The Mccook Tribune

POPULISM AND SILVER.

Was the People's Party Really the Friend of the White Metal?

In a speech before the bimetallic convention at Topeka on Tuesday ex-Senator John Martin declared that free silver was only a surface issue and that deep down beneath it were the real issues which the silver party would be called upon to solve.

In the next breath he declared for the government ownership of railroads and hinted at other procedures which have come to be regarded as the socialistic program, pure and simple.

At Boston on Monday George F. Washburn, member of the Populist National Committee, issued an address to the Populist party, in the course of which he said:

"We united with the silver forces in the recent campaign-not because we believe free coinage of silver is the solution of the financial problem, but because it would better existing conditions, would meet with the least resistance and would become the entering wedge for our main issue, viz.: Full legal tender paper money, issued and regulated by the Government alone.

We do not stand for redemption money, but for a scientific dollar, kept invariable by proper regulation of the money volume."

At a dozen different places since the last election, leaders of the Populist party have uttered the same sentiments. In fact, they have lost no opportunity since election is over to furnish substantial evidence that the Republican charge was true and that the Populist party is not a friend to silver.-Kansas City Journal.