People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1896 — HARVEY ON SILVER. [ARTICLE]

HARVEY ON SILVER.

A Masterly Discussion of the Subject of Bimetallism. OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN. The Author of Coin’s Financial School Before an Immense. Ohio Audience. BOTH METHS NECESSART AS MONEL A Review of the Monetary Legislatlee Throughout the Civilised World—Cause of a Fifty-Cent Dollar—A Remedy for Hard Times. Mr. W. H. Harvey, author of Coin’s Financial School, spoke at Greenville, 0., on Saturday, the 16th instant, to an Immense out-door audience, excursions having been run over all railroads centering at that point. No attempt is made to give the effect of the speech on the audience. Its plain words are submitted to the calm judgment and intelligent consideration of the reader. Mr. Harvey spoke as follows: Mb. Chairman. Ladies and Gentlemen, and Members of the Order of the Patriots of America: I have come to your county to speak here to-day, to encourage your unselfish citizens who have raised the standard of an order intended to regulate the civic conduct of the nation and to free our government from the control of all selfish organizations. When great questions have pressed them-

selves upon the United States, the people I of Ohio have been true to the traditions of Jefferson and Lincoln. When questions affecting the liberties of the people and the existence of the republic have demanded a verdict, the people of Ohio have spoken intelligently on the side of humanity. Individual selfishness crystalized into laws has been the cause of the downfall of all republics. When the people of a republic, by example and training, become worshipers of mammon, all laws are made and construed for the accumulation and protection of property interests, and the principles of humanity are neglected. It Is the crucial period in the history of a republic. In the history of the world, no people of a republic have ever successfully met and overthrown the spirit of selfishness. In the history of popular governments, selfishness has manipulated the law-making power and absorbed the property of the people into the hands of the. few. Then came distress and riots and the claim that the republic was a failure, and then came monarchy. The reason why this is possible is because the people, as a rule, do not understand how laws affect civilization. Let me Illustrate what I mean in a simple way: Under the feudal land laws of Europe, the right was given the land owner to settle his land on the oldest son, to descend indefinitely from oldest son to oldest son. It was called thfe law of “entail.” Under that law, less than one per cent, of the people became owners of the land and 99 per cent, of the people became tenants, among whom our forefathers were numbered. They, our forefathers, fled from these nations, where they had protested in vain against these laws, and provided tn our constitution against estates entail. In this instance, it can be readily seen how law molded the civilization of those people. For, there Is no such thing as an advanced or an advancing civilization, when the masses of the people are tenants and not the owners of homes. And. while we can understand how a law, in that instance, molded civilization, the people as a whole living under It did not understand its effect on their civilization, and protected and defended it. The landlord's influence extended to his butler, his household servants, his favored tenants, his attorney, merchant and others who catered to his wealth and gave undue Importance to his opinions.

Spirit »f Mauimonism. It Is a spirit of mammonism that causes us to worship wealth and the opinion of those who possess wealth. The men of wealth are the best business men we have, but the least capable of understanding the principles upon which a republic is founded. The men to whom I refer wish laws that encourage unbridled selfishness. Such men in time become the enemies of a republic. Their opinions are not the opinions that the masses of the people should follow. We are living under laws t<hat are making their impress upon our civilization; tkat, if further permitted, will result as fatally to our republic and to human happiness, as have the feudal laws of Europe and any • that have overthrown the republics of the past. We have learned, however, in this republic, what the people of other republics discovered too late to save their free institutions —that selfish interests may capture not' only individuals, but organizations. More than one political organization in the United States is to-day struggling in the toils of a selfish class. The unselfish people are looking on with mingled feelings of anxiety and humiliation. The unreeling of the weeks and days is now bringing us to the time when manhood will sit in judgment on the action of the pretended leaders of the people; when men will decide for themselves whether their political party is to carry them witii selfish interests. Chief among the laws affecting our civilization, defended by selfish interests, is our financial laws, and that brings me to the subject uppermost in the minds of the American people. I am going to present to-day, in the brief space of a speech, the side of the people in this issue, now on trial in the republic. I do not hope to reach those who are seeking to promote their selfish vanity, orthose who are consciously seeking to promote their selfish interests. My appeal will be to the unselfish American people, who recognize the principle—that man serves himself best by promoting the common good. What Thomas Jefferson Said. Thomas Jefferson once said that men were but children on the subject of finance. I was reminded of tfils recently WHen a manufacturer asked me what sixteen to one meant? I concluded I would try Jefferson’s judgment on him, and asked him what he thought it meant? He replied: “My understanding of It Is that you fellows want 16 sliver dollars coined to each gold dollar coined.** And this was a man regarded as above the average citizen. The money dealers understand money, and the success of their selfish legislation is made possible by reason of the people »ot understanding the science of money. ■ >ne reason for the people not understandng it, is because they have not understood he importance of it, or Its full relation to civilization.

