Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 2 October 1896 — Page 7

Judge Aidredge, at Atlanta, fore Convention of American Bankers.

ee-

Wlt ami Humor, With Sound Iiogic, Kept the Convention In an Upronr—Case Stated So Plainly That All Can Understand It.

Fire Principe.! Free Coinage Arguments Answered In Turn—Chinch Bugs and Roll worms Versus 3 0 to 1

Cranks—What

Makes Interest Low?—Important Prices That Ilaro Kison Since 1873.

Perhaps tlie sound money spcech in greatest demand in all "arts of tho country, niul the demand for which is most constantly growing, is that of Judge Georgo IT. Aldredgo of Dallas, Tex., delivered Oct. 1C, 1SC5, at tlio convention of tho American Bankers' association at Atlanta, Ga. Wo nre certain that all of our readers will relish tho wit and humor which upset the dignity of tho bankers. They will also find It very instructive reading. Wo reprint it in full below:

Tho proposition that this government should coin silver for the world, in unlimited amount, at doublo its market value, is so repugnant to tho common sense of mankind that it ought to be unnecessary to discuss it, and would bo but for tho fact tb.-.t a portion of our people have been misled by appeals to their prejudice and by tho specious reasoning of sophists. If our government wero asked to deelaro that two quarts equaled a gallon or to revise f'io multiplication tablo and enact that 10 times 10 equaled 200, all men would seo tho folly, but when asltcd to bclicvo that $10 worth of silver, by being touch by tho government stamp. Instantly becomes worth 70, many peoplo honestly bclicvo this miracle may bo accomplished, a::d many others uffect to believe it for practical purposes.

In nil ages of tho world there have been delusions in rofer"nco to money, and in spito of uniform disastrous results many aro ever ready to listen to tho teachings ol' any charlatan who claims that lio has discovered a shorter route to woalth. They rsftise to apply to money that hir.d common sense which they exorcise in deVing with tho everyday affairs of life. The ignorant have ahvays had superstition about silver. Among the negroes of the south nothing would kill a witch but a silver bullet.

That our ancestors 100 years ago fised a unit of value in gold or silver and fixed a ratio between them is immaterial to us. Their example in so doing is not more binding on us than their methods of business, their moans of transportation, or tlio implements with which they sowed and reaped. It would be a sad commentary upon our intelligence if wo lia:l learned nothing in 100 j-ears. We do know that in fixing* ratio they attributed no magic to tho government stamp, but sought diligent ly to ascertain tho marks* value of tho two metals in the leading nations of the world an conformed, as they thought, strictly to this market ratio. 13y pursuing the method adopt ed by them would now fix the ratio at about 32 to 1. The consistent man is not tho one who stands in one place always, regardless of tho chancing conditions around him, but it is ho who. wiih intelligence and circumspection, adapts himself to the changcd condition of affairs.

Gold Versus Silver Standard Countries. For nearly :.\i years every enlightened nation In the world litis been on a gold standard basis. They aro all representative governments, and their laws are made by then- people and for their people. Tho government which first established tho gold standard is mora obedient to tho will of its peoplo than ours is. When an important administration measure is defeated by the representatives of tho English people, tho government i3 immediately placed in the bands of the opposition. The gold standard nations aro those that havo reclaimed the world from barbarism and havo given it all it-, learning and invention, where schools and churches abound, whoro the dignity of man is maintained and labor properly rewarded, anu they control tho commerce of tho world.

These nations, after testing gold and silver for hundreds of years, voluntarily ndonted the gold standard. No nation today has tiie silver standard from choice. It is only because they are weak and helpless to remedy the evil that any of them re.nain on silver basis. But to day tho United States, the foremost nation in nil tho eartn in solvency and resources, in intelligence and energy, is seriously invited to abandon the standard of civilization and commerce and to consort with half civilized, half clad people, who are wealt and ignorant, who bavo little or no commerce, whero bull fights ubound and scl. jols do not, where human labor is in sharp competition with tho meek and lowly jackass, whero a bree.chclout is preferred to a full suit and when: the bulk of the people know no more about a standard of value than a mulo about the nebular hypothesis. Surely we would do Will to take a look at the com pany before wc sit down to the feast.

Free Coinage Arguments.

Tho invitation is that this country, after having adjusted it: enormous business for 'JO years to a gold standard, shall suddenly readjust all business and all values to what i3 termed a double standard of gold and silver. The arguments advanced in behalf of such a chnngo aru:

First.—A doublo standard resting upon gold and silver world give u.oro correct measure of value and on less liable to fluctuation than a single gold standard.

Second.—Gold has appreciated in value and all property measured by it has declined in value.

Third.—Tho supply of g^ld is inadequate to make it, a safe .standard, and the scarcity of Itwill tend to the depression of prices.

Fourth.—1 ho free, unlimited coinage of sii ver at the ratioof hi to I will create unlimited demand for silver and restoro it to par

Fifth.—Fre and unlimited coinage of silver at 10 to 1 will iih?reuse the prices of property. Mythic-I "Double Standard."

With referenco to the first preposition: A stmidard of value is some exact measure which enters into and becomes a part of every contract, and to which all obligations aro referable. If our governmentTftould, by legal enactment, fix the value of gold and silver in tho markets of the world and could keep them adjusted to a fired ratio, a double standard would bo practicable. But it cannot fix or maintain value. The buyers of the world, the merchants, do that. When Abraham purchased, his lot in Ephron's cemetery, he weighed out to Ephron silver "current money with the merchant." And tho merchants of the world have been saving what shall bo "current money" from that day to this.

