Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-05-24
TIE GOLD DEMOCRATS.

Yesterday the gold democrats of In
diana held an important conference, in
which it was decided to ppose the al
free silver tendencies on the part
of some of the members of that party,
and, in the event of the nomination of
Bryan on a 16 to / platform, to place an
independent democratic candidate in the
field. Taken in connection with the re-
fusal of Tammany delegates to pledge
themselves to Bryan, the movement has
uation. (,
The fact is, the gold democrats have
been heretofore quoted down by the as
sumption on the part of Bryan and his
friends that silver is to have little weight
as a campaign issue. In Boston Bryan
ignored the silver question entirely, and
accepted with keen relish the encomiums
which his course called forth from the
gold democrats of hat city, while in
New York he won the confidence of Dick
Croker, the leader of Tamnany and a
pronounced anti-silver man, by insisting
that anti-imperialism should be the par
amount issue of the campaign, with sill
Yer ~relegated to the rear!
It was not until Bryan suddenly
awakened to the possibility of a break
among his silver followers in the west
that he made formal declaration that he
p1,rppSa1 ctap1ipu NV tho 1S RI ratio
regardless of the views of the eastern
wing of his party. This sudden change
of front on the part of Bryan is regarded
by the gold democrats of Indiana and
New York as a sort of bunco game, in
which they have been "gold bricked' as
it We're. While their experiences with
Bryan have convinced them that the
boy orator Of the Platte" is open to
conviction" in any direction best calcu-
lated to promote his W political inter-
ests, whether silver rises or falls in the
deal, they have learned to distrust him
in the direction of his first love of 1896.
Bryan has made a desperate effort
during the past year to hold the gold
democrats in one hand and the populists
in the other. and has confessedly shown
great skill in accomplishing this politi-
cal feat. But, like the young man who
pays diligent court to two young ladies'
at the same time, he finally reached a
point where he had to speak out or lose
both his cherished political holdings.
Bryan's course toward the eastern dem
ocrats had aroused the suspicion of the
populists and they were rapidly losing
faith in his silver p%retensions.
A break was imminent, and the popu-
list leaders demanded a clearer definition
of Bryan's position on financial ques-
tons. The parting of the ways had been
reached, as it were, and Bryan chose
rather to lose the votes of the gold dem
ocrats in the east-who defeated him in
1S96-than lose the populists, to whom
he owed SO much of his partial success,
and without whom he would make a
most pitiable showing in the forthcom-
ing campaign. So he ~noun to a
representative of the New York Journal
that he would stand for the 16 to / ratio
in the Kansas City convention, where
upon the gold democrats doubtless
amazed at the new turn in affairs-im-
mediately set in motion plans for an in
dependent movement similar to the one
which defeated Bryan in 1896.
The Billings Gazette is firing it's pop
runs at the men who defeated Mr.. God
dard as a candidate for national com.
mitteeman, and wonders why antago.
nisms against Yellowstone county have
been created! If ~antagonisms againsl
J that county crop out in conventions, OF
at the polls, they may be safely charged
/ up to the Incorporate, insulting, anc