The ImportWEce of Money. Money is the blood of commerce, the lifegiving fluid of civilization, the vital organism in our social existence. You can do without wheat, corn, beef, or any other single commodity classed among the necessities of life and yet be healthy and happy; but you cannot imagine yourself a part of civilization and do without money. You can do without wheat by using corn or rice for bread; you can do without beef by using pork or mutton for meat; but you cannot be a part of civilization and do without money. Without money, society would go back to barbarism. It is the most important factor we have In civilization, and may well be termed the blood of civilization. It is an indlspensible necessity to civilization. One of the rules that should be applied to any necessity, is that there should be a normal quantity of it. There is a necessity for so much,bread. There is. also sltyTofTThormal sttpply or money. If there were laws, other than the laws of barter encouraging the hoarding of wheat, that operated to store it away in elevators while people suffered for the want of it, you would be in favor of repealing those laws. If there was not enough of it raised to feed the people, you would be in favor of raising more of it. If we have laws that encourage the hoarding of money, the greatest of necessities, and diverting it from the channels of, trade, by which the people and the nation are made to suffer for it, and to pay black mail in order to get It, you should demand the repea) of those laws. And, if there is not enough money to answer the normal requirement, you should see that more money is made. You should not leave it to a selfish class of money dealers to say what those laws should be. Money Is Made by Law. A cattle man in Kansas who owns 10,000 head of cattle knows that if one-half the other cattle in the nation were wiped out of existence his cattle would be worth far more to him after that calamity happened than they are worth now. The money dealer knows this principle and he applies it to his business. Cattle are raised by nature and the supply is regulated by the demand. All are free to raise cattle who wish to, but money is an artificial substance and is made by law. The money dealer knows this and he goes where the money is made and gets those laws made t.o suit his business. It would be a great temptation to the cattle man if he had the power to destroy half the cattle of the world. The Temptation has been too great for the money dealer to resist. Bimetallism Defined. We believe that bimetallism, that relies on two metals for money is a better policy than one that relies on only one metal. We do not pretend to say tnat the intelligence of mankind may not find a better system than both of them, but we do say that to demonetize either of these metals is a step backward and not a step forward. Bimetallism is the right to use either gold or silver as primary money. Thus, under such a law, if our trade relations or the laws of nations take our gold away, then we have silver, and no serious injury occurs. And the same saving principle applies if/our silver snould leave us and gold reqiafned. The vital principle in bimetallism Is the right to use either meta!. If production grow less on one, we have the other, and the two together furnish a more stable supply of money than either alone can furnish. With only one of them for money, the contraction and expansion of the world’s supply, alternating as they will, makes an uncertain and unstable supply. Of the two metals, dollar for dollar, 16 parts silver to one part of gold, silver is the most useful of the two., is applied to the most uses, and is the most serviceable to mankind of the two metals. The principle that it is safer to rely for money on two metals than on one is a principle that we carry into everyday life. We rely on wheat', corn and rice for bread, on beef, pork and mutton for meat. If one is scarce, we use the other. Under free coinage of both metals, silver and gold are in~ competition wiffi>a‘'h other to supply the demand for money. So long as pork and mutton are in competition with beef, for meat, beef cannot rise unduly in value and threaten the health of the nation. And gold could not, as it is doing now, threaten the credit of this great nation it-silver were in competition with it as money. You hear us called "silver men." As if we were opposed to gold? We are called silver men, because silver is the metal demonetized, and we ate trying to resore it to equal rights with gold. We are in favor of putting the white metal on an equality with the colored metal. To do this, does not mean that we put the country upon a silver basis, it means the right to make primary money from either metal, and in this way one relieves the strain upon the other.

