to %, but on a good demand an advance of was made, receding to % later, and closing to % under the final figures of Saturday.

Oats were featureless, but the feeling was steady. There was very little trading and price changes were within cent limit, the closing being below Saturday.

From the statement given it will appear that wheat has fallen more than 14 cents a bushel since the beginning of the month in which President Cleveland issued his call for the extra session. The wheat crop for 1892 was about 500,000,000 bushels. A fall of 1 cent in price means a loss of $5,000,000 on the crop it those figures can be taken for this year's crop. Calculated upon December wheat the loss since June 1 has been over $70,000,000, or one-sixth of its value at the beginning of the decline. The fall of 2 cents on yesterday alone, after the repeal bill passed the Senate and its immediate passage in the House was assured, amounted to $10,000,000. The fall yesterday in wheat, corn, and oats calculated upon a year's crop amounted to more than $17,000,000. Are these the first fruits of repeal? Wall street was terribly agitated at the prospect of a slight reduction in the gold reserve. Will they take notice of this tremendous reduction in the farmer's reserve? The market report above quoted says:

Yesterday's vote by the Senate repealing the Sherman silver law did not have the effect on the stock market that the bulls expected. In the first place London cabled orders to sell various stocks, much to the disappointment of local operators, who were confident that the action of the Senate would result in a flood of buying orders.

Is it possible that instead of money flowing to us, it is going to flow away in spite of repeal? The argument most persistently made by the advocates of repeal was that money would at once flow to this country from Europe and relieve us of our stringency in the money market. The business centers became impatient because the Senate insisted upon a thorough discussion. Some of the papers even suggested that the Senate ought to be abolished because it stood in the way of the restoration of confidence. Finally the opposition was worn out, the bill was passed, just as the metropolitan press demanded, and behold it is greeted in the market by a general decline. We may now expect to hear that the vague, indefinite, and valueless tail added in the Senate as an amendment has prevented returning confidence, and that it is our highest duty to repeal the caudal appendage of the Wilson bill, just as the repeal of the purchase clause of the Sherman law was demanded. For twenty years we have denounced the demonetization act of 1873, and yet we are now prepared with our eyes open, fully conscious of what we are doing, to per petrate the same crime. We leave silver just where it was left then, except that there was provision then for trade dol. lars which this bill does not contain. You may assume the responsibility, I shall not.

The line of battle is laid down. The President's letter to Governor Northen expresses his opposition to the free and

unlimited coinage of silver by this country alone. Upon that issue the next Congressional contest will be fought. Are we dependent or independent as a nation? Shall we legislate for ourselves or shall we beg some foreign nation to help us provide for the financial wants of our own people?

We need not fear the result of such a contest. The patriotism of the American people is not yet gone, and we can confidently await their decision.

CHAPTER X.

DEMOCRATIC DIFFERENCES.

The Republican Convention, with its sensational incidents, was followed by a season of extraordinary activity within the lines of the Democratic party. The Prohibition and Populist elements were for the time less objects of consideration among the politicians than was the growing divergence of opinion between the factions of the Democratic party. As Democratic state convention after state convention was held, it became more and more evident that the silverite wing of that party was extending its influence. In the East this influence was not so prominent, but in the West and South it spread with astonishing rapidity. It became evident some time before the convention was to be held in Chicago, July 7, that the silverites-that is those in favor of the free coinage of silver at a ratio of 16 to 1-would have a majority of the convention, and it became later apparent that they might possibly secure the two-thirds, which, according to the time-honored Democratic precedent, were necessary for a nomination. The assembling was dramatic in every feature.

There had lately been erected in Chicago a vast structure known as the Coliseum, intended for the accommodation of such great gatherings as this, and the incoming multitude of delegates and alternates found the most

complete arrangements for the reception and for the holding of a convention on a grand scale ever known in the political history of the country. Before the arrivals of the various state delegations it was understood that the nominee would be almost to a certainty a Free Silver man, and a fierce rivalry for precedence had arisen among the candidates. Most prominent among these was the Hon. Richard P. Bland, of Missouri, known as the father of the Free Silver movement, and for many years most prominent in Congress in advocacy of the white metal. He was looked upon as the logical candidate and led easily in the beginning. Ex-Gov. Horace Boies, of Iowa, was the candidate counted second in strength, while Gov. Claude Matthews, of Indiana; Ex-Governor Pattison, of Pennsylvania; Senator Joseph Blackburn, of Kentucky; Ex-Governor Russell, of Massachusetts; and John R. McLean, of Ohio, were other candidates recognized as having more than possibilities. The representatives of Ex-Governor Boies were first in the field, and were followed swiftly by those of Bland and Matthews, Bland having apparently the lead in the contest and retaining it till the last day of the convention.

After the gathering of the delegates and before the convention opened, it was evident that the Free Silver men constituting the majority were resolved to exercise the power they possessed to the utmost to secure any action of the convention in accordance with their principles and beliefs, It was doubtful whether or not they had a two-thirds majority in the convention and so sufficient votes to nominate a President in accordance with Democratic precedent. It was determined in caucus that if necessary to secure control of the convention in the

degree required, the majority should exert its force and abandon the two-thirds rule. There were two contesting delegations of importance, one from Nebraska, and the other from Michigan, Were the Free Silver delegates from these two states to be seated, it appeared possible that it would not be necessary to abrogate the rule referred to and thus violate the provision of the Democratic party. Steps were taken by the Silver majority to meet all contingencies in this respect.

The majority of the Democratic National Committee was composed of many opposed to the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. There was a minority holding an opposite view.

It had been usual in the past for the National Committee to attend to all preliminaries and to designate those from chairman down, who should be given an official place during the temporary organization of the convention. The National Committee followed the usual precedent, and after different conferences with the silver men exercised this technical right and named temporary officials of the convention, designating for the temporary chairman the Hon. David B. Hill, of New York. At the various conferences held, fiery speeches had been made, and it had become a certainty that the difference between eastern and western delegates was likely to be something irreconcilable. The convention finally assembled, with a prevailing sentiment that there might come a disruption of the Democratic party. There had been a few hours before the convention a meeting of the opposing forces, in which the leading men of either branch had participated. These included, among the so-called "sound money" men, Senator Hill, of New York; Senator Vilas, of Wisconsin;