Show an open letter TO THE republicans OF UTAH A great many suggestions have come to the effect that I 1 should re turn to utah in advance of the republican state convention for the purpose of consulting with the party officials and th convention delegates in relation to the complexities of the national Ee publican situation I 1 can not accept the sugg cation nor is such acceptance necessary the people of utah are quick to aea an emergency and are competent and courageous in meeting it they need lesa of explanation and deserve less of solicitation than the leopla of most states if there be anything that should b said at thia hour it ia fair to submit it publicly and to subject it to open approval or objection up to the of february the republicans of the east assumed that there was this year but one easue to meet that of protection against tar iff for revenue only and on euch an issue if it alone were to be considered thera was a general admission that the republican party must win an overwhelming victory but on that date an event occurred in the senate of the united states which indicated a determination on the part of certain republicans to hold the party to ft direct and startling responsibility upon its own platform adopted at minneapolis wherein bimetallism was declared to be as sacred a tenet of our political faith as protection itself and even this notification sudden and emphatic was not so startling as were the utterances of many eastern senators and the metropolitan press of republican proclivities no was it known by the vote of february in the senate and the speech of senator carter on the day following in vindication of that vote that at least five senators of the unit ed states elected on the republican platform of 1892 waa determined that the financial question should not be eliminated frani consideration than certain self constituted and yet generally accepted mouthpieces of financial wisdom declared unreservedly for a single geld standard branded the five senators as traitors to republicanism and gave to the eastern press alie signal for such a combined assault as had not bean witnessed within any party upon any of its adherents in thia generation for the vote of february I 1 have no regrets no apology is asked ner is any explanation needed by the people of utah except the reminder that the issue upon which utah was last carried for the majority party was th issue of bimetallism and protection one and indivisible I 1 should have been recreant to the trust reposed in me by voting for a tariff bill the deep purpose of which was to give to the east high ion on manufactured goods and to the west practically no protection on so called raw materials while at the same times glossing over by its immediate effects the paramount need for monetary reform as to silence much of the demand of the masses for justice upon that issue As a republican I 1 had believed and had so to the people of utah jagt year that the leading republicans of the United States were steadily and firmly inclining toward bimetallism as we in utah understand it the unlimited coinage of silver at the established ratio of 16 to 1 and whatsoever may havo been the surface appearance of tho attack which was made upon the five silver senators for provoking this issue at a time when the eastern beaire was to have it silenced no one now can doubt that beneath this surface there has set in anew a aprong trend toward bimetallism by those wise political leaders who see that not all the people are content to subordinate every demand of human justice to the ambitions of presidential candidates and selfish manipulators and the assurances given to us in private communication muni cation and in general conference from men alio are engaged in building up the manufacturing interests of the country is such as to afford a hopa that the party in general will not depart from its time honored traditions that it will not accept the dictum of the single gold advocates and that it vill perform one more act of its wonderous mission in behalf of toil by deliberate announcement and by persistent labor to secure enlargement of our basis of metallic money higher prices for agricultural product more security of employment for tailors toi lors and more exact and just relations between debtor and creditor I 1 truit that my citizens will not think it presumptuous for me to de claro that had the dingley tariff bill been passe 1 through the senate of the united states the power to bring the party to a consideration of its responsibility toward the money question would have been lost tho dingier tariff bill once pat the senate of the united states the five so called silver secession senators Se naters might as well have tried to whistle down a whirlwind as to obtain a re hearing from the politicians and tho manufacturing interests inta rests everything would have been subordinated to the on issue protection which great as it is is by no means greater than the financial question it follows then that it nothing more wag accomplished the attention of alie political leaders of the republican party waa challenged and they cow havo notice the people are determined to be heard and to bold the party to all its sacred principles protection is a mighty light at the harbor of human hopes but if the light of bimetallism on the opposite headland ho adland be extinguished protection alone can not illuminate the way to safety those who rely udom protection alono will find their efforts wrecked it ia not necessary for me to here rehearse what I 1 have BO often talked from the platform in utah concerning alie needs for mere money or concerning the dangers of the asiatic peril directed against the industries of the united states the principal point for conr immediate consideration ia what shall republicans in utah do in their relation to the national party this inquiry should be propounded by every man who under stands the great doctrines by which has preserved and may yet if it will still further ad vance the interests of our common country and here it ia but simply justice to the five silver senators to aay they have not left the republican party nor threatened to leave they arc standing firmly on the tw planks of the minneapolis platform bimetallism and protection ta them bimetallism means the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at ac to 1 to them protection means a juist imposition of tariff duties which will guard equally all industries of the united states the republicans who criticized thorn in the senate are ipen who construe bimetallism to paean a single gold standard with silver forever degraded to subsidiary coinage and men who accept ab protection an infamy like the dingley bill which seizes all the substance for the east as its right divine and offers the chadow to the struggling west I 1 claim that the five silver senators were standing by true republican doctrine and arc entrenched within the party bulwarks bulwa and for one I 1 invite a decision by the republican of utah as to which construction st of the platform is correct scores of letters directed to me so many that they cannot be separately answered at length ask these questions shall we bend delegates to st louis if we have delegates there and the party shall accept a single gold standard platform or a straddle platform abid shall nominate there a man who merely affects to believe in bimetallism what shall our delegates do in my judgment the party should select its delegates to the national convention at st louis and should adopt dueh resolutions as will show the unalterable faith of utah republicans in sm and protection tec tion at the came time instructing these delegates to stand by this principle one and indivisible as a cardinal truth let other people and parties stand where they may I 1 have naver solicited approval by any resolution in any convention but 1 do ask the republicans of utah to state now in no uncertain terms whether they approve the determination taken by the five silver senators on the day of february whereby it was practically declared that protection must not take precedence oyer the silver issue in this country in this matter I 1 take all ray fellow citi zens into confidence I 1 believed that I 1 was voting as they would have had ma vote had they been here to decide the question with full knowledge of the facts if they approve tha stand taken they should say so and thereby silence the subsidized presa of the east which declara that we are misrepresenting our constituencies if tha people at homo do not uphold the position let them in their convention declare against tho attitude assumed by senators teller carter dubois mantle and myself and endorsed by representatives alien hartman wilson and shaf roth let tham say that protection is tha paramount issue and that wait its time let them say that they are willing to take tho judgment of the baat in this matter as against the judgment of devoted henry M teller and his associates and I 1 will acknowledge that decree as a criticism passed by th republican party in utah this request is not made for the ake of individual gratification fi but in behalf of a cause it ia perhaps unusual for one to write in this strain to a whole community but the unusual situation justifies the proceed ur the people of utah have a right to know the actual situation to sum it all up it is as follows if the people of the states of mon utah and colorado will stand behind their senators on the proposition of bimetallism and protection tec tion ono and indivisible tho causo of silver will be won and with that winning will come a better protective tariff than the west has evor had but if tho people of these states shall to reject the proposition the fight for silver is lost until the roth chelda and the money changers shall see some gain to themselves in permitting the rehabilitation of the money of the people I 1 therefore respectfully ask tho republican party of utah to meet the issue squarely by revolution reio lution when it shall in convention assemble fellow republicans do you want to force the fight for the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 baing every weapon of just power which ie placed in your hands or do you want to accept auch jeaa ure and character of protection as tho baat may choose to grant leaving the silver question to all unequal controversy without a shield and without a sword J CANSON senata chamber washington D C march |