People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 August 1893 — PRESENT THEIR PLEA. [ARTICLE]

PRESENT THEIR PLEA.

A L»fthjr Platform Adopted bp tba Ad▼ocataa of SUrer'e Claims CoagroM Called Upon to Prorlde for Proa Cola*f* —Close of the Chicago Conreatloo. Chicago, Aug. B. —Following is the platform adopted by the silver convention on Wednesday. It is preceded by a lengthy preamble, which denounces the act of congress of 1878 by which silver was demonetized, the law being passed under circumstances of such Beerecy that President Grant, who signed the bill, and many senators and representatives who voted for it subsequently repeatedly and publicly declared that they did not know until long afterwards that so great and grave a change bad been made in the financial system founded by the fathers of the republic, and declares the purpose of its originators to be the striking down of one-half of the money supply—to wit, silver—to double the purchasing power of the remainder, gold, by making it the equivalent of everything possessed or produced by the labor of man, thus reducing the price of all commodities, arresting enterprise, impoverishing the toiler and degrading mankind. It declares that as a consequence of such legislation the people of the whole world stand in the midst of unparalleled distress and in the shadow of impending calamities which are beyond estimate. The ruling industry of the people who inhabit one-third of the area of this republic has been stricken down, property values destroyed and the workmen compelled to fly as from pestilence, and continues: "Everywhere over this broad land the honest toilers, numbering hundreds of thousands, have been thrown out of employment, and will have to eat the bitter bread of charity or starve. The products of industry, of the farm and the workshop, have depreciated in price as shown by official and public statistics, until production ceases to be profitable; the money of the country inadequate for the business of the land, haa gravitated to the banks: while the people, distrusting the banks, have demanded their deposits to hoard ffr hide them; mercantile houses are going to the wall by thousands because the masses have not the means to buy even the necessities of life; to supply the lack of currency the banks of the great cities have Issued a substitute for money unknown to the laws, called clearing-house certificates; the movement of the great crops now being gathered demands a vast amount of currency, which the banks are unable to furnish; and in the midst of these conditions the daily press are clamoring for the repeal of the act of July 14, 1890, called the Sherman act, although the repeal of that act means the stoppage of the issue of more than 13,000,000 every month; thus shutting off the supply of funds for the business of the country in the midst of the terrible conditions which surround us: and ignoring the fact that to hold the balance level between the debtor and creditor classes the susply of currency must increase side by side with the increase of population and business; and that m this nation, the growth of population is at the rate of about 37 per cent every ten years, while the increase of business is much greater. ”

The preamble quotes Hon. James G. Blaine as predicting that if the struggle in this and other countries for a single gold standard is successful it will produce widespread disaster in and throughout the commercial world. After quoting from speeches made in the past by Secretary of the Treasury J. G. Carlisle, and by Senator John Sherman of Ohio, who, it declares, more than any other man is responsible for the demonetization of silver, to show that they clearly understood the evil consequences of shrinking currency below the legitimate demand of the business of the country, the platform declares a» follows:

1. That there must be" no compromise of this question. All legislation demonetizing silver and restricting the coinage thereof must he immediately and completely repealed by an act restoring the coinage of the country to the conditions- established by the founders of the nation and: which continued for over eighty years without complaint from any part of our people. Every hours' delay in undoing the corrupt work of Ernest Seyd and our foreign enemies is an. insult to the dignity of the American people,, a crushing burden on their prosperity, and an attempt to place us again under the yoke from which George Washington and his compatriots rescued us We protest against the financial policy of the United States being made dependent upon the opinion or policies of any foreign government, and assert the power of this nation to stand on its own feet and legislate for itself upon all subjects. 2. We declare that the only remedy for our metallic financial troubles Is to open the mints of the nation, to gold and silver on equal terms, at the old ratio of 16 of silver to 1 of gold. Whenever silver bullion can be exchanged at the mints of the-United Sates for legal tender silver dollars worth 100 cents each, that moment 412.V4 grains of standard silver will be worth 100 cents; and as commerce equalizes the prices of all commodities throughout the world, whenever 412*4 grains of standard silver are worth 100 cents in the United States they will be- worth that sum everywhere else and cannot he bought for less. While It will be urged that, such a result would enhance the price of silver bullion it is sufficient for us to- know that a similar increase would be immediately made in the price of every form of proporty except gold and credits in the- civilized world. It would be a shallow selfishness that would deny prosperity, to the mining industries at the cost of bankt ruptcy to the whole people. The legislation to demonetize silver has given an unjust increase to the value of gold at the cost of the prosperity of mankind. Wheat and all other agricultural products have fallen side by side with, silver.

