The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-08-11
UIIe ylicsseuyer.
HARK! HEAR! A RATTLE IN THE
CAMP

are foolish enough to split up and elect
republicans, as was the case in 1896,
and since. The republicans have also
their family differences and quarrels
in certain states. The latest is that re-
publican -saders are seeming danger
from the determination Of certain rash
leaders to force a single gold standard
without qualification upon the people.
This acouses latent antagonism to this
movement. Recently the able Senator
Thurston opened the ball in opposition.
He hammered we'll, as it is reported
from Washington, the secretly pre-
pared proposition made recently by the
gold clique of republican magnates at
Newport. The straight-from-the-
shoulder talk Of the senior nat from
Nebraska has attracted wide attention,
has sounded a rallying cry to hundreds
of thousands of republicans from New
York to California and from the lakes
to the gulf" The talk in Washington
among some republicans is, that such
legislation will defeat their party. Mr..
G. A. Edwards, correspondent at Wash
ington of the Houston (Texas) Daily
Post, an able democratic newspaper,
wrote a few days ago that the "afore-
said bosses who favor forcing the gold
standard, had been assured by breth-
rem that they would defeat the party
and Mr.. Edwards, says:
Il am afraid it has so scared the re-
publican bosses that they will refuse
to do just what the democrats were
fcndly hoping they would do. Some Of
the aforesaid bosses have been told by
the keen political observers that the re-
publican party will commit an act Of
swift political suicide if it persists i'm
following the counsel of a few selfish
and segregated political leaders. 1t is
pointed out that the Newport "star
chamber of finance has for the mo-
ment forgotten that the great majority
of republicans west of the Ohio river
are emphatically opposed to the perma-
nent legal enactment of the single gold
standard"
1t seems that Senator Thurston's
warning had not been without effect,
and it is commended by republicans who
oppose the manipulators that the move
would cost the republican party
the electoral vote of every state west
of the Missouri, and would seriously
endanger it's chances in the great polit-
bottle III, 80 I@-ro T1;.o;o
Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana. 1t Is
said by conservative critics here that
each of these states might today vote
against the republican party if a free
expression of opinion, uninfluenced by
the money power, could be obtained. I
told here by prominent republicans
that the friends of bimetallism are !
determined today than ever be- |
fore in the middle west, and that they |
view with alarm any disposition on
the part of the republican party to dis
courage the use of silver as money as
we'll as gold. Thousands of voters re-
manned within the republican party at
Lie IdSL tICllOu ucCduSC LhCy hOuShI
they could obtain favorable legislation
as easily inside the party as out of it,
Among republicans it is thought that
independent conservatives like Thurs
tom, of Nebraska, Wolcott, of Colorado.
Clark and Warren, of Wyoming, Car
ter, of Montana, and Baker, of Kansas,
and others, will not fail to ~antagonize
the movement if it is pushed. Mr.. Ed
wards says that republican critics J
here say that they do not believe that
even the wonted loyalty Of the more
republicans Of that section will
read the propositions of the Newport
conference with complacency. They
point to the fact that the revolt in the
st. Louis convention in 1896 should in
dictate the temper of western blmetal-
lists and that the leaders of the party
be wise to keep that incident In
n ind" 1t seems to be not improbable
standard is stirring the west no little.
are signs that republicans will
strike boldly against it. Mr.. Clark, a
republican in Iowa, is quoted
as saying recently that "our eastern
will find that there are blows
to take as we'll as blows to give in po- /
warfare like that which they
lave begun to wage against us ON the !
money question. They will learn that
we will permit no man Oh set of men
to use us only for their selfish purpose, |
and then to throw us away like empty |
after they have perverted our
intentions and our credulity |
into material for their ubiquitous and
injurious schemes"