As we have two eyes, one to relieve the strain upon the other; two ears, one to relieve the strain upon the other, and for the same reason two openings in the nose; two lobes to the lungs, and two ventricles to the heart; so is this great necessity for money supplied by having two metals, one to relieve the strain upon the other. And, having the right to use the two, does not mean monometallism. What Monometallism Is. The right to use only one metal as primary money, as is the law now, is monometallism, It is like a man with one arm, one leg, or one lung. Monometallism is a one-lung monetary system. Bimetallism is the right to use either or both of two metals. Only one may be In use ata time, or partially one and mostly the other, ff one grows scarce, or is cornered by speculators, we may use the other. If under bitxetall'sm, one is in use more than the other, it is because li is the most accessible, and this fact may save our monetary system. If gold leaves us and goes to Europe, under bimetallism, it does not hurt us. it, £old, would in such a case (with silver taking its place with us), go to swell the supply of primary money in Europe and increase the price of products In the world’s markets, and thereby increase the price of our exports to those same markets. Under bimetallism, the exportation of gold does not hurt us. Under gold monometallism, its exportation deprives us of the only primary money metal we have. Bimetallism is the right to use either- metal as primary money. And that was the law up to 1573. Option of the Debtor. Under this bimetallic law, the debtor had the option as to which of the two metals he would pay in. Thus the demand was regulated by the debtor. The government exercised the same option as to ita creditors. The demand was thus applied to the metal that was most plentiful. If silver became the cheaper by a slight fluctuation, the demand was thrown upon it. thus restoring the parity between the two metals. If gold was the cheaper, it was used, and the demand brought it back. There is no better recognized principle than the law of supply and demand regulating values. It was the law to which bimetallism was adjusted, and to make it self-operative, the option was given to the debtor, who would always put the demand on the more accessible or cheaper metal, and this prevented any material fluctua 1 - tion in the commercial value of the two metals. We have bad the effect es this law in the official reports of governments for 200 years prior to 1873, and the fluctuation, one dollar as compared with the other, was never to exceed three per cent. What Sixteen to One Means. Under this law, with us, 371% grains of pure silver were put In a dollar, and, 23 1-5 grains of mire gold were put in a dollar, 16 gold dollars to weigh as much as one silver dollar. That is what sixteen to one means. In other words, anyone bringing 371% grains of silver to the mint had it coined into a dollar, and anyone bringing 23.22 grains of gold to the mint had . it coined into a dollar. And as long as this

was the law, no man was willing or did sell that much silver or gold for less than a dollar. Foreign inducements at times caused much of our gold to leave us, as it is doing now, but we had silver to fall back on, and then again when much of our silver left us, we had gold. Thus we walked down the century on two legs, from 13 poor colonies to 36 grand states. During all of that century, the metal in the two dollars never varied more than? three per cent., and could not, under the inexorable law of supply and demand, with the mints open and the hands of our debtors on the governor that controlled the demand. And the fact that we had two metals to rely on gave us more money and a safer system th&n if._we hfid relied_pn one of these metals only. This'waf the elasticity that bimetallism gave to our primary money. The Crime of 1873. In 1873 the law was changed, and gold only was made primary money. The mints were left open to the free-coinage of gold, but closed as to the free-coinage of silver. An unlimited demand for gold for use as money was left in operation. The unlimited coinage of silver was stopped. One of the main arteries feeding blood to civilization was cut off. The debtor was to have no option to pay in money made from either of these two metals. He was to be limited to gold alone. One of the fundamental principles of * popular government was violated in making this change. The consent of the people was not obtained—the consent of the governed—that principle pronounced in the Declaration of Independence. It was not discussed in any campaign, and It was not known to the people for over two years afterward. The editors and newspaper reporters did not know it It was done surreptitiously. I have not time to dwell upon this dark page of our history and cover what else I want to In this speech. I will dispose of it in this way: Silver was demonetized February 12, 1873. I now offer a reward of SIOO to any man or woman who will find a word about it in any newspaper, published In the month of February. 1873. You will find the newspapers of that year in your public libraries. All you will find is a simple news telegram of five lines, that the amended mint bill had passed. The mint and coinage bill that has been on our statute books since 1792, and amended frequently, is more than 15 pages long, embracing everything from the cent pieces to the naming of the various officers of the mint, and fixing of their salaries. It has frequently been amended in many respects, as to duties and salaries of officials, alloy in the metals, or the size and form of our copper and nickel token pieces. A\elegram announcing the amendment of the mint bill conveyed no Information to the people that indicated that the mints had been closed to silver. Its legal tender character taken from it, or any other information that would Indicate that sliver had been demonetized. Hence, the people were in ignorance of what Had been done by that congress, famous in history as the salarygrab congress. Let no man claim that the act was honestly and openly passed, till he can claim the reward I offer. If the type setters, reporters and editors of the papers did not know it. the voters did not know it The Decline of Values.