Governments are as powerless to suspend tho law of value as they are to suspend tho law of gravitation. Such being the case, I can conceive of two standards, one of gold and the other of silver, and contracts might be mado referable to either standard, but tlie indotoimiuato doublo standard, resting on two metals not linked together by any binding obligation, but both acting under go as vuu please rules, is to mo absolutely incomprehensible. We cannot bind them together as wo do two metals in the pendulum of a clock or in the mainspring of a watch. No people ever did business under ho imaginary double standard, and every attempt to enforce it lias resulted in alternating from ono standard to tho other. England tried it for 470 years, and it was an utter failure France changed her ratio 118 times in 12 years trying to walk the double standard tight rope. We tried it and went first to a silver basis, then to a gold basis, then to paper basis and then back to a gold basis. Tho phrase "doublo standard" is a contradiction of terms. Standard means correct meaa uro, and thero cannot bo two different correct measures of value any more than there can bo two different correct weights to sell by, two different correct compasses to sail by or two different correct thermometers to measure

temperaturo by. If ono measure is correct, the other cannot differ from it and be correct. Grcsliam's Law.

It is nil inexorablo law of money that when two metals are coined at a fixed ratio and both mado legal tender, if cither is undervalued in tho coinage law the undervalued metal goes out of circulation. About the middle of tho fourteenth century Nicholas Oresmo, tho father of finance in France, announced liis great law to Charles l:,0 years later Copernicus, the founder of modern astronomy, announced it to the Prussians, and 32 years still later Gresham announced it to Queen Elizabeth. Mucaulay in his "History of England" shows how perfectly this law worked in England and eloquently describes tho direful conscquences. lie was describing coins dobased by clipping, but still legal tender. A coin is just as bad when debased by overvaluation in coinage as when dipped or counterfeited. In tho one case tho creditor is deceived, and in the other lie is forced. It is simply tho difference between theft and robbery. -Tho law of money has never failed. Wo know what will bo its operation just- as we know that tho deadliest poison Will kill becauso it always has killed.

Wo Now Have XG to 1 Bimetallism. Tho gold standard advocates believe in gold is a standard with tho largest possible safe use of silver among the people. Tho 10 to 1 dreamers believe in the BO called double standard, and wo aro driven by this law to tho use of silver alone. All gold standard countries uso lai ,:o amounts of silvor and no silver standard country uses any gold whatever. As tho practical question is tho uso of the metals, it follows that wo aro tho bimctallist and tho 10 to 1 peoplo aro the monometallist. Hence tho battle that Is to be fought to a finish next year is whether wo will remain under a gold standard, with actual bimetallism in uso among the people—gold and silver circulating freely without discrimination against either—or shall wo liavo a so called double standard at 1he mints and no-«\-hero else, with silver monometallism in ac tual use? The battle is between substanco and shadow, between those who want bimetallism in fact and those who want it in name only. Wo aro tho friends of silver money, v.-lio would bring to its aid the power of tho government to keep it good, and they are its enemies, who, by unlimited coinage, would take from it tho guarantee of parity by tho government, nnd thereby degrade it to its market valuo.

Our government has been and is now coining silver at tho ratio of 1G to 1. It is enabled to do this, because under tho law it can restrict tho amount coined, and, being vested with this control, it undertakes to mako every dollar good money. The moment the government loses control of the coinage, confidence in its ability t" protect tho money issued is gone, and a sil.-er dollar then rests on its merit and is v.-m-th 50 cents. To illustrate: A merchant could very well guarantee the expenses of his clerk if he were allowed to control tho expenses, but if tho clerk demanded free and unlimited expenses then tho merchant would have to "stand from under" and let the expons take care of themselves.

Wo hear a great deal of indignant declamation because tne government does not pay its "coin" obligations in silver. To maintain tho parity betwecr gold and silver it is essential that the government in receiving its dues and paying its debts must ignoro tho inferiority of silver, just as a mother pretends not to see tho limp of her lame child. This gives the option of metals to the person dealing with tho government, whether as debtor or creditor. If tho government should discriminate against silver by refusing to receive it for dues, or by insisting on paying it instead of gold, that moment the parity would be gone and the silver in every man's pocket would would bo at a discount. Its coinage being under the control of tho government, the government makes it good at its cov iter, and this makes it good at uvery counter in the world.

If there is anything in the doublo standard stability idea we ought to work for it for all it is worth. Ii two metals will lix value better than one, th"n throe metals will beat two. and four beat three, and by having eight or ten metals in the standard we can anchor it so that it will not crawl an inch in 1,000 years.

Tho second proposition is that gold has appreciated and thereby depressed prices. The samo cause operating upon a number of articles will produce the same effect in all thoso not affected by a contravening cause. When wo contemplate prices, we find that siuco tho gold standard was adopted, Feb. 12, 1873, somo articles havo 'declined in value, somo havo remained stationary, while somo risen in price, and contravening causes will account l'or the failure of gold to depress all alike. We iinu that no two articles have declined at the same time or in the same degree, nor has any one article remained uniformly deprensed. This demonstrates that, as to those artieks that have declined, no one controlling cause can bo assigned as having produced these results.

Tho stock argument of the 10 to 1 peoplo is that wheat and cotton have declined, and they stem to gloat over the fact. I knew an old negro who, when asked how ho was get-tin along, always replied, "Poorly, thank Godl" and they aro thankful when tho country is poorly on wheat and cotton. Since 187:1 tho vast fertile prairies of the northwest have been turned into wheatllelds, so that tho production of wheat ill the United States has been doubled since then. The same thing has been going on iu Russia and Smith America. Tli wonderful improvements in machinery for harvesting Wueat and the extension of railroads for tr.v.sporting it to market gave an immense imp.tus to the production of it. A farmer can make more money raising it at 50 cents j»er bushel today than he could at $1 per bushel "JO years ago. The result has been that tho overproduction of wheat has reduced price, and tin- gold standard had nothing to do with the reduction, lis ice is lvgaia'.ed by supply and demand. Chinch Hues, Caterpillars and Boil worms.

