The morning news., 1899-02-19
TIE ISSUES OF 1000.


The interview with Senator Jones, the
! chairman Of the Democratic national com
mittee, which we publish this morning.
makes ii cgear, so far as Senator Jones is
able to speak for the Democratic party at
/ this time, that the issues which were pre-
| sented in the Chicago platform in 1896 VIII
be presented again in 1900. Those who
hoped that the Democratic party would
! abandon the silver question are pretty GER
tain 10 be disappointed. Mr.. Croker, and
those who agree with him. will either have
to take a back seat IN the Democratic or
ganization or subscribe 10 views which
they do not approve. 1t is possible that
MIR Croker and those who have confidence
| in his leadership may succeed in getting a
plank in the platform condemning trusts
and demanding home rule for cities but
that viii be about the extent of their in
nuence in shaping the platform.
Senator Jones is confident that the Dem
| ocratic party will have a much better
chance Of winning in 1900 than it had in
1896 ON issue of blmetallism. AS he sees
the situation the demand for binetallism
is stronger than ever before in the history
Of the country. He declares that thousands
of voters were deceived in 1896 by the
promise Of the Republican party 10 make
an effort to secure international bimetal
lism. In the next national contest they viii
vote the Democratic ticket because they
| are now convinced that the Republican
| party is committed to the gold standard.
The strongest point that Senator Jones
makes in his interview is that the prosper
ity which the Republican party
promised has not come. notwith-
standing the announcement Of the
President that it has. About the only
evidences of prosperity, he says, are the
gambling transactions in stocks in Wall
street and the higher price of wheat. Spec
ulation in railroad shares is no evidence
that the great majority Of the people are
any better off than they were when the
whole country was complaining of busl-
ness depression. AS for the higher price
of wheat he explains that by pointing
that a great demand for our wheat was
created by the failure Of the wheat crops
in other countries.
There is much truth in what Senator
Jones says about the evidences of pros
perity being confined to Wan street There
| are better times in the West, due of course
to better prices received for the last wheat
crop, but times in the South have not i'm
proved-at least the material condition of
/ tse. farmers has not improved. In fact, the
Southern farmers are financially in a
worse condition now than they have been
for long time
We know of course why this is so. The
price of cotton is so low that the cotton
growers have not been able to meet their
obliga tions. But would bimetaflism benefit
cotton growers and wheat growers and
farmers generally? That is the question
upon which a great deal more light is
needed It is a fact that there is an abund-
ance of money in the country now-much
more than can be Invested profitably. Bor-
.rogers-can get money now at a very low
rate of interest, provided they offer ac-
ceptahIe security. But the abundance of
money does not seem to affect the prices
of farm products. When 1t is shown beyond
a question of a doubt that the free and I'M
limited coinage of silver would bring about
a rise in the prices of farm products with
out making the purchasing power of a sill
yer dollar less than that of a gold dollar
there will be little or no opposition to
what is called blmetallism.