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About The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1896)
f/tKKBEBESmmmtt&nwmmMm ) , . . , . , . mMulllWlllllllll i I ii 11 i 1.1.1 „ i i i. n V : S. SENATOR DAVIS' ' VIEW. ' * & . .f ' > , if The Demooratio Platform Strikes f f ' at the Government's . f ' If- Foundation , • - , I H FREESILVER NOT BIMETALLISM , • < . * - y & | Condition of Affairs Worse than War * . | f > Would Result from Dem- v- ' " w ] ocratic Success , S In a speech delivered at St. Paul Au gust 4 , Senator C. K. Davis pointed out very clearly the fact that free silver is not bimetallism and showed what evil results would follow Democratic suc cess. He said that for the first time since the election next preced ing the great Civil war , we are required to guard the very foundations - * tions and bulwarks of national stability , of commercial honest } ' , of financial con duct. The Democratic party which met - at Chicago in convention in July suffered a wonderful change iu that convention. I \ The old oracles and guides of the party were rudely turned aside. It was occu pied and demoniacally possessed by a new ' spirit something which has not raised its head in the political conventions of either party for thirty years. If there was any one thing which the 2,000,000 I of men who went out to defend this country - ! try thirty years ago thought that they i j had entirely obliterated when they returned - " turned , it was the malign doctrine of | state rights , which lay at the bottom and was the impetus of the greatest rebellion which ever reared its head against a civilized government. Lo and I behold , in that convention , from the state of South Carolina , as of yore , you find the declaration of the same state rights , in the same spirit as in the an cient time , and done in a connection , my follow citizens , which must appeal to the resentment and repugnance of every lib erty-loving and country-loving man. Ev eryone who knows anything about me knows that I am not a political admirer I J of Grover Cleveland ; but if there was any one act of his administration which , after the contentions of history have ceased to rage about his acts and his memory , that will remain star-bright forever , it was his action , when the 1 pulse of business beat low , when com- t mercial intercourse was cut off by rioters I in Chicago , by which , upon principles and \ precedents laid down by George WashIngton - ! Ington 100 years before , he evoked the f 6trong arm of the United States to re- S store law and order in this country. [ Applause and cheers. ] | This act is covertly ( and covertly is I I too mild a word ) denounced in the Chi- 1 _ cage platform. More than that. If there { is anything in this country or in any na- j tion upon which the stability of the gov- | eminent depends , the very keystone of 8 the great arch upon which the ranged I i empire stands , the ultimate principle of | ! absoluteism 'that must exist some > vherc ; a i in all governments , it is the courts of our II ' land , where men sequestered from politi- i \ cal concerns and political ambitions , § holding the scales of justice even be- i | i tween contending passions and contend- I I ing rights , decide for their fellow citizens I | what the law is. And for more than 100 M I years the Supreme court of the United H , States has sat in that exalted position , H < midway in the capitol of the nation be lt tween the Senate and the House of Rep- j resentatives , a typical object lesson of B I their position and of their sublime ca- } I pacity to restrain either , and has done i more to conduct the government to the I high plane which it occupies , I was going H B to say , than all the statesmen which this H I country has ever produced. ( Applause. ) H j The Chicago platform strikes at that If court , strikes at all courts , and enun- 1 dates its malign prophesy of the reor- 1 j ganization of that court and of any other 1 court if necessary , to register the fitful If and passionate and repudiating edicts of I [ mistaken and misguided men , of mistaken I \ and misguided parties. 11 ; A Crisis is Impending. 11 And worse than that , my fellow citi- II eens worse than that ! If there was I * another thing which the veterans of the | last war thought they had achieved and HI which the loyal sentiment of the North II thought it had achieved , it was the obliteration - literation of alj sectionalism in thisroqn- try ; we were to have vie South , no North. no East , no West , any more. The whole country was to be a unity. But in these later days , we see the solid South coming - ing up to the banks of the Ohio and the j Missouri as before the war , and with E \ sectional demands upon an economic issue - sue , precisely such as was made before j ti.e Rebellion. And now , with the phch- Jl fork of Tillman stirring up the doctrine I of state rights , with the bomb of Altgeld 1 in the denunciation of our courts and of JI President Cleveland thrown under the HI v ry faDric of our government , they have JI chosen to put forward as an issue some- Jl j thing which touches more immediately JI I the conviction , the passions , the cupidity JI and the honesty of men. and which in it- JI self contains more disintegrating influ- Jf I I ences to our prosperity than all the HI i causes combine