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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1900)
Conservative. Notwithstanding SIXTEEN TO ONE , . the declaration of PARAMOUNT. the Kansas Oity convention that "imperialism" is the paramount issue in the campaign , records of the convention prove that the free and unlimited coinage of tilver is still the chief tenet of the party faith. Chairman Thomas of Colorado in his opening address to the convention said : "Against this iniquitous scheme of finance democracy protests. We will have no money No Tribute to Caesar. system founded upon the public debt and dictated by those who hold it. We stand for the gold and silver of the constitution for a paper currency founded upon them and issued by the government as the embodiment of our sovereignty. We will not tax the people for the maintenance of a private money system. Wo would pay and not perpetuate our public debt. We will dig our metals from the hills and open our mints to their coinage. We will pay no tributes to Giesar for that which is our own. We will scourge the money changers from the tample of our treasury and reconsecrate it to the service and the welfare of the common people. "Those who assert that the money question is dead have given but little heed to the lessons of experience. It can never die until it shall receive the righteous solution. If it be true that our monetary circulation is the life blood of our commercial system , it must follow that upon its wholesome quantity depends our continued welfare. Nostrums administered in time of stress may postpone but cannot defeat the demand for complete and thorough renovation of a vicious and destructive policy. " In his speech to the convention ex- Governor Hogg of Texas said : "We want a platform that reaffirms the old principles of democracy , that grow now day by day stronger as the ages roll , declaring for the freedom of speech , for the freedom of the press , for freedom of conscience , for the preserva tion of personal rights , for the guaran teeing of all citizens of equality before the law , and for the maintenance of the constitutional guarantees throughout. We want , then , my friends , a specific declaration for silver and gold at the old established and honest ratio of 1C to 1 , to the end that the people of the South and of the West , as well as of the North and of the East , shall have a full supply of metal money to meet their growing demands. We want a declara tion in that platform that unequivocal ly calls for a graduated income tax , to the end that all may help to carry the burdens of the government. We want a declaration denouncing in unmeasured terms the modern outrage of an English gold standard fixed upon free America. The convention endorsed the senti ment expressed by Governors Thomas and Hogg by reEndowed - Endowed by the . bc > , . ' . Convention.affirming the Chicago - cage platform in general terms and specifically reiterating the 10 to 1 plank of that platform , with out which the nominee of the conven tion declined to be a candidate , thereby indicating his preference of destroying the standard to " the gold "saving repub lic" . The question is therefore not what Mr. Bryan wouhl do , if president , but what he could do. A vast majority of the American people admit the irre parable injury free coinage would inflict upon this country , but question Bryan's ability to bring it about. THE CONSEUVATIVE refers elsewhere to the mischief possible from a secretary of the treasury unfriendly to the gold standard. There is another and graver danger and that is the possibility of a free silver senate , which , in the event of Mr. Bryan's election , would not be improbable in 1901 , as shown by Raymond mend F. Dodge , in the August number of "Money" , which we reproduce in part : "Under these conditions there is no certainty that the senate will have a , , majority for gold o J J b Free Silver Senate In 1901.affcer March 4. 1901 ; in fact , there is a very strong possibility that it will be controlled by a fusion of green- backers and free silver democrats. Such a possibility forces an investigation of the conditions under which legislative candidates appeal for election. Such elections are obtained generally upon local issues , yet in that election this year in several states is involved the choice of senators. Thus legislative elections in such states become of na tional importance , and every democratic candidate will bo pledged to stand by the choice of a party caucus for senator , if elected. Where fusion tickets are in the field , candidates must pledge loyalty to a fusion caucus , which means always a greenbacker , as the ultimate choice. "In states like Kansas , Nebraska , Washington , South Dakota , Oregon , Wyoming , Montana , Nevada , Idaho , Utah'and Minnesota , where democrats are few and populists are plentiful , there will be fusion tactics and the final selection of a greenbaoker , whether Mo- Kinley or Bryan be successful. Even in Oregon , which has elected a republican state ticket , the complexion of the legislature is doubtful. "The results of legislative elections in Illinois , Indiana , Wisconsin , Michigan , and Iowa do not Danger From Fusion. , , , , depend upon the result of the electoral count ; each of them has frequently elected legis latures , democratic or fusion on joint ballot. Stranger things have happened in New Jersey than the election of a democratic legislature upon a contrary electoral result. Note the narrow mar gin for gold success in this table of senate possibilities : POSSIBLE COMPLEXION ov THE SENATE IN 1001. aor. . Hold-over senators , including Kyle JIT . Maine 1 Massachusetts 1 Pennsylvania , vac 1 Rhode Island 1 Total H9 DOUHTKUL LEOTSI-ATUItES. Iowa , vac 1 Illinois 1 Michigan 1 Minnesota 1 New Hampshire 1 New Jersey 1 Oregon 1 South Dakota 1 West Virginia 1 Wyoming 1 Total 11 ANTI-dOlYI ) . Hold-over senators 20 Alabama 1 Arkansas 1 Colorado 1 Delaware , 1 vac 2 Georgia 1 Idaho 1 Kentucky ( elected ) 1 Louisiana ( elected ) 1 Mississippi 1 Montana , 1 vac ! i Nebraska , 1 vac 2 North Carolina 1 South Carolina 1 Tennessee . . . 1 Texas 1 Utah , vac 1 Virginia 1 Total : . 40 RECAPITULATION. Qold senators ! M Doubtful elections 11 Anti-gold 40 Total 00 "It is evident in a study of this table that at present the gold men can count surely upon not more than 39 senators in the next congress , and the continu ance of their control depends upon their success in carrying upon joint ballot the legislatures of Iowa , Illinois , Kansas , Michigan , Minnesota , New Hampshire and New Jersey , to retain even a ma jority of tv o in the senate. The most they can hope to secure in addition would be one senator in Montana , Oregon and possibly South Dakota , and in eaoh case only by fusion of interests with populist candidates , which again would merely result in a greenback senator wherever successful. "Thus the struggle for control of the senate must be fought out in the Cen tral states and in Senate in Doubt. _ _ - . . . T New Hampshire , New Jersey and Oregon. The senate today is more in doubt than the presi dency , for legislative results do not follow the disposition of the electoral vote , but local issues. Local issues nearly lo.it New Hampshire in 1892 to * Harrison , and swung to Cleveland sev eral of the Central states as well. "It will not be practical politics to hug
