Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 July 1896 — SILVER MEN CAUTIONED. [ARTICLE]

SILVER MEN CAUTIONED.

Whltncv Say* Free Coinage Plank Will Cnnae Defection*. William C. Whitney has made public a statement in which be defines the political situation, makes his position clear as regards his decision to remain in this country instead of going to Europe, and concludes by saying that he is not a presidential possibility; that he “would not run if nominated aud would not serve if elected.” Shorn of verbiage, Mr. W’hitney’s statement declares that the fight is practically sectional, with the South and West standing for independent free coinage of silver and the East for a. gold standard unless bimetallism can be effected through international agreement. He practically serves notice on the Chicago convention that if a free silver platform is adopted there, the party can with certainty expect large defections in the East. A correspondent says: More time hus seldom been spent over a state document than Mr. Whitney has spent upon this statement. " Weeks ago he prepared it. and he then intended that it should be given to the public before the meeting,ol Ihe Republican national convention. Then came the President’s manifesto, and as a result the statement was called In by Mr. Whitney. It may be said that had President Cleveland remained silent the *old Democrats of the East would have offered much more favorable terms to the silver Democrats of the West. At Toledo, 0., the Snell Cycle Fittings Company announced a shut-down until August. This is the concern in which a strike of M 8 men is now on.