that I hare mentioned. * HI e Dem ocratic convention , or the HI I Pfmocratic party , as now organized , has HI i i ° Wv t ? Populist party in bonds of un- | ijoly wedlock upon the demand that the United States shall take a position upon the currency of this country which L speaking to you under the responsibility of a man who is speaking to his neighbors - bors , say that I believe is fraught with more disaster to this country than the greatest foreign war could possibly bing about ( Applause. ) I And that is the subject that I have been asked to talk to you tonight about. I am going to do so , as I said in the beginning - ginning , not with any attempt at decorative - rative speech , not denouncing any men who may choose to differ from me , for I tell you , my fellow citizens , that many . and many a thousand men who differ | from us today on this matter one year pij | from now will be wondering why and H 1 how they came to do it. ( Applause. ) And so I shall go on. I may be tedious. I I am going to give you facts and fig- ores. I am not going to draw on my own imagination for my facts at all. PBBJ • The facts that I shall give you will be impregnable. It is for you to judge J whether the deductions I shall draw PbH from them can be refuted. JbH Now what is the question ? For a cor- PIH rect understanding of the question is always - ) ways the first step towards the solution K , of the controversy. The question is not J whether there should be the free and j unlimited coinage of silver in the mints piH of all the nations , by the consent of the piBj principal commercial nations of the globe PBBJj upon a ratio to be agreed upon. That is PBBfi not the issue. We all might agree that when this is brought about , as it will be , J ; if the United States conducts itself with PIB i judgment upon this question , I say we B- I might all agree that that would be an BBS excellent thing. The Republican party SV ha3 pledged itself in successive platforms H to labor to bring about international H , .agreement The most advanced think- PVS ers upon financial questions in both J hemispheres arc advocating , especially in aW I foreign lands , the resumption of the coin- PIH * I age of silver , by united action of nations B BJ i who , before we did , long ago , independ- sjj I ently of us , and uncontrollable by ns , T J suspended or limited the further coinage Hlj \ JB gs s 3 SF ? immumnmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmimmmm * " "MftMM > nuinmi - ! iMimiiHMiii ij HIIMIIII ] fTTT * J ' II W WMB IIIH of silver ; and I want to say one thing to you that not one of these professors in foreign universities , not one of these economists whose name and fame are world-wide , and not one of those great financiers who have given days and years of thought to this subject , not one , and nobody except the readers of the modern Democracy and Populism , has ventured to advise his own country in Europe to undertake that task alone. ( Applause. ) The question is this , and nothing more : Shall the United States , alone , under take the free and unlimited coinage of sil ver at a ratio of 10 to IV ( A few cries of "yes" and "no , " and repeated cries of "no. " ) Now , sec y"bu gentlemen over there who called "yes , " and you gentle men here who called "no , " shows the difference of opinion upon this subject ( laughter ) , and to you over there who come to listen to me , you will listen dis passionately , you will digest my argu ments , and I hope finally that by the time you have done so thoroughly that you will be inclined to shout "no" with the gentlemen who responded when you responded. ( Cheering and applause. ) Now , let us be entirely good-natured about this. I am going to try to give you the facts , and I repeat it , the issue is whether the United States shall at tempt to do that thing alone , in the face of the controlling fact that every civilized commercial nation upon the face of the earth , except the Central Amer ican and South American states , years ago and before we did abandoned it ut terly. And if I shall succeed in con vincing any of our friends that we are not in position to do it without inflicting upon the country and Upon us all injuries which it will take a generation to re pair , I shall be more than rewarded for the pains that I have taken , the ob servations that I have made , the studies I have gone through and the reflections which have brought me to my present convictions. ( Applause. ) Shall "We Go Backward or Forward ? Shall we , for our own interests stand along with those nations with which we have classed ourselves and who are lead ing the march of humanity , or shall we go with Mexico , South America , China and Japan , the rearward half of the great army of human progress , and join those imperfect and rudimentary civiliza tions , which are an occular demonstra tion that no nation ever undertook alone the coinage of free silver that did not de prive itself of gold entirely. ( Applause. ) And you have but to glance upon the map of your school boy or school girl , your little son or daughter , to see the fact recorded there for the education of youth , to know that every one of those nations stands upon a lower scale of progress than the nations which have declared the policy upon which the Unit ed States now stands. My fellow citizens , the warnings of his tory are all against it. The present ex amples of nations who singly are endeav oring to sustain themselves under a single standard forbid us to enter upon a voy age upon , I was going to say , untried waters , but no , upon a voyage which we can plainly see other nations are making at the present time , where we can plain ly view rocKs of distress , the shoals and quicksands of their course from the se cure mainland upon which the American people now stand , and from which our opponents are attempting to lure them by false lights and false alarms. ( Ap plause. ) Now we have got to take facts exactly as they are. We are not dealing with glittering and glowing generalities. We are administering society and human con cerns ; society , a being perfectly concrete , infinitely practicable , somewhat selfish , ( and I am going to appeal to the selfish ness of this audience to know whether they will assist in bringing about that which I think I can prove will result from the arts of the gentlemen who are attempting to mislead them. Now , my friends , the world is divided , just as sharply as it is by oceans and mountain chains , between the gold coun tries , who employ concurrently with gold more silver money than all the silver countries contain or circulate. ( Ap plause. ) I say that the gold countries of this world , including the United States ( and I call them gold countries for the purpose not of definition , but of clear ness of expression ) , employ and circulate more silver than all the silver countries of the world employ , contain or circulate. I make another proposition. I appeal to history and to contemporary facts which no man can dispute , that every free coinage country is on a silver basis. Isn't that so ? ( Cries of "Yes. " ) I make another statement for you to think of , for I am not going to elaborate it I am going to get into the figures pretty soon every gold country uses silver and gold in amounts pearly equal by money na tions. Isn't that so ? ( Cries of "Yes. " ) Isn't that so in the United States ? ( Cries of "Yes. " ) In France ? ( Voices "Yes. " ) I make another statement for your calm and cool reflection , that no sil ver standard coTTntry has any gold mon ey whatever. ( Applause. ) Don't take my word for it Go and investigate this subject I say that no silver country has any gold money whatever , and you can search from Jlexico to Cape Horn and find that this statement is correct Another statement and I make it up on a sense of my responsibility after an exhaustive examination of statistics , in vestigations and records that in every silver standard country wages are pressed down to the very minimum of a wretched subsistence. It is so in Mexico , it is so in Japan , it is so in South America. I say that in every silver country wages are pressed down to the very minimum of a wretched subsistence. The Reasons. Now if it is true ( I will not go into the reasons for it ) , but if it is true as a concrete , absolute fact , that no silver country , no country which has adopted the silver standard has any gold circula tion whatever , I say that it follows that the only practicable bimetallism on the planet is by the nations with which the United States has classed itself , and it is this bimetallism in the United States which the new Democracy and Popu lism are endeavoring to destroy by sub stituting a silver monometallism. ( Ap plause. ) The bimetallism which this country and the nations of which I have spoken enjoy is the bimetallism of fact and actual enjoyment extending to that full extent which human judgment , hu man experience , human apprehension call it what you will teach is the pro portion in which the metals can be em ployed in a degree that one will not de stroy or drive out the other and that both can co-exist together. ( Applause. ) For there is , my fellow citizens , an un questionable dividing line I shall prove it further along , though it is not neces sary for men who have read history , even cursorily , for me to prove it there is a dividing line beyond which you can not pass in the employment of the metal of less value without its driving out the other and entirely supplanting it. And I sav that he who insists ( I say it logical ly ) " that the United States shall or can , acting alone , coin silver without limit , as required by the Democratic and Pop ulist platforms , is not a bimetallism he is a silver monometallist , who , after spend ing vears in attacking what he deems the idol of the dark idolatry of mono metallism , ends by immolating himself upon its altar. ( Applause. ) Now let me right here not exactly in the logical connection throw out a thought which to me has a great deal of consequence. It is represented that gold has become a tyrant , that its power has become omnipotent , absolutely selfish and cruel ; that it has become a metal which great combinations , perhaps of nations , t.i. < ' i' " ' > * - > * * „ . , . „ „ , i i IIIHKBfififiafiMHMMIttil , , , „ „ iimiiiimi ' . ' " " ' ' . ' " I | " ' ' * * " " ; - -'rilrVr * J'-r' " ' ' - it _ _ UUjujaajjMJJU-UMMB IM IMilMiillll l l' < l Wf'llll perhaps of capitalists , hoard and gather for the oppression of mankind. Now let me call your attention to one fact The free-coiners assert , when they arc told that the increased output of gold is going