Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1896 — ALTGELD ON MONEY. [ARTICLE]

ALTGELD ON MONEY.

REPLIES TO GOLD ARGUMENTS koM SCHURZ AND COCKRAN. • l n threat anil Appreciative Audience Hears the Goepel of Free Silver as Expounded by the Illinois Governor in Chicago. At Central Music Hall. Gov. Altgeld spoke at Central Music Hall, Chicago, Saturday night in reply to Carl Schurz and Bourke Cockran. He was greeted by a mass of humanity that filled every portion of the hall, and there were thousands outside who clamored for admission, but had to content themselves with hearing lesser orators at overflow meetings. The Governor dealt almost wholly with the money question, and his audience applauded him continuously and gave evidence of its deep-seated appreciation of the speaker whenever opportunity offered. The Governor said: “I hold in my hand a printed copy of the speech of Mr. Carl Schurz, delivered in this city two weeks ago, and a like copy of the speech of Mr. Cockran. delivered one week ago. Both have been advertised as the ablest arguments in favor of the gold standard that have.yet been made. We are warranted in concluding that every argument and every fact that can be marshaled upon that side of the question is contained in these speeches. “It would have given great relief to the minds of thousands of patriotic men to have had presented some balm for the ills of our land, and as I love my country more than party or honors. I am sorry to have to say to you that in these long speeches, containing as we are told the law and the gospel of the gold standard, there is not a line, not . a sentence, not a syllable that offers any hope to the American people. “The straight-out adherents of McKinley have a panacea. They realize the unsatisfactory conditions in our land and propose to remedy them by an increase of the tariff. They feel that some hope must be offered to the American people, and, having- nothing else to present, they ask us to again try the idea of increasing the tariff tax. “They ask the people to shut their eyes to the fact that the distress from which we suffer exists all over Europe as well as this country; that it exists in the countries having a high tariff and in countries having a moderate tariff and in countries having no tariff at all, and is clearly due to some cause that has no connection with the tariff. Recalls Homestead Riots. “They ask us to shut our eyes to the -fact that it was in the spring of 1892, iwhile the McKinley law was in force and while Mr. Harrison was President, That the famous Homestead labor riots occurred, being among the most bloody that ever took place in this country; that at that time the conditions of the laborer were rapidly getting worse and the prices of American products were steadily falling. They ask us to shut onr eyes to the fact that the McKinley law for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894, produced a deficit to the United States treasury of $70,000,000. They ask us to shut our eyes to the faet that neither the laboring man of this country nor of Europe has derived any substantial benefit from the tariff, because the employer is always permitted to fill his shop with cheap labor. They ask us to shut our eyes to the fact that the tariff is no longer a matter of theory but a matter of history. It has been tried and it has been found wanting. Consequently with the adherents of McKinley it is a question in this campaign of seeing how often they can fool the people.

