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Show I.IOIIT TO MM K. We predicted that tho vote of the house committee on coinage when taken yesterday would stand 7 to 5 against a free silver bill. In fact it was 8 to 4, or one worse than we expected, and we are not at all surprised at it. . Two months ago the friends of the white metal were masters of the situation situa-tion in congress. They could dictate almost any terms they desired short of free and unlimited coinago. So potent were they that they forced the goldites to make concessions which the senate caucus, supported by Secretary Wisdom, Wis-dom, ratilied, falling barely short of free coinage. Had this compromise .,.,', , , , -been acceptmt. ' which it could have , been without friction, silver would to day quote somewhere near a parity with gold instead of being marketed at less than 98.00. Between now and the near future, the honest advocates of gold who fear that disaster might follow fol-low tho introduction of biraetalism iu this country, would have had an opportunity oppor-tunity to learn an object lesson by the operation of the new bill which they had not previously possessed and it would have been easier thereafter to pass a free silver bill. Instead of that the advocates of silver, confident of their power, insisted that congress should give them free coinage or nothing. Asa result all the elements of opposition, from one reason or another, an-other, were fused together and presented pre-sented a harmouious whole against the measure. There wore first the gold men. republicans repub-licans and democrats, pure and simple; then there were conservative members who argued with the president that the bill passed last summer should have a fair chance to vindicate itself before it was condemned. Then there were timid congressmen who believed that any financial legislation at this time would be unwise; besides which there were democrats, silver men usually, w ho feared they might compromise one or the other of their possible candidates for president if they voted as their conscience con-science demanded. Altogether it was a utrange but effective conglomeration to defeat the senate bill. Indeed, so arrogant arro-gant had this :orce become that within the last few days it would have been iruposs'.blo for tlto silver men who two months ago deemed themselves itniiioiblo, to obtain any concession whatever from the other side. Tito vote yesterday in the coinage coin-age committee is a criterion of the fueling fuel-ing in the matter that exists in Washington Wash-ington ti'day. We ask, is this good politics; is it j pool policy; is it business; or was The ! Times not right when it counselled to moderation? |