With all the principles of bimetallism destroyed, with silver thereafter used as lokcn or credit money, like our paper money, all resting on gold, silver began to decline in value as measured In gold, the only primary money, and in 22 years it has declined 50 per cent., or, rather, gold, under the demand for it, has appreciated. For 200 years prior to 1873, under bimetallism, they bad not parted more than three per cent.: in 22 years, under monometallism, the metal in the two dollars had separated 50 per cent. AU property not supported by trust causes, or Increased demand, fell with silver as expressed in dollars. ,As measured by exchangeable value with each other, or with silver, they had not declined. They have only declined as measured In dollars. And these dollars mean gold dollars or their equivalent. What is meant by equivalent is our other forms of money, copper, nickel, sMver and paper, which by the new law, are ail redeemable in gold. When a thing is redeemable in another thing, the former is made as good as the latter, so long as it can be had to redeem With. What is meant by this is that gold is now our primary money, and all other forms of money are credit money. Credit, money is representative money, representing primary money. Our credit money is tied to gold like the tail of a kite is tied to a kite. The tail has gone up following the kite: gold nas gone up and is our only primary money, whereas before, gold and sliver both were primary money, neither redeemable In the other; other forms of money were credit money. By the change in the law, silver was added to the credit money, and the quantity of primary money was cut In two. The simple law of bimetallism has been overthrown and a selfish and powerful moneyed interest has sought since to maintain the gold standard. As was to oe expected, It has resulted in a great strain on gold, the only’ifoasis of our monetary system. As the demand for gold increased, Its value rose as compared with other property. While nominally fixed by being called a dollar, the gold In a dollar was rising In value. This is one of the things It has been the hardest for the people to understand. As the demand Is piled on gold, the gold in the bullion rises tn value as compared with other property. And the gold dollar rises with it, and likewise all forms of money that are redeemable in gold. If wheat grows scarce, or the demand for it increases, it rises in value. If gold grows scarce, or the demand for it increases, it rises in value. But if the demand for gold shoulfl increase till it, relatively with other property, was ten times as valuable as it is now, the quantity of it in a dollar would still be worth a dollar as expressed in itself. It does not rise as compared with Itself, but rises as compared with other property. There was a time in the history of the world when the wisest of men believed that, the earth stood still and the sun went round it. It appears to us now to do so, though we know better. In like manner, the people have been led to believe that the gold dollar is standing still and that the silver in a silver dollar has declined 50 percent. Gold, under the demand for It, has advanced, and we call it the fall of prices. What the Result Has Been. With falling prices the people have been impoverished. Taxes have not been reduced. The farmer must now give up twice as much of what be produces, to pay his taxes, as he gave up in 1873. Official salaries have not been reduced: some have been Increased. It now takes 100,000 bushels of wheat to pay the president's salary of $50,000 where U.OOO bushels would have paid his salary of $25,000 in 1873. Official favoritism and neglect of the producers and toilers has begun in this country. With broken merchants and manufacturers all over the nation, with prices continuing to fall, witjj tens of thousands of tramps in the land, with panic following panic, with mortgage foreclosures the order of the day, with the owners of farms decreasing and tenants Increasing, with the simplicity of the republic disappearing, with suicides, Insane asylums, penitentiary and jail convicts increasing at an alarm trig rate, disproportionate to the increase in population, portending the breaking down of civilization, what do tiTbse who have brought us to this condition say? Say It la Not True. They first say the condition I have described Is not true, that we are experiencing a great era of prosperity and enjoying a high state of civilization. I want to say tn reply to that, that there are two classes of men who are a danger to a republic. One is the calamity howler. He may unjustly excite the nervous, but under : prosperity he will be swept aside as driftwood in the current of a strong stream, and i is comparitlveiy harmless. The other class