to tend very much and by natural pro cesses to solve this question , that from one-half to one-third of the gold annually produced in the world goes Into the arts. This htatement is probably an exaggera tion. It is probable that one-quarter of the gold of the world produced annually goes into the arts , and it has been doing it for centuries. Consider for a mo ment , my fellow citizens , what an enor mous sum , enormous aggregate three billions , perhnps four billions , of dollars are lying in the shape of golden orna ments , thousands of dollars of them in this room tonight. Now I want to ask you this question , if there Is a gold fam ine , if the power of gold is so absolute and tyrannical as it is claimed , if its possession in the shape of coin gives its owner such sway over the destiny and fortune of his fellow man , how is it that this enormous amount of gold , per haps one-third of that which is in exist ence , has not shown the least symptom yet of going into the melting pot to be turned into coin ? But we hear a great deal about the de monetization of silver , and one would think to hear our free-coiner friends de claim that silver had been entirely de monetized , that by some malign influ ence the money function of silver throughout the world had been entirely abrogated , and it is a very .catching phrase. It has been a very catching assumption , for I will not call it an argu ment Now , I say. my fellow citizens , that , properly considering facts , that state ment is inaccurate , not to say untrue. I assert that silver has never been demon etized in the sense in which that charge has been made. ( Applause. ) Demone tization means to divest of standard value as money , and I say this has not been done with any dollar of silver coin that was ever minted at any mint. ( Ap plause. ) It is true that many nations who have approached the danger line of which I spoke a few moments ago , when one metal drives out another , that many nations have told the owners of silver which lay concealed in the earth we will not longer buy it at a certain ratio and at a certain price. Even that has not been entirely done , and I repeat my statement that the assertion that silver has been demonetized is one calculated to mislead , and is not true in fact. * "The Crime of ' 73. " All our woes are dated from 1873 , the period when the free-coiners persuade their disciples that , to use their stock ex pression , silver was demonetized , or that one-half of the aggregate wealth of the world was struck down at a blow. Now let us bring this statement to the crucial , absolute test of figures , of what records and statistics say upon this subject , and not trust to the vague declamation of any person. The value ( and I will give you my authority for this statement in a moment ) , the value of all silver coin in the world in 1873 was § 1S77,000,000. In 1S95 it was § 4,100,000.000. The value of all the gold coin in the world in 1S73 was $3,015,000,000 ; the value of all the gold coin in the world in 1895 was $4,200,000,000. Of this quantity of sil ver current in the world in. 1S95 , $3,439 , - 300,000 was full legal tender. Now at tend to me for a moment while the math ematical deduction is made. By this statement it appears that the quantity of gold in the world increased , between 1873 and 1895 , only $1,200,000,000 , while the increase of silver coin for the same period was $2,283,000,000 more coined in the twenty-three years since 1873 than remained up to that time of all the coinage of the world since Noah left the ark. ( Applause. ) And nearly double more silver has been coined than gold since 1S73. What becomes , then , of the assertion of the equal and equable production of silver and gold from year to year since time began , and of the de monetization of silver since 1873 , in the face of this showing that , between 1873 and 1895 the coinage of silver was near ly twice greater than that of gold ? They talk of the demonetization of silver since 1873 in the face of a silver coinage throughout the world since that year of over $2,000,000,000 , of which $538- 444,467 was minted by the United States ! ( Applause. ) And of gold the United States minted during the same period $937,460,633. And here , also , is answered a statement confidently made and plausibly maintained , and yet erron eous in fact , that there has in all this time been an enormous contraction of the currency all over the world , yet these figures conclusively demonstrate that that statement is not true. Now , my friends , I have not taken this from the statistics of any other speaker or from any other book. I know where the statistics are gathered with the care which commands the respect and confi dence of the civilized world , and on the 29th of July ( only a few days ago ) I telegraphed to the director of the mint regarding information upon these sub jects , and he answered me : "Hon. C. K. Davis , St Paul , Minn. : The total .value of all silver coined in the world in 1873 I estimate to have been $1S17,000,000 and 1895 $4,100,000,000. The world's stock of gold in 1S73 is es timated to have been $3,045,000,000 and 1S95 about $4,200,000,000. R. E. Pres- tonf director of the.mint" . And these figures I have just given you are the fig ures which I have just read in the tele gram of the director. The greatest