The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-03-07
The Campaign of 1900.

From the On. " Verdict Dem)
To William Jennings Bryan: In Its birth
day issue Of the Verdict said that were you
named in 1900 it would give you full sup
port. 1t set forth that while 1t was for gold,
if the convention set silver 1S to 1 in the
platform, it would not hesitate in view of
the existence Of things worse than silver to
aid and comfort the campaign. For all of
which the Verdict asks your ear at this time.
You are the leader of the National Democ-
racy.
And for that you such leader you
should listen. The first requisite of lead
ership is to be sure you're followed. In the
march of politics he who has following
leads; should he fail of such following, from
leader he becomes a mere vagrant of con-
lecture and opinion. And his views may not
have changed, albeit his estate has Nor
is he wise who banks on popularity 1t Is
but chameleon, this rascal popularity: and
from the rainbow of today when all 10 hone
turns dim and brown and black on some
tomorrow of defeat or change. One should
not lean too confidently on any reed of
imagined popularity. Nor should one blindly
infer such state from any outpour of the
people, whether to grasp his hand or hear
his voice. An inference drawn from any
fact of multitudes may limp pregnant OF
error.
of irritation 1t is set forth rather in con-
test for the truth and to show that If VIC
tory Is to be Democracy's in the national
campaign coming on. the ground must be
gone over, positions must be taken and is
sues selected with fair care.
And now come we to this point: We should
no longer feature finance Silver has sunk
to sleep. The public will not come to any
cry of silver. 1t was the natural issue in
1896. Trade was dull and times were hard,
there was money-suffering among the HIGH
the middle and the low. 1t was the sequen-
tial thing to talk of change and strive for
departure and think and vote for silver.
Good times are here not because of gold
nor yet of silver, but because they were due
and kept their day. Being here however
they silence silver Good times are with
us. II they haven't pushed their banners
into every corner of the land, they will 1t
Is a matter only Of time-short time. And
they have sealed the mouth of silver and for
the present at least let down the lid on
finance as a question. With prosperity in
its lap no public will change it's scheme of
finance. 1t is essentially hard-luck move
ment, not possible in the Frightening face
of better days
Not an 1sraelite would have followed Moses
out of Egypt had times been good; not a
peasant gone with Wat Tyler and Jack Straw
to London town. And so with the silver
question. 1t must be set aside, for it has
set itself aside. The arguments which up
held it have departed, and the situation
which summoned it and would have been
solved by it has faded away. No voice of
public necessity will in 1900 ask for silver.
and unless a people desires silver you can
not make them take it as a gift.
Turn to that chapter of the party that
tells of last falls fight There was no local
need in any state to speak of silver. It
could not by any stress be called Estate
question" nor arrive at any good from any
state result No state at it's local polls can
reply to any query Of tariff or finance And
to force a state to pretend to do SO is not
only fallacy for one matter and 80 useless
but it is. besides. wrong
Whether for good or for grief, some states
stood for silver and some did not. Where
did Democracy gain, and where did 1t lose?
The party met its setbacks in the states that
made silver part of their war; it Jared best
in states which said NO money thing at all.