that la dangerous is composed of those who deceive the people, or who are themselves deceived, as to our true condition. Those who hang out false lights and lure the ship of state on to rocks, are the worst enemies of a republic. The damage they do is irreparable. Vain boasting and pride as to a nation’s condition, like in individuals, goes before a fall. It Is this vain boasting that has aided in the overthrow of all republics. Its use now will result in the overthrow of this present government of the United States. Be warned in time that the downfall of all past republics was preceded by a refusal to recognize existing evils. They Say Silver Will Bun Gold Out. They say that to remonetise sliver will run gold out of the country. Gold is not tn circulation now. It is cornered. The merit of bimetallism is to recognize the fact that from time to time one or the other of these metals will leave us, and the fact that we have the cgher with us is what would save our financial system. If there are causes tending to take gold away from us. it will go whether silver is money or not. We have no silver now as real money, and yet’ gold is leaving us. They stopped the coinage of silver even as credit money two years ago, and yet gold has since left us faster than ever. Over Production of Silver. They say silver was demonetized on account of overproduction. At the time silver was demonetised, the world was producing 80 cents in silver to one dollar in gold; less silver than gold. In the 22 years since then the world has produced about equally dollar for dollar of silver to gold. The world is now—in 1896—producing about 95 cents’ worth of silver to one dollar of gold. Silver's Coinage Since 1873. They say: “So many hundred millions of silver has been coined since 1873,” and ask: “Why are you not satisfied with such an enormous coinage?” The answer is this: All the silver coined since 1873 has been credit money, practically redeemable In gold. It has not added a dollar to the primary money of the nation. The more you issue of it in this form the worse it is for the stability of our financial system, If the proportion of credit money is already disproportionate to the quantity of primary money. What was needed was its recognition as primary money, in competition with gold. As credit money, it answers no other purpose. The Act of 1878. “But,” they say, “by the Bland-AlJison act of 1878, silver is now full legal tender money.” The answer is this: By that act silver was made legal (tender only in the sense that greenbacks are full legal tender. It was left crippled by limited coinage. Free coinage was not given to it, as enjoyed by gold. None of those rights were conferred on It enjoyed by gold and that ate necessary under true bimetallism to restore parity In commercial value between the two metals. Nor was full legal tender given to it. A clause was inserted:

“UNLESS OTHERWISE PROVIDED IN THE CONTRACT.” This gave the mopey power an opportunity to continue their war on silver. The country was flooded with notes for you to sign payable tn gold, and when the law thus conferred the option on the creditor, as to which metal he would demand, another law in bimetallism was violated. Where before 1873 the debtor had the option, gave it to the weaker metal, if either was, and thus maintained the commercial parity, the Bland-Allison act gave the option to the creditor, who would always demand the dearer metal, and the dearer It. became the . more apt he would be to demand tt. Instead of the government dictating what was money, by this act, the creditor was allowed to dictate, and since then the money lenders have bound this country and its people up In billions of Cellars’ worth of bonds, notes and mortgages, payable in gold. The debtor, as a rule, has no option, when fie goes to sign a note Tor borrowec money. At such a time, money is such a necessity to him, tha he Is putty in the hands of the money lender. Nor does he, as a rule, know that he is assisting in piling the demand on gold and further Increasing its value. He is hopeful and expects the to-morrow to take care of itself. When he goes to pay the debt, he finds that dollars have risen and (.bat prices have fallen, and that he has to give up more of his property than ever in exchange for gold, or its equivalent. Improved Facilities. They say Improved facilities and not demonetization Is responsible fop low prices. The answer co that is this: From 1850 io 1873 was a period of great Improvement in inventions and Improved facilities, greater by far than for the same period either before or since, and yet in the face of improved facilities, prices advanAid. Jf improved facilities have lowered prices since W 73, why did they not do Ji before 1873?. Cost of production is not what makes prices. What makes prices Is this: It Is the relative quantity of the two, money and property, and the demand for each. The Quantity of Money They say we have as much money now per capita as in 1873. The answer Is this:' It Is true we have in gold and all forms of credit money as much per capita as we had In 1873. But over two-thirds of this money Is credit monqy, and less than one third Is gold or primary money. It is therefore topheavy. It shakes confidence in It all. Primary money fixes the sea level of prices, and will support only an equal quantity of credit money; any greater issue of credit money does not help the situation, but on the contrary, it is harmful. We have less than one-half as much primary money now as we had per capita In 1873. We have only half as much sound money now as In 1873. When you consider the money hoarded up In bank vaults not to go again In circulation, except In the form of loans, which is hurtful, there Is not to exceed five dollars per capita In circulation to-day in the United States. It is not money to loan that gives a healthy tone to business; It is money-seeking Investments —purchases—that benefits trade. Cost of Producing Silver. They say It costs less to produce silver now then formerly, and that makes it cheaper. When a man makes that statement to you, put this question to him: Does It not also cost equally less co produce gold? Wager and Wage-Earners. They say wagfcs have not declined. Store clerks in the city of Chicago in 1873 got sl2 a week, about an average of that. They a -e now getting on an average about six dollars a week. Unorganized labor has