“Both Mr. Schurz and Mr. Cockran have been avowed enemies of this tariff. They cannot and they do not offer it as a remedy for any of the ills of the land, and, having no other remedy to offer and seeing no prospect of a change for the better under existing policies, they simply Toll the patient that if he will only lie still he will suffer less than if he attempts to bestir himself. •’“ln considering the question as to •Whether the demonetization of silver in the ‘World reduced prices they shrewdly leave Europe out of consideration, shut their eyes to the fact that the effects produced there are the same as those produced here, treat the whole question as though it were local to our country, and then argue that inasmuch as there had not been many silver dollars coined in our country, and those that were coined went abroad, because of the fact that they commanded a premium of 2 per cent.; that, therefore; the demonetization of silver in the United States could not have affected prices, because there was scarcely any silver here to drive out of circulation. Coinage in the United States. “Now let us look at the facts in regard to the coinage of silver in this country. It is true that Jefferson for a time suspended the coinage of silver dollars. The reason’ was that half dollars were a full legal lender for any amount, just as much as dollars were, and, inasmuch as the country, was new and poor, it was thought that half dollars would' be more convenient in circulation than dollars, and inasmuch as they could be used in payment of debts the same as dollars it made no difference, but the coinage was on the same basis as that of gold, and any man having silver bullion could convert it into money, just the same as though it were gold, and the treasury tables given out at Washington show that from 180(1 down to 1873 there were $154,318,071 of silver coined in this country. In 1871 there were 1,117,127 of silver dollars coined —not subsidary coins, hut dollars—and in 1872 there were 1.118,600 silver dollars coined, being nearly twice the number ever before coined in. one year. Bear this in mind, the two years before silver was stricken down there were nearly twice as many silver dollars coined as in any previous year. Air. Schurz knew these facts, and yet he presents his figures in such a way as to make the impression that no silver had been coined in this country, and therefore we demonetized nothing. “His next claim is that we have had more money per capita in circulation in 1895 than we had prior to the demonetization, and that, therefore, there was no reduction in the volume of money, and that consequently demonetization had nothing to do with the fall of prices. He says that in 1895 we had a total of $2,217,000,000 in circulation, making $22.96 per capita, while in 1873 we had onlv $18.04 per capita in circulation. . Treasury Figures Wrong. “Now. this is based on the tables given out by one branch of the treasury department, that is, the director of the mint, and. sometimes copied in the reports of other branches of the treasury; but they emanate originally from the office of the director of the mint, and they are not only wrong, but are well known to be wrong. In his report for the year 1892 the director of the mint explains the origin of these tables. They ascertained what specie there was in the country at the time of resumption, and they have added to it year by year the coinage and what the custom house records show to have been imported, and they have deducted only what the records show to have been used in the arts and what the records show to have been exported, and they assume that all the balnee is still in circulation. They make no allowance for what was carried over our southern boundary’ in a quarter of a century unrecorded, nor for what was carried over our northern boundary during that time unrecorded, nor for what was carried to China during that time, nor for what was used in the arts for a quarter of a century without a record having been made of it, and they make no allowance for what was carried to Europe in The pockets of American citizens traveling abroad, and of which no record is made; yet in oae of his reports the director of the mint says that it was estimated that the American travelers in Europe during the year of the Paris exposition spent $90,000,000. Of course the most of that we may presume was in the shape of letters of credit, and therefore a record was <ade of it, but no record was made of hat they carried in their pockets. Thus

you see that the tables become utterly worthlesa. Again, in regard to paper money, they assume that every dollar that was ever issued by the government and is not shown by the records at Washington to have been canceled > still in circulation, a proposition too absurd to be discussed. , The Comptroller’s Estimates. “But the treasury department gives out another report that is accurate,. and it tells an entirely different story in regard to the amount of money we have in onr country. This report is given out by the comptroller of the currency who has supervision of the national banks. “I will give you this in the language of the comptroller: ‘The cash held by national banks on July 11, and by other banks about that date, amounted to $631.111,290, classified as follows: Gold. $127.621,099; silver. $15,594,037; specie' not classified, $19,298,363; paper currency. $342,739,129; fractional currency, $1,023,442; and cash , not classified, $124,835.220.’ The ' reports for several prior years were practically the same. At about that time there was in the United States treasury, all told, $329,517,713 available for circulation. Adding this sum to what there was then in all the banks of the United States it makes $950.629,000. This constituted all of the money in sight in this country except what there was then in the pockets of the people. * . ‘“There is no way of ascertaining definitely just what this would amount to. Good Judges have asserted that when yoii take into consideration all of the poor laboring classes of this country and of the colored people of the South, and the fact that the farmers had very little money, that an average of $5 per household would be a full average, and as there were then about 14.000.000 families that would make $70,000,000. If you say we have underestimated the amount in the pockets of the people then add another $5 for each household and it will make only $<0,000,000 more, and still be only half the sum named by Mr. Schurz, Not Enough Money to Do Business. “The fact is, there is not enough money in this country at present to do its business. In all of the agricultural States of the South, the Mississippi valley and the West, there is the greatest scarcity of money. The banks are unable to furnish what is needed, and even in the money centers a very little disturbance renders the banks helpless. Mr. Schurz says there are oceans of money lying idle, and then in another sentence he says that gold is now leaving our country and going to Europe because it finds profitfiable employment there. Naturally you ask if there are oceans of money lying idle in those money Centers, then how can money going there from here find profitable employment there. “In passing, I call your attention again to the fact that, on the 11th day of July, 1895, all of the banks in the United States together held only $127,629,099 of gold, and that sum, added to the $100,000,000 of gold that is supposed to be constantly the treasury, constituted all the gold there was in sight in the United States. No sensible man now claims the poor people are hoarding gold; the fact is that even rich people rarely get to see it. In depicting the horrors which will come upon our country in the event of the election of Mr. Bryan, Mr. Schurz points out in a thrilling manner how $600,000,000 of gold would instantly take wings and vanish. It is one of the stock arguments met everywhere, and it is iterated and reiterated by the bankers themselves. Now, in view of the facts published by the treasury department itself, and which will not be challenged by gold standard people, I am warranted in asserting that these bankers know that there is scarcely $200,000,000 of gold in the entire country, including what there is in the United States treasury. No Overproduction of Silver.

“But the main fabric of the whole speech of Mr. Schurz is based upon the theory of overproduction. He insists that there is a fall in the price of silver and that this is due to overproduction. You will readily see that if there was the same increase in the production of both metals, then there was no reason why the relations.which they bore to each other, or the market ratio which they bore to each other, should change. Mr. Schurz knew this. Why didn’t he state it that way? Because he knew the facts were against him. He wanted to make an’impression which he could not make without a suppression of part of the case. “AccowUng to the tables issued by the treasury department Aug. 16, 1893, showing the total production of gold and silver in the world at coinage value, it appears that from the year 1792, when our monetary system was founded, to the year 1852, the time of the great gold discoveries, the total production of silver in the world, rating it at coinage value, was $1,769,197,000, and the total production of gold in the world during that time was $960,236,000; that is, on the average there was just about twice as much silver produced as gold during that time. The production of each metal varied, of course, during the different years, and yet the market ratio between the two metals remained practically the same during all that time. The tables giving the market prices show that during those sixty years there was a variance of only seven-tenths of one point, or just about the cost of exchange. “The same table shows that from 1852 to 1873 the total gold production of the world was $2,516,575,000. while the total silver production was only $989,225,000; that is, there was two and a half times as much gold produced as silver, yet the market ratio remained unchanged during these twenty-one years just as it had during the period of sixty years when there was twice as much silver as gold produced. Again, the same tables show that from 1573 to 1892, inclusive, the total gold production of the world was $2,176,505,000. while the total silver production was $2,347,087,000; that is. the production of gold was nearly equal to that of silver. During the first two periods silver was a money metal. During the last period it was not. Inasmuch as silver did not fall in value, as measured in gold, during the sixty years in which there was twice as much silver produced as there was gold, it is clear that, had silver not been demonetized, it would not have fallen when the gold production was nearly equal to that of silver, after 1873.

