses
and some compensation being assured. The
meaning of 1t is plain. Mr.. Bryan Is tray
cling in the pay either of the Bimetallic
League or the free-silver Democracy, and
the purpose of the trip is to keep the silver
issue to the front, with himself as its rep
resentative and prospective candidate. 1t
means that the managers of the regular
Democratic organization have decided, if
possible, to make free silver the dominant
issue in 1902 and TO force the fighting to
the extent of driving sound-money Demo-
Gratis out of the party, or rather, as they
are already out, of keeping them out There
are other indications of this purpose The
local organization and the silver push" in
this city and State have shown the same
purpose. The Kentucky Democrats who as
sembled at Frankfort yesterday were full
of it. The Louisville Courier-Journal Of
Tuesday, foreseeing their action. repudiated
it and them in advance. 1t said:
On the lines laid down at Chicago last
year, and to be laid down al Frankfort to-
MORROW, enduring success is not possible.
We do not believe that on those lines even
temporary advantage is likely. Silver
coinage as proposed by these gentlemen
means silver monometallism. 1t does not
mean the use OF gold and silver, and paper
convertible into either. 1t means the Mex
icanization of the currency with the Italian
annex of irredeemable paper. If this could
be realized 1t would ruin the country before
it could reach and relieve the debtor 1t is
as far as the scaling of debts goes, barren
locality. 1t strikes directly at the public
credit, and is at war with all private credit.
Its actualzation would involve fiscal an
archy. The Courier-Journa has no
desire to misreport these gentlemen, and
still less to assail them They are wrong,
Wretchedly wrong. They are unjust, wo-
fully unjust They are out of accord with
the strength of Democracy, intellectual and
moral. If the party is to be reorganzed
with the nope OF winning victories, dis
tinctvely Democratic, it must and will be
on other lines than those of free silver or
bust. But let them go with the part they
have marked OUT for themselves. We would
not detain or obstruct them, if we could.
Whom the. gods mean to destroy, they first
make mad.
This shows how wide the gulf is between
ha
the saddle and the sound-money Democrats
whom they have determined to drive out of
the party.
The purpose of Mr.. Bryan's ten weeks
speaking tour in midsummer is so plain that
it is worth while to consider its probable
outcome. viii free silver be a popular is
sue in 1900, and will Mr.. Bryan be a strong
candidate? That depends. If there should
be no material Improvement in the times
between now and 1900, free silver probably
would be popular issue, and Mr.. Bryan
its logical representative. But there is
every reason to believe that there will be a
very decided Improvement. As soon as the
tariff question is settled as it will be inside
of sixty days, business conditions, already
improving. will enter on a new stage of i'm
provement, and it will be accelerated by
judicious action on the money question In
less than year from now the chatter
about the Republican party not having full
filled its pledges will be sienced and the
purveyors of calamity who are asking
Where is your prosperity?' will have
taken to the woods. At least, this is the
Journals prediction. When that time
comes it will be the beginning of the end of
free-silver agitation. The movement de-
rived all it's strength in the last campaign
from the hard times. 1t was laid out cold
by the election of Mckinley, and it is re-
viving again because prosperity has not re-
turned within sixty days after his inaugu-
ration. Nothing could be more absurd or
unreasonable than this, yet a great many
men are built that way. If the hard times
should continue till the close of the present
administration free silver and Bryan
might sweep the country but if prosperity
returns before then, as there is abundant
reason for believing it will, instead of
sweeping the country free silver and Bryan
will be swept out of political existence 1t
follows that in hitching its fortunes to free
silver the Democratic party is taking a.
great risk, with the chances largely against
1t. If it adheres to that issue and to the
insane policy of driving the sound-monev
Democrats out of the party, it will solidify
and strengthen the sound-money sentiment
of the country bring out the business mems
vote and meet with a greater overthrow
than it did last year. In pushing free silver
to the front it is counting another defeat
YAWPERs VS.. BUSINESS MEN.
Mr.. BrVanS SnPapb in N,