fallen proportionately. It is only organized labor that has held up prices, and it has done that in two ways: One is, that organized labor is among the first-class mechanics where experts are required, and the supply of that kind of workmen Is limited. But organized labor holds itself up by reason of its unions. They are intelligent. They stand together as a brotherhood of men fighting in a common cause. And yet In spite of their organization, labor has had wages partially reduced. The best answer I have heard to that was by an Irishman in Chicago recently. A gold standard man was expatiating on the purchasing power of gold, and saying that wages had not declined. The Irishman, after listening to him awhile, said: "Mister, in 1873 I was a section hand on the railroad, and I got $2.50 a day. I had a little cottage, a good home out here in the suburbs, where Nora and the babies were happy, and I saved nine dollars a week out of my wages over a living, and paid it on our home. Now lam getting 85 cepts a day as a seetion hand on the same road. If you Will tell me how I can save nine dollars a week on 85 cents a day. I'll give you the floor.” Unorganized labor has declined 50 per cent.; and tens of thousands are unemployed and are getting nothing. This makes tramps; it makes fallen hopes; it makes a discouraged manhood; it maizes less of good citizenship In this country. Add, together, the number of workmen organ

tzed. unorganized and unemployed and get your sum total, then divide it into the wages they receive, and you have as a net result the gold standard, measured with •ven exactness into the bone, flesh and blood of the laboring classes of the United States. If dear money is good for laborers, then make it dearer and scarcer, till there is none left to move the wheels of commerce. The Effect an Farmers. They say: “Admitting lower prices, farmers can buy everything as cheap as they have to sell their property for, so who's hurt?” The answer is this: You sell your wheat —the farmers the merchants defend on for trade, sell their wheat tor 50 cents; it is true they can go and buy calico and cotton goods and many other things proportionately as cheap as they sell their property. Manufacturers are being broken up all over the country by reason of these falling prices; less labor Is employed for the consumption of those products as a result of It, but still, they can go and buy calico and cotton goods, it is true, but, here is what they cannot do: They can’t go and pay their taxes with the same number of bushels of wheat that they did in 1873; it takes from two to three times as much of their wheat and other products. They can’t go and buy anything that is being held up by a trust, or anything that is working unnaturally against the conditions that are breaking down the fabric of the republic. They can’t buy any of those. Arbuckle’s trust on coffee will hold up coffee. You get on a Pullman ear and you pay as much as you did in 18ft. You pay aa much on a street car. You pay as much salary to the county, state and national officials, and when I say you pay as much, I mean you pay as much in dollars, you pay twice as much in property—your property—and in many Instances you pay muoh more than that. So, that when you lower the money measure of the United States, you are asked to, and must drag down this government, and fit all of its industrial conditions to that new measuer. You can’t do it, you will ruin the commerce of the country. Trusts and combinations are forming all over the country to prevent falling prices, and thus the unnatural struggle goes on. How Debtor* Are AffecteSL Nor can you pay your debts. Take the debt which, a few years ago, 1,000 bushels of wheat, or about that, would have paid, it now takes 2,000 bushels of wheat to pay tnat debt. The load of a debtor is hard enough to bear without increasing his burden. When you make a debt you are counting It in dollars; you are counting on selling your property for dollars to pay It with; the debt cads for dollars. You did not count on falling prices, except by honest means; nor on having that by which you measure your property, rise in an ever increasing scale as it has done since 1873. What has been the result? Men ran out of money and went in debt. They contracted debts they never would have contracted if it had not been for selling their property at lower prices. From about six billions of dollars, the people of this country were In debt in 1873, tt.haz grown to about forty billions of dollars, and it now is affecting millions of people of this country and the property with which they are to pay it, declining In price all the time. How are they going to pay It. It means annually an interest of over $2,000,ooo;ooo. The present financial system, based on enhancing gold, haa farced a majority of the people In debt and the machinery of the law made for the collection of debts is confiscating the property of the people. It is transferring the property of the people into the hands of the few as effectually as the feudal laws of Europe transferred all the lands into the hands of the few. Disturbing Confidence. They say we are agitators and disturb confidence, and aie Injuring business. That is an argument that has been made by every selfish despot in the world. Ostracism, and an attempt to suppress free speech by means of ostracism should never find sympathy in a republican form of government It Is not republican; it is intended to drown the voice of the people; it is not the argument of honest men. An attempt to suppress free speech, is treason in a republic.