Last Slay a Ijitt-lo bug settled down on the wheatllelds of the northwest, and in one two weeks eat up one-half of the 10 to 1 argument on prices and sent the prices back into the neighborhood of those of 1873. The- old hayseeds, who knew the habits of the chinch bug and the kind of a multiplication table he used in regulating the increase in his family, took tho trains for Chicago, commenced buying wheat and broke all the "smart Alecks" in the city. They may havo talked gold .standard depression at home, but they put their money on the chinch bug iu tho city and Won. The caterpillar and bollworiu can do the same thing for cotton. 1 only Know the chinch bug by reputation, but 1 am personally acquainted with these worms. They are composed of appetite and skin. They do no' care a tinker's blowing for anybody's standard, and whin they invade the cotton fields of die south they send tho price of cotton up in every mart of the world, gold standard or no gold standard. They havo been doing business with us this summer and havo moved the price of cotton up 00 per cent. This bug and these worms haven't many friends, but as sluggers iu an argument with a 10 to 1 crank they are entitled to the belt.

Cotton brought $1 a pound in Now York during tho war, and !i0 to -IU cents a pound tho first year after the war on account of the four years' cotton famine from HOI to 1805, and it \vus several years getting down to its normal price. The price declined when wtr made too much of it. The largest cotton crop made with slave labor was -1,000.770 bales, and I remember it was confidently predicted that no such crop would ever be mado with free labor. The crop of 187: was less than 'J,000,000 bales, and we gradually increased it to a little legs than 10,000,000 bales in 1804. India. Egypt and Brazil are also raising larger crops of cotton. The immense crop of 189-1 was thrown upon a market illy prepared to receive it. For three years there had been less cotton goods consumed than unuil. owing to tho worldwide panic and depression of business following tho Baring failure, and these two conditions meeting—overproduction and vniderconsumpt ionbrought cotton down to a very low pricv. Some of the Populists tell us there cannot bo overproduction until every man, woman and child in tho world has rotund stomach and a full suit of clothes. This is based upon the communistic idea that it is tho duty of government to take care of every loafer who is too lazy to woi'k for a living, and is too contemptible to waste an answer on. Prices of Corn, Horh, Itnltcr, Potatoes, Ktc.,

Have ltlsen .Since 1873.

it has shot somo things up in price. Tho corn crop ol tho United Stales is more valuable than both the wheat and cotton crops combined. Tlie crop of corn made just preceding tho gold standard, in ISO'-, sold for 34 cents at gold figures, and the crop of IS','4 was worth 45 cents in gold, and it has generally been above the 1S72 price. The oat, crop is about equal to tho wheat crop. Oats wero worth 29 cents in 1872 and 32 cents in IriU. Fat beef steers wero worth $40 in gold in 1872 and fiiO in gold in 1805. Tlogs aro worth more now than they wero in 1672 and have generally been higher than they

were then. The farmers'wives get as much in I

gold now for butter, chickens and eggs as they did in greenbacks in 1872, and this crop is moro valuable than tho wheat and cotton crops combined. Tobacco, potatoes, bacon, hay, coffee, leather, whisky and a hundivu other things havo not declined in price

Labor, Lund, Wool and Homes Tho labor crop is equal in value to all other crops combiued, and it has steadily advanced in price. Land is much more valuable in gold now than in 1S72, notwithstanding it was depressed bj' the pauicof 16!2and 1803. The prico of wool has declined., but the world's produo-

tion of it, since 1872, has doubled and tho use

of it has been'partly supplanted by the use of cotton goods. Horses havo declined, but tho railroads, electric cars and bicycles are doing ihe work they did. The cost of the production of an article fixes its value. This is necessarily so, bee,-.uso if tho profit is large, others will bo attracted to the business until bo prico is brought to its proper level. All articles manufactured by imichii.ery have declined in price, for tho reason that with each invention tho cost of producing the article is lessened. Human genius has produced more results for cheapening production in tho last 00 years than in all the ages of tho world before that time. These grand triumphs of man over matter, instead of fallowing depression from a standard of vnlue, show forth the glory nnd dignity of the human intellect', and aro an unmixed blessing to tho whole human family. Could any one c*.»side of a lunatic asylum attribute all thoso diverse aial inconsistent movements of prices to ono cause, and that cause acting evenly and uniformly upon ail things alike?

What Makes Interest Low?

Interest has declined since 1872 in my part of the country from'i) per cenX per month to and S percent per annum. There is no denying the fact that the* goldbugs did that. Tho south nndwe.-'t have saved more on tho decline of interest rl ^n tbe.v havo lost in tho decline in wheat and cotton. Iuteivst is always low under an honest standard, among an honest people, where? money is plentiful. It is lower in London than in any other spot on the globo because her standard is stable and her commercial integrity haul been tha care of her statesmen and her people for ages past. England's punctuality in meeting her obligations has mado London the clearing house of tho world. Tyre was the London of ancient limes. Seated on the eastern end of the Mediterranean, she reigned queen of commerco for centuries. The s-epter ef commercial greatness passed from her when her own children reared Carthago at the other end of that sea. Somo 800 years ago England planted colonies in America, aud 'day tho United States is England's only li'i.iidablo rival for tho commerce of the. world. The object lesson of ancient history is being repeated. If tho insatiable mine owm-rs by use of their millions, and tho placo humiag demagogues by unctuous appeals to prejudice, succeed in driving this country from the standard of civilization and commerce, tho standard that announces integrity at homo and inspires confidence abroad, to a iiat standard and silver basis, then England will have no rival to grapple with her in the marts of tho world.

