Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-07-14
AsAMATrER OF MERE POLITICS

AS "A MA ES OF MEkE Full llCS
The winners and malcontents, before
the Kansas City convention. urged ex-
pediency as the reason why no silver
plank should go in the PLATFORM; since
the plank has gone in they base their
lamentations on its eXpedicncy. This
puts the whole matter on the mere
ground of playing politics. II it be
considered from that point of view.
did the Kansas City convention play
its hand so i'll?
There are a great many voters in
this country who believe in the free
coinage of gold and silver at the ratio
of 16 to i; they regard it as the para
mount issue and they would not have
voted the Democratic ticket had that
plank been eliminated from the plat
form. How many Democrats of this
kidney there are we do not know. One
thing, however, we do know-had the
silver plank been left out, neither Pop
ulists nor Silver Republicans would
have supported the ticket. There are
in the neighborhood of 100000 voters
affiliated with these parties. Are they
who are lamenting the silver plank as
poor politics prepared to say how the
Democrats could win without these
100000 votes, or. that they could win
without them? 1t is easy to carp and
complain-some people find it most
pleasant as Il steady occupation-but
when it comes down to "brass tacks"
where were 100000 to be had to re-
place the 100000 votes that the elimi-
.@r -,
lost?
Taking thcs1S96 alignment as basis
we find that the Democrats must gain
As electoral votes in order to have one
majority in the ELECTORAL College. With
out n silver plank and consequent flu
sion the Democrats would have lost
this fall. to Il moral certainty, the fol-
lowing States that they carried in 1896:
Nebraska, s electoral votes; Kansas,
TO- Nevada, 3; Idaho, 3: South Da-
kota. A; Colorado. 4: Wyoming, g..
Here is q loss Of "a electoral votes to
start with: this added to the As votes
needed over 1886 would make SO cleo
toral votes that the Democrats would
certainly have to win somewhere.
Where. may we inquire of the lamen-
tations. would these very necessary 50
electoral votes come from? IL the Dem
;ocrats should have won New York, In
idiana and Illinois by leaving out the
silver plank they would have had but
10 electoral votes. We shall carry Ken
lucky in any case. and that would
have given the requisite 50 votes. Mary
land would also have given it. But can
anybody guarantee that with silver
eliminated we should carry Indiana,
Illinois and New York? Or that we
should carry Washington, Utah and
North Carolina? 1t is the old case of
the bird in the hand and the bird in
the bush. The "a votes would certainly
have been. lost; the 10 might or might
not have been won. 1t would have
practically narrowed the whole cam
paign down to New York State. And
with the funds at their command and
the Influences at their command, con-
centrated in New York, the Republ-
cans would have carried that State.
From the-point of view of eXpediency,
OF practical politics, of the anything
town" contingent, 1t is by no means
clear that the elimination of silver
would have profited the Democratic
party anything. or, indeed, that it
would not have made victory next to
impossible.