Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1902-01-31
Instructive and
Entertaining.
Hon. II. F. Bartine Reviews the Political
Situation, Demonstrating That the
Silver Issue is Neither
Dead nor Sleeping.

|
from the State for longer or shorter pc
riods of time the most of them indulge
in the hope that they themselves, are not
entirely forgotten by their old-time
friends in the land of silver and sage.
Such, at all events. is the case with me,
and being located for the present I'M
Washington, it occurred to me that some
of my thoughts and observations con-
eerning matters of National import
might not be entirely devoid of interest
to your readers.
NEW POLITICAL CONDITIONS
Politically and legislatiyely the situa-
tion has greatly changed, since the time
when [ had the honor to serve Nevada
as best l could in the House of Represen-
tatives Then the question of free sill
yer coinage was the issue of paramount
Importance before the country. In Con-
gress five-sixths of the Democrats and
all the Populists favored such measure,
while something like eighty per cent OF
the Republicans opposed it. But in
neither House was there any appreciable
sentiment in favor of the gold standard.
Almost every member professed to be-
iieve in bimetallism, and the few pro
nouneed gold men like Harter of Ohio,
and Walker of Massachusetts, were re-
garded as monetary cranks of the first
water To-day the Republican party is
solidly for the gold standard, not only
opposing the free coinage of silver, but
any coinage at all of the white metal,
save for small change, while many of its
members are in favor of getting rid of
the silver dollars already coined, and
supplying all deficiencies in the currency
bv allowing the banks to issue circulat-
inc notes upon the basis of their general
assets.
In fact bills for both of these pur-
poses have been introduced into Con
gress by prominent members of the
party, and the one designed ultimately
to eliminate the silver dollars from our
monetary system mas already been acted
upon and reported to the House by the
Committee on Banking and Currency
Thus has the attitude of the party
been completely reversed within the
space of decade. Radical as this
change has been, it was nevertheless
made by almost insensible gradations.
Little by little Republican platform
declarations in favor of bimetallism be-
came weaker and more equivocal, but
still holding out some hope to those OF
the party who honestly believed in that
monetary system. Even i'll 1896 the Re-
publican national platform did not de-
clare unqualiiedly for the gold stand
ard but only for its maintenance until
an international agreement for the free
coinage of silver could be obtained, and
this agreement the party leaders pledged
themselves to promote. The pledge thus
given bore all the ear marks of bad
faith and of being merely to hold the
votes of western Republicans 1t de-
ceived none but those who were willing
to be hoodwinked in the interest of the
party. 1t was denounced by Colorado's
grand old man. Henry Nj. Teller, as
fraud. and he, with Cleveland of Ne
yada. Hartman of Montana, and some
thirty others left the convention hall.
Subsequent events have more than
| justified this action. The Wolcott com
mission was appointed in perfunctory
way. II accomplished nothing and was
not expected to, In Europe it was re-
garded as merely the formal carrying
out of campaign pledge, with no pur-
pose on the part of the American Gov
ernment that anything should result
from it. While the commission was at
work in Europe, Secretary Gage, with
the full sanction of President Mckinley,
was making gold standard speeches all
over the country, and actually formulat-
inc Il gold standard bill which was sub
mitted to and approved by the entire
cabinet. Nothing can be clearer than
that the work of the Wolcott commission
was not taken seriously by the Admin
istration, and upon his return from
Europe one of Senator Wolcotts first
official acts was to make a speech on
the floor of the Senate in which he
bitterly denounced Secretary Gage, and
labors to the official course and utter
ances of the chief financial officer of the
Administration.
Then all disguise was thrown off, and
the Republican party became the out
spoken champion of geld. There was
no frank declaration that the party had