Moro Gold and Moro Credits. The third proposition is that the supply of gold is insufficient to mako it a correct standard and in scarcity will tend to depress prices. The average annual output of gold of tho world for the first half of thi3 century, in round number was $15,000,000. From 1851 to 1S05, covering tho gold boom in California and Australia, the yearly average was $130,000,000. The output- for ISii-i was £155,000,000 and for 1694 $181,000,000. The birth rate among gold using countries is not increasing, while tho production of gold is on tho increase, as just stated. This answer ought, to satisfy even the extreme 1G to 1 people—tlie "per capita" Populist—especially in view of the. fact that improvements in power and machinery are being applied to the production of gold, wliilo the genius of invention finds no inducement offered nor field for operation in tho population business.

My next answer is that tho more highly enlightened the world becomes, and the greater the improvements in business methods, tho less necessity „hero i3 for the use of actual money of any kind. Steam and electricity havo so knitted civilized peoplo together that they are practically one community. Business men speak to each other around tiic world as if they were assembled in the Eame building. Their business is done on a system of credits, without the use uf money, except for ultimate settlement. Nor is this method confined to business men. It is broadening with the evolution of man fr-m a lower to a higher piano of intelligence. A farmer may now live tor a whole year on th.' fat of tne land and never handle a dollar in money during that time. Ho may receive checks for his crop, deposit them to uis credit with a bank and draw on the bank for what he owes and spends. Neither he nor the men who bought his crop had a dollar in tho bank. They only had credit there.

Tho bank awns tho money in its vault, and its customers simply havo the bank's obligation. Bank credits perform precisely the samo work that gold and silver do, and they perform it much quicker and more conveniently. The Scots are tiu most conservative people in the world, niiu -ilyy liavo had tho bett- bunking system of any people for 2i)U years.'* On a gold reserve cf -V-J.Ci.'i.tJOO they support bank credits to the amount of S44S,2!i.S,000. The best authorities estimate that only ono bill of exchange in 500,0O0 is cr paid in money in England. Gold, silver ai.:l other money perform 1 per cent of the exchanges i:i this country, and credits in tho shapo of bills, notes, checks, etc., do the other 00 per cent. The business of tho world could no moro be done today with gold and silvor than its inland transportation could be done with ox wagons.

The 10 to 1 orators, in denouncing the act of 1S73, assort that half the money or the country was destroyed and hold out the idea that our money has been contracted to that- extent-. Iu 1872 our population was •10.5l)G.O'J0 nnd our per capita of mOliey was $18.70. In 1SD-1, after the country had burn suffering v.'ith gold standard for 21 years, our population (io,: 75,000, and our per capita of niviiey is &.Y44, and wo have much better money now than be had then. The adoption of the gold slandard as a measure of value did not increase the demand for gold for use to any great extent. Alcohol is the standard for moasuring'tlie strength of all spirituous liquors, yet that l'acr h:ts never been found to be very straining on alcohol.

A Surfeit of Silver.

.. .. l»enrt, woald any ono say that such a man If tho gold standard depressed wheat and needed a free and unlimited infusion of blood? cotton, it was surely loaded at both ends, ior government can no more Induco people to

Fourth proposition, that the free and unlimited coinage of silver at 10 to 1 would create unlimited demand for silver and restoro it to par. How tho mere coinage of silver can in any way increase its uso among tho people I am unable to understand. If there was not enough of it for uso as money aud the government was limiting the coinage of it and thereby denying tho people of tho use of it as money, then thero would bo force in the proposition to increase tho coinage of silver. But our condition is exactly the reverse of that. Tho amount of coined and uncoined silver in tho treasury is -S512,000,000, wliilo the amount in circulation us about .$107,000,000.

To encourage tho use of silver by the people the government exchanges coined silver at its mints for gold or legal tender currency and pays the express charges on tho silver to any part of tho country. This coined silver is all good money. Tlir. dollars aro legal tender for all debts in any amount, and the halves, quarters and dimes are exchangeable in sums of $20 for gold or other legal tenders. Notwithstanding tho inducement offered by tlie government to promote the uso of silver, it has hitherto been uuablo to force into circulation more than about one-fifth of its stock on Land. Then, why all this clamor for more coinage? If man had Ave times as much blood in his body as his arteries and voins would circulate and four-fifths of it was lying idle around his

nso money they do not want than it can indue* them to c-nt what they do not like. The true place of silver is as a change money. It is indispensable for that purpose and unsuited to any other, and all the silver tongued orators in tho land cannot change this fact. The 51, $2.50 and ?3 goldpieces were too small nnd were unpopular as change money, and the government stopped the coinage of them.

On tho other hand, silver is not a debt paying money in any considerable amcui.it, nor tho money of commerce, for the reason that it Is too bulky nnd too heavy. When a man gets

0Ver

$5 or $10 of it, lie unloads on tho first

bnnk lie comes to, and the bank unloads on the treasury. Thus tho circulation of it is limited to just what the peoplo will use. When the people'get enough of a thing, they know it, ami you cannot argue with them about it. They are gul'ible on theories, but intensely practical in business. "Tho Great Crime of 1STI1

We havo heard a great deal nbout demonetiEation of silver. Let- us see the extent of "tho great crime of 1S73." In 1853, in order to prevent the subsidiary coin from going abroad, tho silver half dollar was reduced in weight

rom

-joey to 1S)2 grains, and tho quarters, dimes

and 5 cent pieces wero reduced in the same proportion. Tlieso coins wero then mado a legal tender for only

i.'i

in amount, nnd tho

coinage of them for private account was stopped, but tlui government purchased tho silvor bullion and coined them us they wero needed. So, no crimo was committed in 1S7.1 ngainst tho halves, quarters, dimes and half dimes. That crimo was committed under Millard Fillmore. In 1670 these coins wero mado legal tender for sums not exceeding $10.

