THE SILVER ISSUE 155 



upon Populists to take up the gauntlet and meet 

 " the enemy upon his chosen field of battle, " with 

 the " aid and cooperation of all persons who favor 

 the immediate free coinage of silver at a ratio of 

 16-1, the issue of all paper money by the Govern- 

 ment without the intervention of banks of issue, and 

 who are opposed to the issue of interest-bearing 

 .government bonds in the time of peace. " 



There was nothing new in this declaration of hos- 

 tility to bank issues and interest-bearing bonds, 

 nor in this demand for government paper money, 

 for these prejudices and this predilection had given 

 rise to the "Ohio idea," by force of which George 

 H. Pendleton had hoped to achieve the presidency 

 in 1868. These same notions had been the essence 

 of the platforms of the Greenback party in the late 

 seventies; and they had jostled government owner- 

 ship of railroads for first place in pronunciamentos 

 of labor and agricultural organizations and of third 

 parties all during the eighties. Free silver, on the 

 other hand, although not ignored in the earlier 

 period, did not attain foremost rank among the 

 demands of the dissatisfied classes until the last 

 decade of the century and more particularly after 

 the panic of 1893. 



Prior to 1874 or 1875 the "silver question" did 