Again, silver lias not fallen In comparison with other property. By taking the average price of all commodities known to the market it is found that a pound of silver will buy as great an amount of commodities as ever. Sliver occupies the same relation to the products of the earth and to labor to-day that it did before. It is gold that has gone up. The law by striking down the competition has given gold a monopoly. Practically the gold dollar is a 200-cent dollar. Nominally it still has only 100 cents in it, but it takes'2oo cents’ worth of commodities to get one, when measured by bimetallic prices. Mr, r-clinrz’ Wage Figures. “Mr. Schurz next tried to convey the impression that wages have not fallen, and were, therefore, not affected by the demonetization of silver: and he says that wages have risen more than 60 per cent, since 1860. See the Ingenuity of this and ask yourselves whether this is a fair way of representing that question. All the world knows that wages have nearly doubled since 1860. The question is, how have wages been affected by the fact that this country and Europe demonetized silver and reduced the volume of money in the world between 1873 and 1879? “This subject of wages was carefully inquired into In the year 1891 by a committee appointed by the United States Senate. John G. Carllste was a member of that committee. It made a long and full report, and it showed that between 1840 and 1873 wages had just about doubled, and then the report says: ‘After 1873 there was a marked falling off.' The report goes on and shows that toward 1880 there was a slight rise in wages above the point they had recently fallen to, bnt never reached *he point they had occupied before, and tliW soon thereafter a decline set in, which continued. “Mr. Schurz tells us that if the demonetization of silver had anything to do with the fall in prices, then the fall should have come instantly. I ask you to ponslfler that statement a moment and then tell, me whethed it is not contrary to the universal experience of mankind. Owners of property do not accept lower prices until they are Obliged to. “Further, silver was not demonetized bfcall of the countries at once. Germany set her face toward demonetization In 1871, but did not enact her law until 1873; our government acted in 1873, the other nations followed later; Holland acted In 1875, Russia In 1876, and Austria did not adopt the gold standard until 1879. It is true that owing to the fact that Germany. Italy and some other countries drew heavily upon the principal gold market of the world, which Is Lon-

don. there were serious monetary disturbances in London and some portions of Europe almost every year after 1873, and prices and consequently business were seriously affected in Europe during the year. Production and Price of Wheat. “In attempting to account for the fall in price of property, Mr. Schurz selects wheat as an Illustration, and he attempts to show that there has been a great increase in the annual production of wheat; that we have not only opened the whole Northwest, which is producing wheat, but that our farmers have to compete with the wheat of India, Argentine republic and of Russia, and he assumes that therefore the price of wheat had to fail. "There are three things to be said In answer to this. First, increase in production does not produce a fall in price, provided there is an equal increase In consumption. This is self-evident, and Mr. Giffen, the statistician of the British Board of Trade, has. on different occasions, pointed out that for more than fifteen years prior to 1873 the increase in the production of nearly all commodities in the world has been greater on the average, year by year, than the Increase has been in any year since 1873, aijd yet, as he says, during all of those years prior to 1873 prices kept constantly rising, notwithstanding the enormously Increased production. while since 1873 prices have been steadily falling, notwithstanding the fact the increase was not as great as it formerly was. "The second observation Is that wheat has not fallen in price any more than all other commodities; has fallen no more than wages. It is not contended that Russia, India and the Argentine republic have entered into competition in the production of all other products which our people put upon the market. ••These two points show that Mr. Schurz Is entirely wrong In his theories. The third observation is that he is entirely wrong in his facts. “The fact is that the world’s wheat crop has remained substantially the same for sixteen years. In 1880 It was 2,280,000,000 bushels. In 1885 It was 2,108.000,000 bushels, and that was the lowest erop of a number of years. In 1895 the crop was very large and amounted to 2,553,000,000 bushels. This year the world’s production is 120.000.000 less than last year, and the total production of the world Is smaller than It has been for six years, yet wheat Is lower than ever before. Resnlt of Opening the Mints. “We say that opening the mints to silver will add to the stock of primary or legal tender money, and this will again be loaded with credits which will make possible an Increase of business twenty times as grent as the increase In money. We sometimes hear It asked, ‘How will you get that money Into circulation? Or what good will this increase in money do yon if you have not anything to get It with, If you have no property or any collateral?’ That question Is purely American and shows that in some things at least we are yet new. “It needs but a moment’s reflection to see that the additional money will get Into circulation just as the money that is In circulation got there, and that when men again coin silver bullion Into dollars or get certificates for it, which are legal tender, which can be used In paying taxes, which can be used In paying duties at the custom house, which can be used In paying debts, they are not going to let money lie idle because it will not make it profitable any longer to have it so. Money will cease appreciating In value then and they will go to building houses, building shops, building railroads, manufacturing and doing business; they will start activity In a thousand channels and a thousand fields. That will be the result. There will be an Immediate demand for brains and muscle. There will be an Immediate demand for engineers, for skilled men, for clerks, for mechanics and for day laborers. “But perhaps the strangest part of Mr. Schurz’ speech is that which emphatically Indorses and commends the bond-issuing polity of the present administration. During times of profound peace In less than four years the national debt of this country has been Increased $200,000,000. It was done for the sole purpose of maintaining the gold standard by the government and of paying gold on obligations, which on their face were payable not In gold but In coin, which meant that they could be paid in other metal, which the debtor, that Is, the government, might select. This has been the law and the practice for centuries, and the governments of Europe always act upon it. Mr. Schurz suggests no change of policy and he offers no remedy; therefore, the existing conditions are to be continued, and if it was necessary to issue $260,000,000 of bonds in the last three years, we arc warranted in assuming that it will be necessary to Issue a similar amount in the next three years, and that this will continue to go on. The Nation’s Honor. “Mr. Schurz and Mr. Cockran wring their hands in horror over what they call the prospect of sullying the national honor and paying our obligations or the interest on our obligations In anything else than gold, and they point to the fact that In 1890 Congress declared practically that it was the policy of this government to keep everything on a gold basis; that the world had accepted this, and for us to disregard that declaration wbuld place us in the light of repudlators and dishonest men before the world. Just see how little substance it takes to enable a rhetorician to Jill the nlr with ghosts. When was our great debt created? Long before 1890. And what kind of money did we get for the bonds we sold? We got paper for some and gold and silver for the remainder. Neither Mr. Schurz nor any other mortal lias been able to point out wherein you wrong a creditor when you pay him In exactly the same money that he gave you. “1 will agree with Mr. Schurz that a creditor should not be paid in money the purchasing power of which is much less than was that of the money that he gave to the debtor, but If It is dishonest to paj' a creditor In money that Is cheaper than the money he gave the debtor I ask you and ask the American people whether It is not dishonest to compel a debtor to pay a creditor in money that has twice the purchasing power as hail the money which he got from the creditor.

"From Jan. 1, 1879, to Jan. 1. 1891, only a little over $34,000,000 of greenbacks were presented for redemption, or an average of a little over $2,500,000 a year. "At that time Mr. Foster and the Harrison administration yielded to the influence of the Eastern bankers and ordered treasury notes to be redeemed in gold alone, and the Cleveland administration did the same. This was in the fall of 1891, and see what has happened since then: During the four years following that date $351,000,000 of greenbacks ami treasury notes were presented for redemption and redeemed, and to carry out this policy of redeeming these notes in gold President Cleveland Issued the $260,000,000 of bonds. “Maj. McKinley recently told some gentlemen that he thought it was more Important to this country that we should open the mills to the laborer than to open the mthts to the. mine owners. This is an artful statement, calculated to deceive. Suppose he is taken at his word and every mill owner in America opens up his mills, how long will they run; and If they are obliged to shut dowh why will they be? Because there Is no market for the things they make, and I say to Maj. McKinley that the only key that will open the mills and keep them open is an increase in tile volume of money in this country. "But, says some one, if you add silver to tlie volume of money, will you not be injuring our own local creditors who have money loaned out? I say no; emphatically no. No creditor, be he banker or private individual, can possibly benefit or profit by having universal bankruptcy all around him. Every creditor, be he banker or merchant or private individual, does profit by having general activity around. The Masses and the Classes“In all ages and in all countries the mfep who are in the wrong deprecate discussion. In no country have dishonest policies sought the sun, and no