INTRODUCTION.

ON. RICHARD P. BLAND of Missouri, Gen. James B.

HON

Weaver of Iowa, and Hon. Henry M. Teller of Colorado, may,

without injustice to others, be considered the foremost champions of bimetallism in their respective parties.

Mr. Bland, Democrat.

Mr. Bland was first elected to the National House of Representatives in 1872, and served for twenty-two years. In the Forty-fourth Congress, as Chairman of the Committee on Mines and Mining, he secured the passage through the House of a bill providing for the free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. During the same Congress he was appointed a member of the commission which prepared the "Silver Commission Report." In the Forty-fifth Congress he introduced and secured the passage through the House of a bill similar to the one advocated in the preceding Congress, but the bill was amended in the Senate and was afterwards known as the Bland-Allison act, becoming a law over the President's veto. Some three hundred and eighty millions of standard silver dollars were coined under this act. Mr. Bland, during Mr. Cleveland's first administration, opposed the suspension of the Bland-Allison act and also endeavored to secure the passage of a free coinage bill. In the Fifty-first Congress he joined with the silver men in the Senate in an effort to secure a free coinage measure instead of the act of 1890, known as the Sherman act. In the Fifty-third Congress he led the fight against unconditional repeal and against the retirement of the greenbacks and Treasury notes. with an issue of gold bonds. He was one of the Democrats who joined in the address, issued March 4, 1895, calling upon the silver Democrats to organize and take control of the Democratic party, and was largely instrumental also in securing a strong declaration in favor of free coinage at 16 to 1 in the Missouri State Convention, held at

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Pirtle Springs in 1895. In the Chicago Convention he received the second largest number of votes for the Presidential nomination, and during the campaign which followed was active in support of the nominees. His name is known among the students of the money question in every civilized nation, and his faithful and continuous labors in behalf of the restoration of bimetallism have given him a warm place in the hearts of his countrymen.

Mr. Weaver, Populist.

Mr. Weaver was elected to Congress in 1878, and served in the Forty-sixth, Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses. In January, 1880, he introduced the following resolution:

Resolved, That it is the sense of this House that all currency, whether metallic or paper, necessary for the use and convenience of the people, should be issued and its volume controlled by the Government and not by or through banking corporations, and when so issued should be a full legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private.

Resolved, That it is the judgment of this House that that portion of the interest-bearing debt of the United States which shall become redeemable in the year 1881, or prior thereto, being in amount $782,000,000, should not be refunded beyond the power of the Government to call in said obligations and pay them at any time, but should be paid as rapidly as possible and according to contract. To enable the Government to meet these obligations, the mints of the United States should be operated to their full capacity in the coinage of standard silver dollars and such other coinage as the business interests of the country may require.

After a thirteen weeks' struggle he secured consideration of this resolution, but it was defeated by a vote of 117 to 83.

He has, ever since his entrance into Congress, been a consistent and persistent advocate of the restoration of bimetallism. He was the candidate of the Greenback-Labor party for President in 1880, and received 307,740 votes. In 1892 he was the candidate of the Populist party for the Presidency and received 1,040,600 votes. His platform in 1892 was the first national platform to expressly declare for the ratio of 16 to 1. In 1894 he was nominated for Congress on a 16 to 1 platform in the Council Bluffs (Iowa) district by the Populists and Democrats. After the Democratic National Convention of 1896 had declared unequivocally for independent bimetallism, Mr. Weaver took

an active part in securing co-operation between the silver forces, and, during the campaign, gave his entire time to the success of the cause. His speech in the St. Louis Convention, which will be found in a subsequent chapter, contains his defense of the position taken by him.

Mr. Teller, Silver Republican.

Mr. Teller has served in the Senate and Cabinet for twenty years, and has been connected with the silver question since 1880. During that time he has done much in and out of Congress with tongue and pen to advance the cause of bimetallism. In 1892 he was instrumental in securing in the Republican National Convention a declaration in favor of bimetallism, and he was a conspicuous actor in the prolonged fight in the Senate against unconditional repeal. His standing in, and long connection with, the Republican party, together with his great ability and high character, made him the acknowledged leader of the silver Republicans. At St. Louis he was at the head of the revolt against the Republican platform, and his withdrawal from the party cost the Republican candidate thousands of votes. The silver Republicans favored his nomination for the Presidency, and his State voted for him on the first ballot in the Democratic Convention. After the nomination had been made he joined with other leading silver Republicans in an address supporting the Democratic ticket and during the campaign did yeoman service upon the stump.

In dedicating this book to these three pioneers, I desire to record my appreciation of the work which they have done, my esteem for them as public men and my gratitude to them for their many acts of kindness to me, both before and since my nomination.

In giving an account of my travels during the campaign I have not attempted to mention every place stopped at, nor have I, as a rule, given the names of presiding officers and reception committees. My time during waking hours was so fully occupied that I could not then make a memorandum of persons and events, and, since neither the newspapers nor my memory will supply a correct record, I have generally omitted the details of the meetings, except where I met some old time acquaintance or some prominent public man. I declined