In 167,'i the standard silver dollar of 412^ grains was left out of the coinage act and the trade dollar of 420 grains was substituted for it. This was done at the request of tho Pacific slope, to enablo our dollar to competo with tho Mexican dollar of about that weight, in China and Japan. Tho standard dollar was not a legal tender from Feb. 12, 187 J, to Feb. 26, 1678, at which lime its recoinage was provided for, and it. -van reinstated sa^i legal tender for all debts, in whatever amount. But $$,000,000 of this "d ldy dollar" was coined prior to 1873, out of total coinage of $1,000,000,000. Jefferson stopped tlio coinage of it in 1S05 and for B0 years not ono of them was coined, and tho duddies nc-ver complained. They did not have sense ciough to see that Jefferson had sold out to Lombard street! Theso dollars wero not in fact legal ti nders prior to 1873,because the peoplo did not tender tliem inpayment of debts nor in purchase of goods. They had not been in circulation sinco Andrew Jackson was president, and hardly any middle aged man had ever seen one of them. Tho peoplo had dome -etized them by melting them down or by sending them abroad for that purpose, and to this good day they havo never been demonetired in any ether way.

The act of 1CT3 simply n- i. r.i/ed what the peoplo had done and for five years continued the policy that tlio people had been pursuing for nearly half a century. The legal tender faculty of this dollar was restored to it 17 years 'I'M! government has $350,000,000 of it on hand now, and has stood ready at all times to furnish it to anybody who wanted it,. This is the biography of the demonetization mouse that lias been evolved from a mountain of denunciation. The poor little tiling nover lived but five brief years and has been as dead as a door nail for 17 years. Wliilo it lived itwas so harmless the people paid no attention to it. Shakespeare says, "The evil that men do lives after them." But. it is even worso in tho case of this mouse. The evil that it did not do lives af tit in the shupo of grasping mine owners, two ply editors and unscrupulous politicians.

Thriving on Assassination.

We aro tolu that the standard dollar is not primary money. It is not a promise to pay, it is a legal tender for all debts, and it does not have to be redeemed in anything on the face of the earth. Jf any man can give a better definition of primary money than this, I would like to S"e it.

This government is the fast friend of silver money und ct the people who use it, rather than of the American and English corporations who mill" silver and would coin it nt a fictitious valuation. Prior to 1673 this government coined J44,000,000 of silver: since then, $537,000,000. l:i 21 years, under a gold standard, nearly four times as much silver was coined as in SI years under tho so called double standard. A certain kind lady always chloroformed her child when she whipped it. Miss Silver was assassinated in 1673, at a timo when there was almost none of her in circulation, and since that fateful day she lies thrived on assassination and has grown from a living skeleton to be the fat woman in the circus' In contemplating her brilliant post mortem career I am constrained, with the apostle, to exclaim: "Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?

After 1673 this country prospered as no other ever did le" 1!) years, and we are asked to believe that it took this wide awake nation Ifi years to find out that it was ruined by the legislation of 1873. Tlie negroes in some sections believe in a hoodoo charm, which is harmless for a year and tlion suddenly develops insanity, fits. etc. Tho crime ol 1S73 seems to have worked in a hoodoo way.

The Eget Argument.

The 1G to 1 people tell us that the coinage of sil ver will create unlimited demand for it. They de-cline to give us the huwness or tho whereforeness of this new born demand, but with childlike faith they expect it to rise in all its beau ty us the fabled Venus rose from the froth of tlio sea. They say the demand will come so the Seventh Day Adventists tell us tho end will come, and if their picnic comes off first, they will not ::eed silver: tho demand will be for free ami unlimited water. They contend if this government takes nil the silver that comes at 10 to 1, silver will be worth par all over the world, and they uso an egg urgnmcnt to prove it. They say, if a nierchuiit advertises that lie will pay *^5 cents for dozen for eggs, so long as ho has tlio ability to all that come, eggs will be worth 25"cents all that country. But suppose tho merchant did not take them! Suppose when a farme drove up to his store the merchant said unto him: "My friend, you havo misunderstood me. 1 am ncjt buying eggs. I am simply conn ing them, certifying that they aro good and handing them back to you." What would eggs then be worth? Tho same old 10 or 15 cents per dozen

Under unlimited coinngo tho government would not bay silver or guarantee tho ,i -i of tho coins. It would stamp it "without, re course." Silver would come from every country in tho world ar.d the government would bo a fool to undertake to guarantee the value of the coins by trying to preserve tho parity between tho metals. If a herder drove a lot of cow ponies through tho mint and they were branded "$100 liorso" and delivered io tho owner at tho other end of the building, it would not improve tho breed of the ponies nor create a wild demand for them at tho brand price.

Our government has lost $200,000,000 trying to create demand for silver, for tho solo and separate use, behoof and benefit, jf tho silver mine owner, by buying it when it- did not want it and bad no need of it, and the silver mining "villain still pursues" it! Undo Sam has this silver on hand now. It would load two horse wagon train 173 miles long, putting 1,000 pounds on each wagon und letting them occupy 30 feet each in lint-, and I am mean enough to want to see him get even with tho game before we start a new deal for anybody's benefit.

