Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-11-28
THE SILVER PARTY'S END.
Senator Jones' Abandonment of the
Cause Marks the End of
Agitation.

Senator Jonn P. Jones' reversion
to republicanism leaves adrift be-
tween the lines of the two political
| parties scarcely a single conspicuous
figure in the silver secession of 1896.
One by one the western politicians
who broke with the republican or
ganization at st. Louis five years ago,
and sought by subsequent alliance
with the democrats and populists to
make the free coinage issue a new
basis of cleavage in national politics,
have confessed the total failure of
their plans and hopes. Some, inten-
sitied in their hostility to republican
leadership by the defeats of 1896 and
1898, found the way smoother for
them in 1900 to accept the undiluted
democratic faith. Others, boiling at
the offensive attacks in the Kansas
City platform on the Administrations s
without appreciable tension their
places in the republican ranks. The
senior senator from Nevada was one
of the few seceders of 1896 whose par
ty status last years national cam
paign left unaltered and unaffected.
His renewal now of his old relations
with the majority party in the senate
and in the country leaves the middle
ground between republicanism and
democracy practically deserted. 1t
marks, too, the final subsistence of an
agitation which, while it lasted,
threatened to obliterate all the
known and accepted landmarks of
party politics.
Mr.. Jones' abandonment of the
cause of silver completes the process
through which the United States SEN
ate has gradually rid itself of the
multiplicity of factions so long rep
resented on its rolls. The elections
of 1890 and 1892 had brought into the
senate small but augmentative
group of populists. The st. Louis Sc
cession and the democratic split at
Chicago established two more novel
partisan divisions, the boiling west
ern republicans chasing themselves
as silverites and the supporters of
Palmer and Buckner choosing the
designation of sound-money demo-
Gratis. OF this last faction there is
now no survivor. OF the populist di-'
vision all have disappeared but three,
though two of these-Harris, of Kan
sas, and Turner, of Washington
might be classified as democrats rath-
er than as populists. Seven senator's
cooperated with Mr.. Jones five years
ago to form the so-called silverit1
group-his colleague from Nevada,
William NJ. Stewart; Teller. of Colo
RADIO; Dubois, of Idaho; Cannon, of
Utah; Mantle, of Montana; Mitchell,
of Oregon, and Pettigrew, of South
Dakota. Messrs. Mantle, Cannon and
Pettigrew are no longer in the sem
ate. The first named has returned to
republicanism, and was a republican
caucus candidate for senator last win
ter before the Montana legislature.
Mr.. Pettigrew was defeated demo-
cratic and fusion candidate before the
South Dakota Legislature. Mr.. Du-
bois, defeated as silverite four
years ago, has been again elected
from Idaho as a democrat. Mr..
Mitchell, also defeated as silverite,
has been again elected from Oregon
as republican. Mr.. Stewart, elect |
ed as a silverite, announced his recon
version to republicanism about year
ago, and Mr.. Teller, elected as a sill |
verite, is preparing, it is understood, |
to make his next canvass before the !
Colorado Legislature as a straightout
democrat With Mr.. Jones adding
his vote to the republican column and |
Mr.. Teller his to the democratic, the
senate again becomes bipartisan, con-
tanning no member who cannot be !
fairly characterized either as a repub-
lican or as democrat.
In explaining the resumption of his
old political affiliations Senator Jones
said truly and concisely: "The silver
issue is dead, and we are face to face
with other issues" This is an an
nouncement that might have been
made with equal pertiency at any mo-
ment in the last three years. But
Senator Jones' confession, though
long delayed is none the less impor-
tant and welcome, marking as it does
the formal extinction in national poll
tics of party which had already out
lived its beaten and discredited mov-
ing cause.-N. Y. Tribune.