3. That while the “Sherman act” of July 14*. 1890, was a device of the enemy to prevent the restoration of free coinage, and is greatly objectionable because it continues the practical exclusion of stiver from the mints and reduoea.it from a money metal to a' commercial commodity, nevertheless, its repeal, without the restoration of free coinage*, would stop the expansion of our currency required by our growth in population and business, widen still farther the difference between the two precious metals, thuamaking the return to bimetallism more difficult, greatly Increase the purchasing power of gold, still further break down the price of the pradueta of tihe- farmer, of the laborer, the- mechanic and the tradesman, and plunge still further all commerce, business and. industry into such depths of wretchedness as to endanger I*aee, order, the preservation of free- Institutions and the very maintenance of civilisation. We, therefore, in the name of the republic and humanity, protest against the repeal of the said act of July 14, 1890, except by an act restoring free bimetallic coinage as i t existed prior to 18ia We suggest that the maintenance of bimetallism by the United States at a ratio of 16 to 1 will intnease oust commerce With all the silver-using countries of the world, containing two-thirds of the population of the world, without decreasing our commerce with those nations which buy our raw material and will compel the adoption of bimetallism by the nations of Europe sooner than by any other means. 4. We assert that the unparalleled calamities which now aflliot the American people are not due to the so-called Sherman act or 1899, ajid in proof thereof wfe call .attention to the fact that the same evil conditions now prevail over all the gold standard nations of the world; we are convinced that bad as is the state of affairs <n this country it would have been still worse but iur VU Sheiruau sot by which tbs nation |. |, . . . / ♦ #

hM obtained to some extent an expanding circulation to meet (he demands of a continent la process of colonization, and the business exigencies of the moat energede and Industrious race that has ever dwelt on the earth, and we Insist upon the execution of the law without evasion so long as It is upon the statute books, and upon the purchase each month of the full amount of silver that It provides for, to the end that the monthly addition to the circulating medium the law secures shall be maintained. & That we would call the attention of tha people to the fact that In the midst of all tbs troubles of the times the value of the national bonds and the national legal tender money, whether made of gold, silver or paper, has no! fallen a particle. The distrust is not of the gow eminent or its money, but of the banks, which have, as we believe, precipitated the present pnnic on the country In an ill-advised effort to control the action of congress on the silver question and the issue of bonds We invite the bankers to attend to their legitimate business and permit the rest of the people to have their full share In the control of the government. In this way they will much sooner restore that confidence which is so necessary to the prosperity of the people. It must not be forgotten that, while boards of trade, chambers ol commerce, bankers and money dealers are worthy and valuable men in their places, the republic can more safely repoee upon the great mass of its peaceful tollers and producers, and that this “business man’s age” is rapidly exterminating the business men of this country. The time has come when the politics of the nation should revert as far as possible to the simple and pure condition out of which the republic arose. 6. We suggest for the consideration of our fellow citizens that the refusal of the opponents of bimetalism to propose any substitute for the present law or to elaborate any plan for the future indicate either an ignorance of our financial needs or an unwillingness to take the public into their confidence; and we denounce the attempt to unconditionally repeal the Shev man law as an attempt to secure gold monometallism in flagrant violation of the last national platform of all the political parties.

SECOND DAY 8 SESSION. Chicago, Aug. 3. —Tbe second day’s session of the silver convention was called to order by Chairman Thurman atlOa. m.Wednesday. Ex-United States Senator Hill, of Colorado, was the first speaker. He was followed by Congressman Newlands, of Nevada, Senator Allfen, of Nebraska, and C. S. Thomas, of Colorado. At the afternoon session Gov. Waite, of Colorado, was the first speaker and he was followed by Congressman Rice A. Pierce, of Tennessee, a member of the executive committee of the Arner ican Bi-metallic league. After the report of the platform com mittee had been read and adopted b; the convention a committee on way and means was named, after which thi convention adjourned sine die. Th committee is as follows: Arizona, B. Hcyman; California, U. M. BellShaw: Colorado, N. P. Hill; District of Colum bia, Lee Crandall: Florida, O. Richardson: Indiana, Leroy Templeton: Idaho, James B. Bryan; Connecticut, Joseph Sheldon; Illinois, E G. Dixon; lowa, Judge A. Van Wagenen; Kansas, Charles Hatton; Kentucky, Georgs McCormick; Nevada, Thomas Wren; Massaschusetts, G. F. Washburn; Montana, W. A. Clark; Michigan. M. E. Hogmeyer; Minnesota, Ignatius' Missouri, R. W. Gould; New Mexico. Jack Crawford; Nelnaska, Paul Vandervort; North Dakota, Willis R. Bierly; North Carolina, J. H. Stanton: Pennsylvania, Victor A. Lotier; Maryland, H. C. Saffell; Ohio, Allen W. Thurman; Utah, C. E. Allen; S. Dough erty; Tennessee, Rice A Pierce: Virginia, L. L. Johnson; West Virginia, W. C. Rawleigh: Washington, B. C. Kingsbury; Wisconsin, Robert Schilling; Wyoming, J. C- Campbell; Oklahoma, C. W. Smith; New York, C. B. Mat tis.