busi ness transactions in the way of-finance on the face of the earth are made upon statements like that , and when what I have said is discussed the only answer that will be made to it is probably that Mr. Preston and the United States gov ernment is one general universal gold bug. ( Laughter. ) Now let me give yon another state ment The coinage of the nations of the world in 1S92 , 1893 and 1894 was as follows : Gold. $172,473,124 ; silver , $155,517,347 ; 1S93 , gold , $232,420,517 ; silver , $137,952,690 ; in 1894 , gold , $227 , - 921,032 ; silver , $113,095,783. A total in three years of $1,039,389,498. With all deductions for recoinace this output of coined money is of immense volume. Now I have thrown out these sugges tions and will pass from that branch of the discussion and call your attention to another assertion of the free coiners ; I alluded to it cursorily a few moments ago , but I propose to now treat it in the same manner in which I have treat ed the last preceding question. The free coiners assert that contraction has in flicted all the financial and economic miseries that mankind has endured since 1873. Now I say that they themselves coolly propose to bring about a contrac tion of currency in the United States un exampled in the world's history. I say that they propose to bring about a con traction in the United States unexampled in the world's history and fraught with more evils than are , recorded in the an nals of human woe. In that case , if that is the logical result and inevitable des tiny of what they propose , I want to know wherein the goldbug is worse than the silver eel ? Hero is the Proof. Now you ask me for my proof and I will proceed to give it The unlimited and free coinage of silver in this country will drive out the gold. This is as indis putable as any law of physics , such as the law of gravitation. It has driven out gold in every country which has unlimitedly - edly coined silver. Do you want the his torical and clear proof of it ? In fact , there is not an enlightened gentleman who will talk to you in advocacy of free coinage of silver who does not ndmit that this will be the inevitable result , but they say it will only last two or three years , that the patient will probably Burvive . • ' nwwJWl ' ' * w _ _ . ' ' " ' " " " " ' -j * - - f a.tl.f' ' * lU' l t -tfHiMHHilili ' ' ili , i * rxrZ3r- " - n iiin iiwmmi iin i ii * ih-i viiimwhii mmi ii twp or three years , and will probably survive to take the new medicine in abundance. But I say that they admit themselves any intelligent speaker upon that subject admits that the inevitable and irresistible tendency and result of the free coinage of silver in this coun try will be to drive out the gold. Now let us see how they propose to obviate it It has always struck me that one of their most enlightened champions was Mr. St John of New York. He has been largely and copiously quoted by them he was president of a national bank and was president of the recent silver con vention at St. Louis , and by the bill which he procured to be introduced in Congress and which had the endorsement of the silver and Populist sentiment there , they proposed to bridge over this yawning chasm which they themselves admitted would open beneath their feet by issuing interest-bearing trensury notes of the United States , secured by deposits of uncoined silver or gold bullion , or by deposit of United States bonds to be is sued of course for that purpose. Now let us look at this coolly and calmly and fig ure upon it a little , like men of sense who are infinitely interested in this matter as one of business concern and let us see how this project would work ; wheth er it would not merely .in , nml fllm tlc , ulcerous sore. Whilst rank corruption mining all beneath Infects unseen. We have $620,000,000 of gold in the United States. I think more. It would disappear at once in the face of free silver coinage , or even the certainty of it. Let this election go Democratic * Populist , let the American people record their will that the coinage of silver shall be free and unlimited , long before Mr. Bryan and his cohorts could place the edict into the form of law , the just finan cial fears of mankind , of people here in this audience and of people every where , at home and abroad , would draw that gold from every vault wherein it lies protected and it would sink into the earth as the waters which came down from heaven last night I say it would disappear at once. This bill of Mr. St. John so admits , and that disappearance is the very ailment which he proposes to remedy. But in this universal ab sconding of gold tliere would be no gold bullion to deposit , people would not take it out of hiding to exchange it for any paper money whatever of the govern ment which proposed to make all these obligations payable in silver. ( Applause. ) This remedy is counteracted so far by the assumption and admission that gold will disappear. Now as to deposits of silver bullion. The world's product of silver in 1894 ( commercial value ) was $210S92,200. If we could get the world's entire pro duct ( as we could not ) , it would take three years to fill the void of $020,000 , - 000 of vanished gold. The nations of the world will not melt down their coined silver to deposit it in the United States treasury and receive merely a silver