organization of hlghinaymen has as yet petitioned for electric light. The man who has no argument seizes the nearest epithet and hurls It. These observations are singularly aplicable to this gold standard movement. It is the hyena that has sucked tho blood of commerce and left the prostrate form of labor by the roadside. It has rendered this nation helpless, and when the people try to learn the cause of this distress, when an effort Is made to diagnose the patient, then there is a fierce howl. The gold standard people And that the acts are against them. They are obliged to resort to deception and sophistry to prevent the people from putting an end to this policy; therefore, they decreeate discussion. Unwilling to confess the truth, they talk about rousing the masses, etc. The fight is as old as human greed; as old as human selfishness. For twenty years prior to 1861 the slave power deprecated discussion, even in the North, where there were no slaves, and they put their objection on the ground that it prejudiced the masses against the classes. There never yet was a great wrong or a great abuse but what objected to investigation and discussion. "It is a sad sight to see this grand century draw to a close and give such unmistakable evidence of degeneration of American manhood as we have recently seen. In 1776 less than 3,000,000 men, who were poor and even despised by the world, declared that they-were not only free, but that they were independent of every other nation on the globe. In 1896 when we have 70,000,000 of .people and are admittedly the richest and piost powerful nation on the globe, when we Are admittedly the mbst enterprising people on the globe, one of the greatest political .parties of the nation in Its convention at St. Louis declared to the world In substance that, while we might be free, we were de'pOndent; that while a particular financial policy would be beneficial to thia nation we fcould not have it until Europe consented to give it to us. Mark Hanna Is raising millions of dollars with which to debauch and degrade the American voter—with which to debauch and degrade the American cltlaen—in order

that he shall approve of this degenerate policy. Republic in PeriL “If the gold standard is to be maintained, if prices are not only to remain low, but to go on falling while the interest on our enormous debts has to be met. then the producing power of this nation will tn time be exhausted in the mere effort to meet the fixed charges. Our farmers, our mechanics, and our laboring men will cease to be hlgh-splr-itedn. free men who are proud of their citizenship. and they will slhk to a lower status. They will sink tefche status of the meu who till the fields of Europe or the valley of the Nile: they will not be able to educate their families; we will no longer have that, patriotic yeomanry which has been the support of this nation In every crisis. If this gold standard is to Im* maintained, then these conditions are near at hand, and when they come, then the days of the republic will be over. “In 1861. wbeu the drum beats called you to arms, you were not asked whether you were a Republican or a Democrat, ytsi were not asked Whether you a Whig or an Independent; you aSkPff whether you loved the flag 4Pd Were ready to light for It. In 1896 the question Is not whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, whether you are a Populist or a Prohibitionist; the question is. Do you love republican institutions and will you help maintain them.’’

BISMARCK FOR BIMETALLISM. He Also Thinks the United States Should Take the Initial Step. In a speech at Dallas, Texas. Gov. Cui-, berson read the following significant correspondence between himself and Prince Bismarck on the money question: Prince Bismarck —Sir: The great question of finance is now of supreme Interest to the people of the United States. It Is presented In various forms, but, Im,a general way It may be said to be. first; whether the I nited States shall adopt the single gold standard, or, second, whether they shall adopt bimetallism, with both gold and silver as the standard or primary money. The argument In favor of each Is well known to you, but It is particularly Insisted that we should adopt the policy of bimetallism, because the supply of gold In the world for coinage Is Insufficient to meet the demand, or because such a standard will still further depress the values of all property. "Which, In your judgment, la the best policy to adopt, the gold standard or bimetallism, giving your reasons? "What effect, in your judgment, will the Immediate adoption of bimetallism by the United States have on the cause of bimetallism in Germany and other great commercial nations? C. A. CULBERSON, Governor of Texas. In reply Prince Bismarck said: Frlcderlchsruhe.—l hold that this Is the very hour that would be advisable to bring about between the nations chiefly engaged In the world’s commerce a mutual agreement In favor of the establishment of bimetallism. The United States are freer by fur In their movements than any nation of Europe, and hence If the people of the United States should find It compatible with their Interests to take Independent action In the direction of bimetallism, I cannot but believe that such action would exert a most salutary influence upon the consummation of international agreement. BISMARCK.