Can't Stop tlio flood of Silver. If the unlimited coinage of silver by our government could bring it to par, the immediate effect would be to start every mine and mill in tho world running atiis utmost capacity, a largo portion of tho unemployed capital of tho world would seek this field, and tho bowels of the mountains of the earth would bo torn asunder to get the benefit of the double price. In ISO 1 £214,000,000 of silver wan mined and sold at about G3 cents per ouneo. If tho price was raised to 129 cents per ounce, tho 10 to 1 price, what would the harvest bo? Tho old rulo of three will solve the problem. If a railway engine will run 03 miles an hour on G3 pounds of steam pressure, how fast would it run on 123 pounds of pressure? Tho blasted thing would havo to stop once In awhile, and wait for its shadow to catch up. Senator Stownrt and his crowd tell us there can be no flood of silver. In Noah's time there was a man of sanguine temperament like that. Ho was standing on tho tip end of high mountain

and the water.'' v-cro licking his toes, no hall-

ed Noah and but Noah h.v.l refused ta.k away he claimed. WJiiS.",, out vi!t nnywa'

Th.' t.i'.y will in gover: Of till! we ',.. oneo to i.\ voice of t! •status of earth. V.o octu 1 1' we can 1 tv wet

WIT,

benefited uo mowdoublo t.'i'K,.-. beneihs cent that- bii to safely CiA this amount would be a and apremim'i to spr-e v.-lio sold a cur dog l'or in pups at 520 apiece,

i, 1 .i lllictl

ly ueiulitod by the inflated prices. Tho inflationists admit that their sehemo is ngainst tlio interest of all those who live upon fixed salaries. This includes every ono whoso services aro paid for by tho year, month, week or day, from president of a railway system to liodcarrier and thoso who draw pensions from the government. Hislory tenches that wages have never participated in boom prices created by debauching the money of a country. They havo remained about tho samo whether paid in gooel or bad money. Tho wago earner ia a traitor to himself nnd his family when ho lets his prejudice lead him to tho inflation camp and agrees to take his fixed pay in a depreciated money. If this 10 to 1 movement should succeed, ho would find that ho had lost all the vantage ground for which ho und bis brethren hud struck and struggled for hundred years. Tho modicum of prosperity in manufacturing interests in Moxico is based on tho degradation of their labor. Wo do not want prosperity at such a priaj, and wo aro getting it rapidly without swindling our labor. When tho laborer prospers, bo becomes consumer and his prosperity reacts upon nnd benefits all other Interests. In Mexico they have many refined and wealthy people, but their laborer is a peon. Ho pets from 10 to 80 cents per day in money worth half its fa*o valuo. Ho lives in miserable mud hut, en's tho poorest food that will keep his body allvo, wears tho meanest cloth that will hide it and is even denied tho privilege of a gentlomanly jag and has to get dritnk on cactus juice. In every silver or doublo standard country in tho world tho same degradation of labor is apparent.

Wo aro told that silver is tho poor man's money. Thi* appeals to his prejudice and is wholly untrue. Wages aro not paid in silver nt tho end of ach day, but they aro paid by tho year, month or week, in currency or gold, with just enough silver to mako tlio corr'-t change. Tho kind of money in transit is inr material so it goes, but when it is hoard"d, laid by for a liny day, then its staying qu^1ity becomes interesting. Tho rich man hoards by investing in property or by depositing in a bank, and the bank has tho option of paying him in silver, whilo a largo per cent of poor men pat l-mizo tho sock leg and tho bosom of tlio earth, and they always hido gold fer two reasons—they have moro confidenco in stability and being less bulky it is easier to hide. So tlieso poor men aro on a gold basis and tho rich men aro on a silver basis, if tho banks elect to put them thero.

Prejudice is tho curse of this country. It is tho only reef in the path of our ship of stute, tho only menace to our experiment of self government. Tho prejuilico of tlio uniformed makes them t'to prey of professional agitators, calamity howlers and politicians who aro an hungered for ollice. "The argumt nt is made that wo own so much foreign debt that tho interest is confiscating us. Tho ablest financiers on this continent who havo made tho subject a study placo our foreign debt at $2,000,100,000, which as they estimate at a 4).rnto of interest amounts to nu annual interest account of $00,000,000. Our globe trotters aro spending annually 847,000,000 abroad. Must, of them aro ignorant of tho boauty and erandour of their own country, which far sunsisses anything they seo abroad. They ought to givo up this foolish fad and spend their millions getting acquaint with this country for a few years.

1

t?s rirr

-«gcd to bo taken in the ark, filing orders from abovo nnd him aboard. As Noah sailed ills fist at tho old man and ox:i t!ie. devil with your old dugj:ii: to be much of a shower

ilir.t 10 to 1 coinngo property. If tliia its mints to coinage io 1, wo would go at rd.li.-m. This is tho Ms'y.t-d Vy the present cv.ntry on tho l-uvc bimetallism in 'coinage than v,VS ject, or dry, -.vet people bo in half v.,1- .. brought urers'. The e. l, i, duct i»llou„'l r.tfcvns oi ail'.'ir, uul ... :d lofi t.i producers rs. 1 knew a l.-_y -100, but he took pay li! was not, material­

wo uro

actu­

ally insolvent, and car.not, pay wo ought to make a genera1.

nssignment

for tho benefit of

oil our creditors. This is the wuy an honest man does when ho fails in business. Ho does not hide out

is property uiul offer 50 cents on

tho dollar. Instead of being insolvent wo are better abl" to pay than any peoplo on the face of tho earth. Our national debt is in round numbers »015,1)02,000. It has icen reduced to one-third its former amount. In 1805. it was $2,815.1 '7,000. The debt of Great Britain and Ireland (tho creditor nation) is S3 350,710,000 the debt of France is $4,140,000,000: Russia, $3,491,000,000 Austria-Hungary, $2,SCO,000,000: Italy, $2,:,: l,000,000: Germany, $ 1,0.%,000,000: Spain (with one-fourth of our population), $1,251,000,000,

Tho pur capita debt of Franco is 5110: of Great Britain and Ireland, $37: Italy, $70 Spain, $73: liussia, whilo wtr per capita debt is $14. ITncle Sam, l.'les.H !.]^ old .soul, is the only good housekeeper in tho whole lot! Our bank deposits amount to $4,000,000,000, while those of nil Europe only amount to $0,500,000,00. By our last census our per capita of wealth, as shown by the assessment rolls, was $311, and the peoplo have never been bad about assessing their property too high

The war veterans cunnoc bo l'or repudiation o:i account of our alleged inability to pay. it is a fundamental principle of law and morals that a man must bo just, 'fore ho is geuoro.is and that gifts aado by an insolvent are void us to creditors. Our government is giving them about $140,00J.UX) annually. If wo can afford to bo liberal, wo ought to strain a point and be honest too. If our government can give it, like a prince, it ought to pay like a gentleman.

