I'RKSIDENTIAL CANVASS <>F 1886. 





chiefly advocated by the Populist party and by in- 

 dividual members of the Democratic party. 

 daily those from tin- Soiitli and the West. Demo- 

 cratic State conventions in several of the Mississippi 

 valley States had declared for free coinage of silver 

 in 1 *!.">: but until the spring of 1SHG it was not sup- 

 : that that sentiment would control the Demo- 

 cratic organization or the framing of the declara- 

 tion of principles at its national convention. A 

 -ilver organization had. however, been formed 

 within the Democratic party late in ISJi.j. and 

 through its work and that of an organization call- 

 ing itself the Silver party a sentiment rapidly de- 

 ed throughout the South and the West in 1 e- 

 half of silver, and before the election of dele- 

 to the Democratic National Convention had been 

 completed it was apparent that the silver sentiment 

 would control that convention. The fact that State 

 delegations to the national convention of the Demo- 

 cratic party vote as a unit, casting the entire vote in 

 the State in such manner as the majority of the 

 delegation may dictate, made it practicable, wherever 

 the silver sentiment was strong, to send solid State 

 delegations to the convention instructed to vote for 

 a free-coinage plank. 



The Kepublioan Convention. The Republican 

 National Convention met in St. Louis. June 16. 1MH'. 

 Most of the delegates had arrived several days in 

 advance, and. as the nomination of Major McKinley 

 was practically assured, attention was turned to the 

 wording of the platform. The fact that the elec- 

 tion of delegates to the Democratic convention had 

 made it probable that that party would declare 

 for the free and unlimited coinage of silver added 

 interest to the exact terms in which the Republican 

 party would express its sentiments, which were 

 clearly against free coinage of silver without interna- 

 tional co-operation, and in favor of maintaining the 

 standard of the national currency at par with gold. 

 Many of the conventions of the Eastern States had 

 declared explicitly for the single gold standard, while 

 those of the Mississippi valley generally declared in 

 favor of the use of silver as currency, but to such 

 extent only that its parity with gold could be 

 maintained. The discussion prior to and during 

 the early days of the national convention resulted 

 in the production of a plank by the Committee on 

 Platform which contained the following words: 

 We are opposed to the free coinage of silver ex- 

 cept by national agreement with the leading com- 

 mercial nations of the world, which we pledge our- 

 selves to promote: and until such agreement can be 

 obtained the existing gold standard must be pre- 

 served." This plank was discussed with great ear- 

 not ness in the convention, being vigorously opposed 

 by members from the mining States of the West. 

 and its adoption was followed by the withdrawal 

 from the convention of delegates from several of 

 these States, headed by the Hon. Henry M. Teller, 

 United States Senator from Colorado, whose fare- 

 well speech to the convention of the party with 

 which he had acted since its organization made an 

 intensely dramatic scene, and at once suggested Mr. 

 Teller as the possible candidate of the silver ele- 

 ment of the Democratic party. 



The platfcrm of the Republican convention, in 

 addition to the explicit declaration on the currency 

 question quoted above, declared in favor of a policy 

 of protection for home industries, which proved so 

 popular in the campaign that followed as to bring 

 the party success in several States where the senti- 

 ment in favor of silver was such as to make the finan- 

 cial plank unsatisfactory to many Republicans. The 

 adoption of the platform was followed by the nomi- 

 nation on the first ballot of Hon. William McKin- 

 ley. of Ohio, for President, and Hon. Garret A. 

 Hobart, of New Jersey, for Vice-President, Twelve 



thousand people in tin- B hall wit- 



;Mending the adopt 



platform and the nomination of the i-aiidi- 

 Members of the National Commiti. 



by the State delegations, each dclegat ! ;. 

 one member. The member- of the National < 

 mittee met and elei-ted a- chairman V 

 Hanna. of Cleveland. Ohio, who had been niai. 

 of Major McKinlej's can vase for the nominatioi 

 for many years his personal friend. 



The Democratic! '(invention. The D.-u 

 National Convention met in Chicago. July 7. 

 From the first it was apparent that tho-e" favoring 

 the free and unlimited coinage of silver at a 

 of 16 to 1 would be largely in the ascend. : 

 delegates from States east of the Alleghames 

 generally opposed to this, many of them t 

 declaration making gold the' sin trie standard of 

 value in the national currency. While they p 

 nized the fact that they were in the minority, the 

 fact that the Democratic national convent : 

 the nomination of Polk, in 1S44. had invariably re- 

 quired a two-third vote to nominate, led them to 

 the hope that they might prevent the nomination 

 of an extreme advocate of free coinage. Strong 

 speeches were made in the convention against the 

 adoption of the free-coinage plank, but without 

 avail, the majority in its favor being overwhelming. 

 The closing speech on the question of platform 

 delivered by William Jennings Bryan, of Nebraska. 

 a man of remarkable oratorical and dramatic ' 

 ers. who. as was afterward learned, had deliberately 

 planned this coup for the purpose of turning the 

 convention to himself for the presidential nomina- 

 tion. Up to that time the names of Richard P. 

 Bland, of Missouri. Horace Boies, of Iowa, and 

 Henry M. Teller, of Colorado, had been chiefly dis- 

 cu.-sed for the nomination. Mr. Bryan's plan for 

 capturing the convention by his oratorical effort 

 was successful, and on the following day he was 

 nominated for President, while Arthur Sewall. of 

 Maine, also an advocate of free coinage of silver, 

 was nominated for Vice- President. Great dissatis- 

 faction was expressed by the Eastern delegates. 

 who insisted that they were unfairly treated by the 

 rejection of delegates from Michigan and elsewhere 

 who favored the gold standard. Not only was the 

 silver plank of the platform objectionable to them, 

 but other declarations which denounced President 

 Cleveland's policy of issuing bonds to maintain the 

 gold reserve in the Treasury, the use of Federal 

 troops and injunctions by Federal courts to sup- 

 press riots and interference with interstate traf- 

 fic, and an attack on the Supreme Court because 

 of its reversal of the action of Congress in favor 

 of a tax on incomes. The scenes in the conven- 

 tion were full of excitement, and many de 

 lions from Eastern States, as well as a small p r- 

 ti"i, of those from the Mississippi valley, refused to 

 participate in the balloting. The platform which 

 was adopted declared explicitly in favor of free and 

 unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 

 without waiting for the co-operation of any- other 

 nation: denounced the Supreme Court becau- 

 ils decision against the income tax. and hinted at a 

 reorganization of that court : declared for a revenue 

 tariff "so adjusted as to operate equally through- 

 out the country, and not to discriminate between 

 ctioiis " : and denounced interference by 

 Federal authorities in local affairs, and especially a 

 "government by injunction." The National Com- 

 mittee organized by electing as its chairman the 

 lion James K. Jno, Senator from Arkai - 



The Populist Convention. The National Con- 

 vention of the Populist party met in St. Louis, 

 July 2'2. 1896. That party, which had been in ex- 

 istence about six years, had polled more than a 



