Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1898 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

AN INFAMOUS MEASURE. The Overstreet - McCleary currency bill, now pending in Congress, which is, by the way, the result of the Indianapolis Monetary Commission’s several sessions, if enacted into law (as it surely will be if the McKinley administration is given encouragement by this year’s elections), would create a set of conditions In this country that would almost justify revolution. It would: 1. Retire $346,000,000 of greenbacks. 2. Stop coinage of silver dollars. 3. Make $500,000,000 of silver redeemable In gold. 4. Make debt contracts, public and private, payable in gold. 5. Turn over to banks all power to issue paper currency. 6. Secure bank currency by assets only. 7. Eeave depositors without protection. 8. Enable banks to contract or expand their currency at will. 9. Create a bank monopoly. 10. Leave honest banks at theunercy of dishonest ones. 11. Make legitimate banking'hazardous. 12. Increase the value of our debt obligations, national and private, many million dollars. 13. Open an avenue for wildcat banking. 14. Provide a tweive-year board to control currency. “Make money the master, everything else the servant,” as McKlnjley said in 1891. Do Democrats want these conditions to prevail? We think not.

Price of Silver and Wheat. “Along in the last part of May wheat went up to about $1.80,” says B. F. Spry, in the lowa Farmers’ Tribune, “and that Demo-Republlcan-gold standard sheet, that tries to hold the Democratic patronage by pretending to be a Democratic paper, and to hold the Democratic traitors—the ‘gold bug Democrats’—by advocating free trade, and the Republicans and thedr advertising money by referring to the silly jokes about Bryan, wheat and free silver made a great hit, as the Leader thought, by saying, when wheat was up in the gambling rooms of the Chicago Board of Trade to $1.60, ‘How is Bryan with his silver and wheat? Silver and wheat have parted company now that good times have come and the country is again prosperous; let the people part with this silly Bryanism which promulgates the idea that silver and wheat go hand and hand in prices.’ “But now that wheat is worth, after all the stretching up it had, only about 43 to 51 cents, and silver about 60 cents here In Des Moines, and they are practically together, we do not hear the all-around-polltlcal-party paper say bne word about ‘Bryan, silver and wheat.’ “After the speculators had bought practically all the wheat in the world, and only left a few bushels here and there in the possession of the farmers, they went to fighting and gambling with one another, these Board of Trade men, and the result was that the poor people all over this country had to pay an enormous price for flour; and the farmer who had sold his wheat at about 40 cents per bushel to the speculators had to put it back in flour at about 100 per cent., and many are the poor families that had to go hungry because of the machinations of trade robbers; and still we have a class of paupers and people, in the face of all these facts, publishing and proclaiming to. the public that good times have come, and they can prove it by citing the fact that wheat has advanced in price. “Just think of the logic—‘good times’ —not because the demand for labor or the wages of the laborer have advanced; not because there has been an increase in factories, an advancement in the price of cattle, hogs, horses, chickens, or the general productions of the farm; but’ because the speculator had bought up all the wheat and have then put it up and made everybody pay a double price for the bread of the family.

“A country is in a dangerous position when a fe.w men in the large Eastern cities of these United States can get their heads and pocket-books together and make the hungry millions pay a double price for their bread, without any advantage or help added to produce or buy it; and then hypocritical and boodle newspapers make the citizens believe that these evils are signs of and even proofs of ‘good times.’ “We would not expect the people to be led astray now by the devices of these designing and evil agencies because of the interest of the present war, which overshadows all else in the minds of a loyal people, because the people of the United States love their country more than their lives; that is, the people do, but there Is a class of human devils that live in this land who love their money more than their country, and now is the time that they will fasten their posonous fangs into the life-blood of the principles of the equal rights of our people, and while the attention of the great republic is intensely absorbed on the war they will steal Into legislation measures that will leave evils which will punish and reach to our great-grandchildren.”

Barker's Bimetallic Views. By restoring bimetallism, expanding the basis of our currency instead of contracting the superstructure of credit money to the narrow gold basis, we can keep gold and silver in circulation side by side. The gold monometallist believes, or at least feigns to believe, this to be impossible. He says we must turn the balance of trade, much in our favor; that only thus can we keep our gold. We answer, certainly. He says it is only possible to turn the balance of trade sufficiently in our favor by contracting our currency, and thus causing such a fall in prices as to Induce foreign buying. We answer, this is not only ruinous but needless. The English trader does not seek our products, because he can buy cheaper in India, Argentina, or Mexico. Raise the price to the Englishman of wheat or cotton bought in India and Mexico, and he will buy from us at prices much higher than those now ruling. That it is preferable to make a market for our surplus products at higher prices, rather than beg for a market at lower, any gold monometallist, whose feelings are not deadened to the sufferings of our people, must admit But is this possible? Assuredly It Is. The Englishman now buys In India, In Mexico, and other silver-using nations paying with silver or silver exchange—sliver that has remained of stable purchasing power in those countries even since the Western world struck it down. We have simply to raise the price of silver with which to pay for purchases made