Who Are the Debtors'?

A large part of the debis figured against us aro in lact no1- interest bearing debts. They consist of railroad, real estate mid other corporation debts where defaults were made, i::d mortgages on tho property have been fo. ,- closed, the property sold and the debts piaetically extinguished.

Tiie only debts that tho people at large interested in aro tho national dubs anu im state debts. The state debts, by the last census, amounted to $22,S,0,.)7,3[)'7.- 'i lie county debts amoun'ed. to $145,04^,045: school district debts, $ JG,701,048, while tlie debts of cities and towns amounted to $724,ir i,OfiO, making a total of $1,135,210,442. You will observe that about three-fourths of this total debt is owed by the cities and towns. With this borrowed money they liavo built gas, electric light and water works plants, paved their streets, etc. Now, tho 10 to 1 cily man asks his country brother, who uses coal oil in his house anil darkness outside, who draws his water from a well und bathes in the creek, who splits the lu.ud in wet weather aud kicks up tho dust in dry, to help him repudiate the debt incurred by him in getting ahead of the countryman as to thesn comforts and conveniences of life. As to all our private domestic debts, it is immaterial to the government whether the redheaded men owe the black headed ones, or the black headed ones owo tho redheaded ones. Gnu holds the debt and the other holds the property it purchased, and they cancel each other.

Iujastlca of Settling Debts.

Tho suggestion is sometimes made that, by the enhancement of gold, debts have been increased when measured iu property, and therefore they ought to bo scaled. I havo discussed the gold enhancement theory, but desire to add: That practically all our debts wero contracted sinco the gold stundard w-'s adopted, and that standard entered into and became apart of every contract, and if- gold has advanced it would be just us dishonest to pay by any other standard as it would bo if it hail not advanced. If a man contracts for 1,000 bushels of corn, it is 110 answer to his contract to sny that corn has risen siuco tl contract was mado. Besides, all'-our obligations havo passed from hand to hand, most of them many times, and tho present holders hud no more to do with the rise or fall of gold than they did with tho rise or fall of tho tides. .The sniiiriariio/. fructify

Liu: hmi on tof__th ia

no sam»

old effort to get something for nothing. Tho Coxeyites wanted grub for nothing. Tlio MBglo tax cranks wan! li.uil fur nothing. Tho Populists want government monopoly of transportation and'privnto monopoly of tho wailing business for nothing. The lfi to 1 people wtmS 50 per cent, of debts for nothing- "lio Bellamy ites want everything for nothing. And I might suggest that the new woman wants on? bifurcated garments for nothing, but that is not pertinent to tho subject under discussion and 1 will not do so.

The movement means repudiation. All clso is theory, pretense and dreams. It- is tin efforl to pass a left handed, bankrupt bill, not for tliu benefit of the unfortunate debtor who cannot pay, but for tho rich as well, who can pay, but want to beat their creditors. 'Iho poor mar. is not in debt he never hail a chance to get in debt. The corporations, speculators and plungers gem rally constitute the debtor class. Every wugo'earner belongs to the creditor class. Xo ono would be benefited by 10 to 1 coinage except the debtor class. Even tho mine owner would not, for tho temporary stimulus given to silver would increase its production until the price would fall below what it is now. On tho other hand, all would suffer. If a bill for free coinage of silver at 10 to 1 wero to pass cither house of congress, and it was ascertained that it would pass tho other house and that the president would sign it, tho puuio that Would ensue would bo to that of 18!i,'l what, ii tornado is to a zephyr. Creditors, to avoid being paid in debased money, would crowd and crush for payment as tho people do for exit in a theater on an alarm of lire. Credit and confidence, tlio twin divinities of prosperity, would depart from us. All business would bo paralyzed, labor unemployed, and despair Would hang her b! -.clc pall in a mi"km of homes, only to bo lilted when reason resumed her sway. It took Franco 50 years to entirely recover lrom tho John Law fiasco.

How Kimland Is Raining T's. Tho demagogues, order to unilermino tho moral sense of the peoplo ar.d make repudiation palatable, rail about England's wealth and falsely assert that she is trying to dictate our monetary system and to crush us. England ia rich, but if sho is trying to ruin us sho has a peculiar way of manifesting her hostility. Fo? tho year ending Juno ot», 18i',4, she took $423,000,000 of oi exports, about seven times aa much as till die free silver countries in Ihu world. We took $107,000,000 of her exports, r.nd sho paid us tlie difference in gold or itu equivalent. Did you ever hear a butcher or a balcor or man wiih cotton to sell complaining that! his customers had too much money to spend? Instead of trying to drive us to a gold standard, it would be immensely to lier interest to havo her commercial rival ubnndon the standard of commerco and take aback seat with tho half civilized, noncommercial nations. Tlin ridiculous story of Lrnest Meyd was exploded years ago, and, though the va:-e was shattered, tho scent of that lio bangs round the country still. Tho silver tongued orators still toll the peoplo there was a conspiracy to demonetizp silver, although no man hns ever been able to call the nam" of a single conspirator. In 18711 tho motive for demonetizing silver was on the wrong side. Tlio silver dollar was thi worth nearly cents more than the gold dollar. Who at that time could fori see the fall of silver?

