Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-21
FREE cO/NACE IGNORED.

1 ~ Lac ~ |
democratic committee in Chicago yes |
terday settled the status of that party !
as to the free coinage issue. The decision
of the democratic leaders previously
made at the conference at st. Louis that
the paramount issue of 1900 should be
some question other than the free coin !
age of silver and gold at a ratio of 16 to
1. by the independent action of this ma
ton. was Yesterday supplemented by the
refusal of the national committee to take
any action whatsoever looking to the
recognition of the white metal.
Elaborate preparations had been made
by the silver wing of the democracy to
give to the meeting a bimetallic color
ing. Arrangements We're made for a
stsilver'' mass meeting on the side, which
was held last night. The test of strength
of the silver and gold forces in the ma
tional committee was to be made in the
fight over the retention of P. j. Devlin,
editor of the press bureau of the COM
mittee. Mr.. Devlin belonged to the silver
WluS ~ Ills patty 49, ""1 OHS VAN
active workers in the cause of bimetal-
lism, and his retention at the head Of
the literary bureau of the national Or
ganization was of supreme Importance.
In the recent mayoralty election in Chi
cago Devlin favored the candidacy of ex-
Governor Altgeld, who was running on
a. 16-to-1 platform. He opposed the can
dfdacy of Mr.. Harrison, the democratic
nominee, who was running on a platform
that repudiated the 16-to-1 idea. The
Harrison men besought the national COM
mittee to remove the free coinage cham
pron from the press ~bureau-the Altgeld
silver men of the country would get up
"a new national committee of their own.
The issue between the silver democrats
and the gold democrats was clearly
drawn, with the result that Devlin was
unceremoniously kicked out of his posi-
ftion. The committee decided that it did
mo- want a free coinage advocate to pre-
pare the official literature of the national
democracy. FREE COllldSe
emanating from the official headquarters
of the democratic party at this time
would prevent the reuniting Of the gold
and silver wings of the democracy on a
compromise financial platform, n in
terrupt the plans already made at st.
Louis to place the 16-to-1 issue in the
background. Therefore, Mr.. Devlin had
to go.
1t was a most inglorious defeat for
the silver democrats, and proves the con-
tention of the Inter Mountain that the
recognized leaders of both wings Of the
democratic party are planning the retire
ment of that issue. No doubt some of
the duodecimo leaders Of the democracy,
Familiarity known as the smaller fry, may
yet feel constrained to ask Mr.. Bryan,
who held proxies for two states, why
he did not throw himself into the breach
It the meeting of the national committee
and save the day for silver by keeping a
free coinage man at the head of the lit
erary bureau.
Mr.. Bryan did not load himself down
with the proxies Of the national COM
mitteemen of two states unless he in
TENDED to cast two votes in the national
committee meeting. Yet when he went
to Chicago to attend that meeting, and
saw how the land lay, he refused to par
ticipate in it's deliberations. The dis
patches say he held aloof from it's pro-
~ceedings, on account of the controversy
that was going on. Now, it was apparent
to Mr.. Bryan that the friends of silver
We're in a hopeless minority in that body,
and he did not wish to align himself with
a lost cause at this stage of the game,
and hoodoo his candidacy by showing
that he had been sat upon by the official
representatives of his party; or, he did not
wish to force silver to the front as the
paramount issue Of the next campaign. 1t
is hardly possible for Mr.. Bryan, as the
holder Of two proxies, to explain his re-
fusal to act on other grounds. Not a few
silver men will feel that Mr.. Bryan ought
to have mad his presence felt in that
committee, instead of silencing the voice