The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-23
TRANs-MIssIss1PP1 CONG
CONDEMNED.
CONGRESS-

The St Louis Democrat is of
opinion that the Trans Mississippi
congress. which has just adjourned.
Was unwise in allowing itself to be
run in the silver interest. It says that
delegates from ST. Louis were induced
TO attend the congress on the promise
that there would be no politics in its
/ proceedings. It charges that this prom
ise was broken early in the session. It
further says that It was a mistake to
allow Bryan TO actively participate in
this congress at ALL As Mr.. Bryan was
the president Of the congress it is
hard to see how he could have been
prevented from actively participating
in it.
The Globe-Democrat goes on to say
that everybody in the west favors the
objects for which the congress osten-
si@y met to promote, such as the de-
veIopment Of irrigation, the improve
ment of rivers and harbors. the extern
sion of railroad communication. the
admission of the remaining territories
to statehood and like schemes, all of
which are worthy of praise; but it
does not like the idea OF the congress
having turned itself into "a meeting
Of silver boomers and says that when
it did so lit was guilty of a breach Of
faith toward the anti-silver districts,
which one of their representatives, the
president of the congress, appropri-
ateIy rebuked by offering his resigna-
ton"
The Globe-Democrat then launches
INTO a TRADE against silver, declaring
that "the silver agitation, which is
responsible for the greater part of the
ills that have afflicted the country in
recent years, has done far more harm
to the west than it has to the east. AS
the west is held TO be a distributing
center. for this folly the west has been
discredited. in a considerable degree,
in the eyes of the country, capital
which otherwise would have come to
it has staid away and other capital
which was here has been withdrawn.
The borrower here has to pay higher
rates for money on that account, en-
terprise has been impeded, and the nat
ural increase in population. business
and the value of property has been
checked, while the silver interest.
which has been the melting cause of
.all this disturbance and disaster, has
not been benefited in the faintest de-
gree. Every silver man with the slight
est glimmer of reason in his co1iiposi-
ton knows this to be true Silver agi-
tation in any shape is something
which the west should take particular
pains to shun at this time.
There was in the congress itself a
question whether the resolution in IA
vor of silver should be adopted, but
after a long and able debate the con-
gress decided to adopt it, as it might
have adopted any other resolution.
Then in the far west public sentiment
is so nearly unanimous in favor of free
coinage that it almost ceases to be a
political question. That which makes
question political is division of sen
timent in parties over it; that division
can hardly be said to exist in the far
west. And this was the view the con-
gress took.
So far as the Silver agitation" hav-
ing hurt the west is concerned, it was
the characterization of silver that
worked all the ills mentioned by the
Democrat. And every anti-sil-
yer man with the slightest glimImer of /
reason in his composition knows this |
70 be true. This same silver agitation
viii be continued until silver is re-
stored TO its proper place in our mon (
etary system.
Had the mississippi congress /
adopted a resolution condemning the /
agitation for free silver would the
Democrat have blamed or
praised it as a patriotic, bipartisan |
body? We fancy it would have
praised it.