The St. Johns herald., 1898-01-29
WASHINGTON LETTER.
4 Scheme to Unite the Silver
 Forces.

l
 WASHINGTON, January 21, 1898. Ii the silver forces of the country are thoroughly united. they can win. That has been admitted by anti-silver men. If the silver forces are not united, it will not be the fault of the men who are at the head of the national committees of the three parties which advocated the free coinage of silver in the last na- tionai campaign. As 8 result or num- ! be- ~f o"r rfa~anoas -hatusaau Chairman Leaes. of the Democratic National com mIttge G',,,;,,,,sr, s,,,-;.,., = 2,7 ] list National committe:, and Chairman IoWne, of the Silver Republican Ma tional committee, joint address to the friends of silver has been prepared and will be widely circulated, with view to securing cooperative action in every congressional district in which there are organizations of two or more of these parties, in this years campaign. In other words, the object is to secure the election of silver representative in ev- cry congressional district which has a majority of silver voters. If the spirit of this address is accepted and put into practical effect by the voters, there is no doubt that majority of the next house will be silver men.
 The long and determined fight in the FiNy-thjrd cong, ess over the attempt to stop speculating on options may De Io- newed, as Representative Sullivan, of Missouri, has introduced an anti-option bill along about the same lines as the old Hatch bill that was only defeated after long and costly struggle, in which all of the stock and grain exchanges of the country united to fight the bill.
 Enough lies to fill big book have been printed about the selection of the Democratic Congressional Campaign committee, all of them with one ten dency-an effort to make it appear that plot existed to elect an anti-siiver chairman of this committee Such talk was of course, ridiculous 10 those who knew the facts, although 1t may have guIled some others. There has been no plot and the method by which members of the committee are selected are such that any plot would be next to impossi- ble. With the exception of member from Tennessee, all of the members of the committee have been selected, and thIs week chairman and secretary will be elected, and there is not the slight est doubt that both will be pronounced silver men. Instead of silver having been weakened on the committee it has really been strengthened. Senator Gray, of Delaware, who was member of tn old committee. was not selected for the new one, solely because of his repudiation of the Chicago platform. Ill his place Senator Rawlins, of Utah, was selected, and there is surely not a stronger silver man in either branch oi congress than he is Another new mem Der of the committee is Senator Cock rell, of Missouri, whose pronounced sil- ; ~--- -'1 ~ro~ tha o0rn- try. Senators Mitchell, of Wisconsin Murphy. of New York, and Smith, of New Jersey, who were on the old com mittee, were selected for the new com mittee. They are not silver men, per sonally, but their party loyalty caused them to support Mir. Bryan ana the Chicago platform, and there was no lus' reason why they should be sllghteu Oy being left off.
 Nearly everybody in congress expects that a crisis will be reached III CnDan matters in a very short time. Those IT. ots in Havana will force the hand Of the government if they continue. The sen' ate has asked Nil Mckinley to inform it what, if any, preparations had been made to protect Americans and Amerl' can interests in Cuba, and if the ans vel isn't speedily forthcoming, or isn't sat isfactory, there is likely to be circus in the senate. In the house, the con sideration of the diplomatic and consu- lar appropriation bill was postponed from last week, when it was ready, tol fear that the Cuban speeches certain t' he made upon it would create so mucl excitement that tine house might ge
 away from the czar and rush that Nor
 gan belIigerency resolution through.
 Senator Wolcott's speech would have
 greatly surprised the average senate
 had it not been known ever since Sena
 tor Chandler stated that 1t was MT. NC