In silver-using countries at 67 cents an ounce, but forced to pay our mint price, to wit, $1.29, would at once find the cost of buying In silver-using countries doubled, and he would eagerly turn to our markets to buy cotton and wheat, so long as the price was not doubled here.—Wharton Barker, in 1896. Peace Palaver la Costly. The American Peace Commission la still palavering with the Spanish commission over which country shall bear the burden of the Cuban debt —a controversy beyond the limits of the protocol and stupid to the point of silliness in so far as the United States is concerned. And meanwhile the United States continues to pay the freight. The peace negotiations at Paris are costing this country on a fair estimate $1,000,000 a day. That is about the cost of maintaining the army and navy at Its present rating. Until the Paris commission reaches an agreement the present strength of the army cannot be reduced. Volunteers must be kept in the service. The costly war footing must bo maintained. It is the same in the navy. Vessels of the battle line can not be put out of commission even temporarily. Costly auxiliary vessels must be kept In ship-shape and seaworthy which otherwise could go Into dry-dock or bo dispensed with altogether. Responsibility for this condition of affairs, say competent critics, rests solely upon President McKinley. It Is ttls * lack of definite policy; his inability to 5 make up his mind what to demand in the Philippines, which has cost tho United States $25,000,000 without any adequate return. Criticism of this cost, ly pottering with diplomacy Is becomIng caustic. It is felt at the White House and the State Department

’ Bullion Value and Coinage Value. It Is assumed by the unthinking that we are already upon a gold standard because gold can be freely had In exchange for other forms of money in circulation. Nothing can be further from the fact. Under bimetallism ounces of silver exchanged for an ounce of gold In Europe because the mints were opened alike to both metals and the coin made from ounces of silver had the same debt-paying power as the coin? from an ounce of gold. Silver that is coined and endowed by law with debt-paying power equally with gold has a purchasing power at the present time equal with gold. Only silver bullion, that is barred from coinage by laws closing the mints against it, is sold upon the markets at a lower prlce ( than it would represent If coined. Ifthe mints were reopened to the coinage; of both metals equally, under law en) flowing the coins of both metals with equal debt-paying power, the bullion) value of gold and silver would at once become the same as coinage value, be-) cause the Government would standi ready to convert all the bulllonj brought to the mints Into coins free oC charge, and no holder of silver bullioni would sell It to private parties at any less price than the face value of the' coin that the mint would make from the same.—Sliver Knight-Watchman.

The War Investigation. i There appears little doubt now but) that the committee appointed by Presl-; dent McKinley to investigate the short-, comings of army officers and the causes of disease in camps and the .fa tai fitness of so many soldiers will thor-' oughly and effectually whitewash matter and bring In a clean slate. Not an Instance has occurred yet to cate even a suspicion against a man. In fact, the investigation has been carried on In such a manner that there' are no formal charges preferred against any army officer. Surgeons, generals, colonels, who are said to haVe neglected their men, who failed to furnish hospital accommodations, who neglected to supply sufficient medicines or wholesome food, will be found to have acted directly in the line of duty, and not one word of censure will be raised against them. The committee has already announced that there is not an lota of evidence to indicate that the Secretary of War was to blame for any of the unfortunate occurrences, and this finding will eventually go down the line even with the horse doctor, who reigned so long at Camp Thomas. The committee was Intended to be a whitewashing committee, and President McKinley selected well when he picked the men to do this duty.—Burlington Gazette.

Opposed to a Public Debt* In his letter, dated Monticello, July 12, 1816, to Samuel Kerchival, Thomas Jefferson said: “I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom. And to preserve their independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our selection between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run Into such debts as that, we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government- for their debts and dally expenses, and the sixteenth being sufficient to afford us bread, we must live as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes; have no time to think, no means to call the mismanagers to account; but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow sufferers.” Free Silver Night Schools. A very ingenious method has been adopted by the farmers in Southern Michigan for teaching the principles of bimetallism to their neighbors. Night schools are organized in which the school arithmetics are used. The plan was originated by Mr. George Burr* Smith, a prominent attorney of CMca-j go, while visiting in the country during the summer months. Strangely enough, Mr. Smith himself became convinced of the depressing effect of the gold standard upon prices a number of years ago while explainingproblems in exchange to a class in* arithmetic in a district school in that county of which he was a teacher.; Later he entered upon the study of law and is now practicing In Chicago. Thq matter has been taken up by Farm; Field and Fireside, an agricultural weekly, of Chicago, and a volume will be published for special use in schools. Meantime leaflets for a school of twenty-five members may be had op| application to that paper, enclosing stamps for mailing. |