Our statesmen anil linam iers are as shrewd nfl any on earth, and they got no glimpse of tho coming event-. Only to tlieso uiinamahle con spirators was tho revelation vouchsafed. seems they had a little Putmos islo all to them selves and worltoil the world on tho heavenly tip I

Several congressmen, in tho presence of an irato constituency, have stated they did noS know the standard dollar was being demone tized when "y voted for tho act, of 1873. 1* was read several times in their presence. Thero is no way to mako peoplo understand things. They might havo been deaf. One all sufficient reason why they did not sounderstand is that it was not being done. This dollar was not demonetized, hut tho contrary lias been money, and gooil money, every day sinco 1702.

England has loaned us money at a lower rate of interest than anybody else nld. This is tho very head and front of all her offeiK'.'.ng, and tho violent 10 to 1 peoplo want, to pouch her head for doing this. There is an old adage which runs tliis way, "If you want to loso a friend, lend him money."

Want Kcpudiut.lon, Not l'rco Coinage. To prove that it is repudiation of debt and not coinage the 10 to 1 man is after, propose to him i'reu and unlimited coinage without the legal tender attachment. If there is nothing the matter with silver except tho fact that it is tlebarred from the mints, then l'rco and unlimited coinage, without tho legal tender provision, would set it all right and bring it to pur. Gold would not suffer by such a test. Your proposition would nauseato liim. Why? Because it is not coinage ho is after, but repudiation by means oi legal tender law.

They propose two plans for forcing a debased silver standard on tlio country. First, not tillow contracts lor payment 111 gold. Second, if this does not work, thi reduce tho gold in gold dollar, ••-.ith reference to tho first plan, maintaining the value of money by legal enactment and penalties has been tried tn most countries and has proven an ignominious failure in every instance. England tried it off and on for nearly 500' years. France tried it tor centuries. The north tried it with greenbacks and the south tried it with Confederate money. While it was a death penal' 111 Franco to refuse the as-ignais, they it: 1 value until it took $30,(100 o' iliem to buy -V: i.i specie. Kggy must have been worth #500 apiece in assiguats. What pity ur inflation friends could not havo lived there and then!

A governini :it can rob one part of its people for tlio beni l. of tlio other pun us to existing debts, but there its power ends. It, cannot make its people trade with each other, except upon terms satislaetory to both jinnies to the contract. If tho money offered to tho seller docs not, suit '-iiti he does not sell. If offered to a laborer, lie would need rest. If offered to farmer for 'lis produce, lie would havo only enough for home consumption, until he found a man with better money, end so it would bo all along the line. The proposed to take away the right of contract hliows t-iiat desperation has usurped the seat of reason. We hold all that wo do hold by virtue of contract riglit. It is tho bulwark-uf our liberty. It, was for this, above all things. Hint Magna Charta was written. When we surrender this supremo right, we go back to barbarist.i and become miserable puppets to every mob that may seize the helm of s*ate.

A New Counterfeit Device.

Tlio other method ruggestcd to bring about parity of the metals is to reduce the gold in a gold dollar. Our government has Intherto manifested blind, uiireasuuing prejudice against tlnjt kind of statesmanship. Inaectl it has bad its de .uty liiurt aals busy for 100 years Inciting misguided patriots who were trying to take this near cut to wealth. If this sort of a I.-ill ever passes cougrtuag, suggest as a ruler to li.-ebill that all convicted counterfeiters bo liberated unci given right of aytion against tho government, for l'also imprisonment. All governiui.havo honored thuir pioneers, and theso men were but- the forerunners—the John the Baptists—of this new religion of dcLauchlneiit of our money.

A republic rests entirely upon the morals of its people. Tho story of Washington and Ills hatchet, told by loving lips to innocent, childhood, has made millions of truthful men and women. What would be tho effect 111 this country upon unborn generations of a story like this: At the closo of the nineteenth century tho people of tho United States becanio so corrupt they repudiated one-hair of their debts by paying them in money worth only half of its face valuo.

A11 American in a foreign land looks with a swelling heart upon Old Glory, us it proudly flaunts the breeze, tho symbol of liberty and honor. Pass this act of repudiation and I10 would look upon it with shame. For enthusing purposes wo might ys well pull it down and run up ii dish rag.

But, Mr. President and gentlemen, allow ino in conclusion to say that our country is in nu danger of repudiation. This 10 to 1 coinage clamor is but one of the manifestations of hard times, brought on by the lato panic. O11 low lands in the night time a deadly miasma accumulates, but when tho bright sun climbs over tho hilltops and shoots his purifying rays into thu bottom, the miasma is dispelled, tho atmosphere is sweetened and made wholesome, und men go forth to their dully avocations'with assurance of health. In spite of all this isms that have ailiicted us, jji spite of domn-' gogism on tho stump and in legislative halls, this country is rapidly advancing. Our factories aro taxed to their utmost with orders,' nnd the wages of their employees hnvo been' everywhere voluntarily raised. Prices that, havo been depressed by the panio are improv-' ing. Sinister discontent, with all her imps, Is: fleeing before tho benign presence of prosperity, imdln sfter years tho heresies of todayr will only be -emembered us troubled dream. Tho American peoplo uro iionest and patriotic.' Upon this rock we build our faitli, ami all thee ages and agencies of truth aro ours for the su-' perstructure.

FOB artistic work HOC Tilifi JoUUNAI. Co.. P1UNTKI13.