Increased Supply of Hold. They tell us that the increased production of gold is going to supply so much gold that It will be cheap and wheat will go back to $1.30 per bushel. The fact is that these men who have deceived us for 20 years, lied to us in party platforms, used every form of deception, as It became necessary to meet unanswerable arguments and allay the clamor of the people; are now resorting to falsifying the statistics. Those who committed the crime of 1873 and who have defended It since then by the weapons one would expect such men to use, have now graduated in the school of falsehood and are increasing the supply of gold—on pa’per. But let us follow them up and admit for a moment that their statement Is true and see where it leads ns. All the gold they claim there Is tn the world will go In the space of 22 feet each way. AU the go’d they claim to have been produced in ihe last fear, converted Into one foot cubic blocks would not furnish seats for one-tenth of this amjlence. Measure a S2O piece, If you can find one, and make this calculation for yourself. Prof. Suesse, of the University of Vienna has published u report, giving letters from the watch factories and others using gold In the manufactures, and he shows that -the arts and sciences, including dentistry and other uses, consume the annual supply of gold, with a small exception which he thinks goes into the war , chests of Europe. He estimates that the annual production of gold adds nothing to the stock of gold for monetary purposes Ths Silver Ball lon Owners. They say the free-coinage of silver is in the interest of the silver bullion owners. Ash them it this is true, in whose interests Is the free-coinage of gold? We now have the free-coinage of gold—have you heard anyone say this was in the interest of the gold-bullion owners? Money Is not local. Its use is demanded by civilization. *rhe question to decide is, out of what do we want to make our primary money? And when that question Is nettled, It Is fixed for the benefit of all our citizens and without reference to those who may dig it out of the ground. Tt is I'.xed, or should be fixed, for the good of civilization. Independent Action. They say we cannot go it alone. Do you want to go It alone on gold any longer? There Is nothing to fear by the remonetization of silver. When a gweat government like the United States throws its mints open to silver and says to the world: “We have established bimetallism, and anyone can bring 371% grains of stiver or 23 22 grains of gold to cur mints qnd coin them respectively into dollars,” then no one is going to take less than a dollar for mat quantity of silver. Neither will the foreigner part with his silver for less than a dollar. Why? "Because” he reasons, "I can take my silver to the Unfted States and coin it into money, have it handed back to me as such, and exchange it for anything they have in that country, and they have everything tbrtt a man needs." He therefore jefsises to exchange his ailver for gold except at par, less cost of sending It to the United States. Mexico and the lesser -nations cannot do it, as they have not the exportable wealth we have here In the United Stales. But, it is said: "The world will unload its silver on us." Suppose it does. How would they do It? Give It to us? No. It would be by exchanging it for the products of our soil and our manufactured, goods. We can produce enough In a single year to take all the silver In the world available for uso a,s money. And, the next year we could produce as much more and ask them to bring on more silver If they had ft. Mex- : ico cannot do this, but we can. What would be the result? We would then have something approaching a normal supply of money. Prices would advance, thousands new enterprises would be set in motion.

there would be work for all; hope would spring anew in the breasts of men, the grip of the money lenders would be taken off the throats of business men, who are now working for these money lenders. The silver we are producing would go to the mint to be coined into money, and would not go abroad aa now at 60 cents an ounce to buy cheap India wheat in competition with ours. Free coinage of silver by the United States would control and set the silver market of the world. Those who owe gold bonds could get the gold to pay them with cheaper than now, for gold would have had the demand taken from it and would fall in value accordingly. Put silver in competition with gold and. you take the enhanced value from the latter. United States aa Strong ae England. The Latin Union—France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Greece for 7* years maintained the two metals at a commercial parity of fifteen and one-half to one. What they could do alone, the United States oould do. England In 1844 by the Peal act fixed the price of gold at £3 175.; 9d., required the Bank of England to pay that in paper bills tor every ounce of gold deposited, and that has been the price of it the world over over since. If England can fix the price of* gold the world over, the United States catt fix the price of silver the world over. Where is the American who says that the United States Is not commercially as strong as England? Patriots of America, let us bury all who think so. In one common political grave. They say free silver coinage will cause a panic by gold being frightened out of circulation. The day a president and a congress Is elected committed to Its free coinage. silver will begin to advance and gold to decline. We will have crossed the rubicon In a night. The next day silver’s advance will begin. By the time the act In passed the metals will have come together. Declining gold will come out from hiding In a sow days after the election, hurry to seek an Investment and will go actively Into circulation. It will seek to Invest Itself tn things that are rising, for It will be