Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-19


sage today by the house of the financial bill
the silver republican leaders in the city held
meeting and adopted an address setting
forth their views as to its effect. The ad-
| dress is as follows
To the Members of the Republican Party
Who Still Believe in Bimetallism:
| The passage by the house of representa-
tiVes today of the gold standard and bank
currency bill exactly as agreed upon by the
republican caucus and without the opposi-
ton of a single republican vote marks the
culmlnation of a policy long carefully pur-
sued by certain influences in control of the
leadership of the republican party and
iuStfeS the action of the men who i'm 1896
refused to remain In that organization after
| the adoption of the St Louis platform.
The republican national platforms of 1883
btmetallism and the use of both gold and
silver as standard money Nevertheless, it
was apparent several months before the as
sembling of the national convention of 1896
that the machinery of the republican party
had passed wholly into the hands of the
banking and creditor interests and that it
was the purpose of the latter to commit the
party to the advocacy and achievement of
the gold standard. Against this danger the
b,metallists at that time vainly attempted
to arouse the masses of the party. The
politicians and newspapers opposed to the
scheme denounced our fears as unfounded
and by skillful use of catch words and
Gcneraities succeeded in forestallng any
widespread comprehension of their designs.
When the convention met a similar in
genuity governed the framing of the dec
iaration ON the money Money question. Its essen
tial part was as follows:
1--WE are, therefore. opposed to the free
coinage of silver except by international
tions of the world which we pledge our
selves to promote and until such agreement
can be obtained the. existing gold standard
must be preserved All our silver and paper
currency must be maintained at parity with
gold" etc
II is strange that so insincere plank
< hpuld have deceived anVbOdN. .Clea rlV. if the
gold standard was desirable the free coinage
Of silver was undesirable. h9weyer. secured.
Of silver r. must be, wrong. Nobody could in
telIigently and sshodestly; demand this In
ternatona free Coinage Of siHer +, ana sa at at
faction with the gold standard das an alter
native As a matter of fact this deelara-
to the speculative banks and their allies
that the republican party, II successful IN
the election, would proceed with all polite
gold standard in all its rigor:
The promise to promote" the 'interna-
tional free coinage of silver was never
meant to be observed in good faith, yet 81. 1T
proved "a good enough slogan until after
the election" Relying upon IT, enforced as
it was. throughout the west and central
portions cf the country by IN" editors and
orators of the republican party, millions of
voters were held in line for the tiu ket; for,
as stated in the republican campaign text
book for 1892 the republican party vas "a
bimetallc party
| NO one WhO9t poiiti'"i JN"ttli'.' -.
slightest weight Will deny that Irinlt
prOnuncament for the gold STANDARD nina III lnat
platform, or straightforward intefpreIa-
ton of it by the republican candidate FOR
preSident& & as mGam ald 6aWo ,r,e e,e"cd NJ BRYAN
bv an overwhelming majority. To con-
sfrue the election Of 1896 as a mandate by
thc American neople for the establishment
unIitiral Goods under false pretenses
po'''''"' 7''''
As soon as the election was over and the
fruits Of this chicanery had beon' gathered
discard their Convenient antiquities about
sound money" and "honest money, and
to cIa IN the result as a definite verdict in
ro,,or - rDll These utteranceS Increased