falling In value. This is a law as Inexorable as any of the certain laws of trade. The wheat in existence is sure to fall in value when It Is known that a large new crop Is coming; the effect is felt before the new crop is harvested. So it will be with gold when it is known that a new crop of money is coming. It is enhancing gold that Is hoarded. Depreciating gold will go rapidly Into circulation for favored Investments in the rising markets. A Hun oa the Treasury. But, you say, people will rush to the treasury to draw gold on credit money and will wipe out the treasury in a day of its gold, and that would cause u panic. There, too* there Is protection. Those notes are payable In coin, not in gold. With all the iniquitous laws that have been passed, the last congress saved the word "coin” from being struck out of our government notes and bonds. The spirit of old Andrew Jackson should meet the Wall street Shylock at the United States treasury door and tender him silver In redemption for hts credit money. Again gold would have received a blow, and again would Its decline continue. "The way to resume was to resume,” and gold and paper came together on the first day of January, 1879. the day previously fixed. It did It because the great United Stamen government was behind it. Gold and silver will come together on the day fixed for the same reason, and for the luriner censor that tne iuws of sun pie and true bimetallism make it Impossible for them to do otherwise. Shall We Walt on England ? They say we must wait for England. When our forefathers erected this government, It was to free themselves from the monarchies of Europe, if we are to permit England to legislate for us on a vital principle that saps our resources, that places us at the mercy of Creditor England, that gives us laws aiding the few to absorb! the wealth of the many, that Is undemocratic and unrepubjlcan in Its effect, then, we are not yet freed from England and another declaration of Independence is needed. They say we cannot transact business with the commercial nations of Europe unless we use the same metal for our primary money as they do. That is a fallacy. Gold does not pass between nations by the stamp of the government upon it, but by weight. We settle our balances with Europe primarily with exports, and if we do not ship them enough ol our merchandise and crops to pay them, then we pay them gold at so mueh an ounce. It is not treated as money. There is no, such thing as International money. Tbe most piusperous period we ever had In the United States was when we had neither gold nor silver. And at the same time we did a prosperous business with Europe. Wny should we give such importance to our foreign trade, even if It were true that It was convenient to adopt the same metal for money as that adopted by Europe? Only, four per cent, of the business of .this country Is carried on with foreign nations as against 96 per cent, that Is done among ourselves. flhail we legislate for the four per cent, or the 96 per cent.? Shall ye legislate for ourselves? Will we permit monarchlal Europe to dictate the laws of free America? Will we tte ourselves to tbe usages and customs of the effete monarchies of the old world? Let Ue Think for Ourselves. The gold standard permits a few men to control the money of the world, to take away from us our property and to destroy our prosperity and happiness. They are reducing the people of this great nation to. the conditions of bonded slaves. Break the chains they are forging around youl Poverty is chloroforming the people of nation, and apathy will increase unless you act quickly in defense of free institutions. Let the office-seeker, the man who speaks to you in die pay of a campaign committee, and the money dealer, worship Wail street, but step forth yourselves, freemen In defense of your firesides and your posterity! Be verse 'his selfish legislation ana our people will again enjoy prosperity. The mortgaged homes of your state wIU be saved to LH'elr owners. Hieing prices will cause our exports to bring us a balance of trade In our favor with Europe, and with it we will pay our foreign debts. There WIU be life again In dying America. Men will look more cheerful, women and children will be made happier. Restore stiver, and the blood of civilization will be warming the arteries and veins of commerce again. Only the money lender will be disappointed, who Is now nursing his dear money, and even to lus grim visage will come a smile as he finds he can collect all the debts due him and can go on dealing in the rJood of civilization.

Your country needs your Intelligent and unselfish action! The fleck and foam of a Niagara Is in sight. All the republics of the world have heard it before, and have gone down to their ruin. In the east, where civilization aiose and attained the eminence we now posses, selfishness arose among the people, and to-day their land is inhabited by barbarians. That same spirit that has eaten out the heart of civilization In the nations of Asia and Africa, is now preparing the same sepulcher for proud, selfish modern Europe. It has crossed the Atlantic ocean, and Is now sapping the Integrity of our manhood. Individual selfishness enacted Into laws Is the cause of despotism and the mother of monarchies. Once fastened upon a people, no civilization has risen from under Its rule. Independence, manhood, freedom, have fled before this dragon, from the birthplace of civilisation to the United States. We can fly no further. With our backs to China and our faces to this storm of despotism blowing from the east, we make the last stand of freemen for the civilization of the world. Never was there a time when American manhood was so sorely needed as at the present time. In the hour Of our sorest need, let it be said that Ohio rallied under the banner of humanity flrm in a resolve to sustain free InaHhiHfin'i!