certificate. Some of the Evils. But the third alternative is one of most malign portent. It is proposed to use the interest-bearing bonded debt of the United States in order that the miner or owner of silver may take his bullion to the mint meanwhile and get evidences of public debt two for , one a privilege not granted to or claimed by any farm er , artisnn , manufacturer or producer upon God's heritage. I say it is pro posed to use the interest-bearing bonded debt of the United States. Now , what does this mean ? It means an increase of the bonded debt People who have got their bonds as investments to get their living from in the way of their an nual income , or anyone else , are not going to put their bonds on deposit in the treasury to get a treasury certificate. And so the chasm could not be filled in that way. neither by gold , by silver or by the illimitable issue of bonds. So this chasm could not be filled. They admit it will last three years. What will take place meantime , in the very face of the danger of it ? We are in the midst of commercial distress almost unexampled in our history ; a panic such as the world has seldom seen. It would throw 3.000,000 of men out of employ ment It would depress and starve the wage-earner , and it would deprive him of being the best consumer and purchas er that the American farmer has , and by that reflex action inflict unexampled misery upon our agricultural population. ( Applause. ) In that state of things the abyss must be filled. No nation could stand such a contraction. The most radical remedy would be absolutely necessary to re store it , and there would only be two one is to get back to the honest , solid standard on which all the comniercial nations , including the United States , stand now , or to use an irredeemable paper money , perfectly limitless or il limitable in its ajpount And when that comes to pass silver will vanish in the face of paper as gold vanished in the face of silver. ( Applause. ) And then yoit would have another chasm , another issue of money. The wreck is complete , and the United States stands entirely on an irredeemable paper money basis , precisely the place we occupied before the war , and from which we struggled with so much passion of honesty and love of national honor to emancipate ourselves. Do you want that again ? ( Cries of "Np , no. " ) But my friends , to look a little deeper into this subject The misery goes tur- ther that would be inflicted. I have been talking heretofore about lawful money , and I mean by that , money issued by the governments of the world , the United States included. But did you ever think how little of the business of this world or of any community like St Paul and Minneapolis is done on what is called lawful money ? Statistics would seem to show that 95 per cent of the transac tions between man and man in civilized nations , especially in the United States , is by way of checks. In cities they are balanced against each other in the clear ing house , and a few thousand dollars balanced money closes the day's transac tions. Where clearing houses do not ex ist I mean in towns and villages the depositing of the checks in the banks , and the collections of the banks adjust bal ances in the same way. Now , this is the greatest currency of civilization. Numbers are inadequate to express its infinite superiority in numeri cal relation to the lawful money of which we have been talking. This is the currencv that no statutory fiat can ex pand , although it can contract it. But it is a currency which will contract instan taneously to its very minimum bv the operation of the Democratic and Popu- listic theories as announced in their plat forms. Now what does that mean ? It means simply that the merchants , the manufacturers , the employer , the man of everv kind who pays out money 'o his fellow-men for labor , or for material will cease so far as lie is concerned to emit that currency which rules all business The lack of confidence will produce that contraction in that currency. The clear ings in the United States last week were $811,000,000. In the clearing houses alone , mind you , and not through the in fluence of interposition of the banks where there are no clearing houses. The clearances of the city of St. Paul last week were something over $4,000,000. Does any man think that such nmount of monev ns that was used in St Paul last week $4,000,000 or in the nation , $ S11,000.000 , to transact their business ? It was done by this currency of civiliza tion which no nation can produce , which no nation can regulate or control , and I say that this currency , more important , than silver or gold or national paper , _ -rW-TgrJLMjiJijix fB -J- " - - , - - . r * -w- " > " . i i \ a will be struck down at a blow if the shal low projects of the Democratic and Popu list platforms be realized. But j-ou have heard from our free coinage friends here that other nations have done this. And there are many good people who believe that France is doing it , and that the Latin union so-called is doing it. Now , I would like to know why they can't tell the entire truth about this matter. Let us not deceive each other and let nobody deceive us. The Lit in union is composed of France , Belgium , Italy , Switzerland and Greece. It was formed in 1S65 by treaty between those powers , whereby each agreed until the year 18S0 to take the coins of the other powers at the ratio of lo1 . to 1. But Germany demonetized silver ; she had ceased to coin it , and so , in 1S73 , those great nations , headed by France ( the most scientifically-governed country in the. world , and the one which has the most accurate financial ideas ) , I say those countries , after Germnny had demone tized silver in 1S73. limited their silver coinage , and by 1876 they suspended it entirely. They , those great European nations France , the strongest monetary nation in the world , with her allies un dertook with all their power to do pre cisely what the free coiners of the Unit ed States are asking this government to undertake in the light of such con spicuous failures of other nations. Invariable Stnmlaads Needed. Now , everybody admits I think the most rampant free-coiner declaimer would admit that the money unit should remain as nearly invariable as possible. Now. I say gold has so remained. Sil ver has fallen commercially like other articles. This is denied. They say sil ver has not fallen , that gold has risen ; Now , that is the way you look at it You can look at it through the deluding glass of idealism , and it may appear that way , but it is an optical illusion. Now let me put an illustration from nature. The waters of Lake Superior , that great inland sea which floats so much of our commerce and is such an clement in our prosperity , have for many years been falling , until now they are lower than they have been at any time for fifty years , and everything on their surface has fallen. The waters of Lake Supe rior , like the universal , spread-out plane of humanity , bearing everything upon its surface those waters bear the fleets , vessels and craft of all kinds , and ves sels and craft and fleets of all kinds have fallen with the water. What would you think of a man standing on the deck of one of those vessels saying. "This ves sel has not fallen ; this vessel stands just where it did. but the universal shore of Lake Superior has risen ? " [ Laughter and applause. ] Now , I say , my friends , that since the Latin union , from 1S73 to 1S76. aban doned free coinage , there has existed in European nations and the United States the only practical bimetallism. Let me repeat this. I feel that I cannot bear it into your minds too often or too urgently that these nations , including ours , are the only nations on the face of the earth that have any bimetallism whatever. And why ? Because they went to the danger line , as we went , and then stopped. [ Applause. ] The universal teaching of history demonstrated that there was a dead line , beyond which silver couid not be pressed without the immediate annihilation of its companion , gold , as a useful , working money medi um. And when any man gets up and dreams and soliloquizes and philosophizes before me and tells me he knows it won't be so if we try where others failed , I tell him that an ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory , and that something bodi ly is worth a million of disembodied ghosts. [ Applause. ] What is Jtatio ? And yet these gentlemen favor , in. the face of these historical examples and warnings , that the United States shall make the unit of coinage the silver dollar lar at the ratio of 16 to 1. Now , what is ratio ? It is not $16 to $1 , as some people claim. ( Laughter. ) Ratio means this : That there shall be sixteen times more silver in weight in a silver dollar than there is weight of gold in a gold dollar. Or , to put the definition in another form , that sixteen ounces of silver , when coined , shall be the equiva lent of one ounce of gold when coined. When gold measured by silver is worth $16 per ounce , no disparity in value can exist ; but when measured by silver tiie ounce of gold is worth $31 an ounce com mercially , disparity results. Such is the present condition , and yet the free silver men assert that it will lie no such thing in case legislative fia' endeavors to make two and two five instead of the old- fashioned result two and two four. The trouble is that our friends have confused the ratio of weight with the ratio of value , and are trying to confuse the people with it The rsjtio of weight and the ratio of value were once the same , but they have changed. They changed more than thirty years ago. Other nations saw it and obeyed the im perial behest of that change before we did , and the ratio is now throughout the world 32 , or about 32. to 1. Now I say that no legislative fiat what ever it does not lie in the power of man ( I was about to say something more ex treme than that , which it would not be proper to say ) it dees not he in the power of man to enact that a given di mension , volume or capacity shall be a hair ' s breadth greater than the laws of the Almighty have fixed it from the be ginning. ( Applause. ) It is necessary that the ratio or proportion tion of value should be invariable. It is necessary for the pioduction of the thing itself called money , speaking of it in its gieat volume , as the volume of money in the United States. We see analogies everywhere : we see an analogy iu nature. Take the air we breathe. It is a com pound substance , made up from oxygen and nitrogen at the ratio of about 77 to 23 , and while this ratio lasts it is from it we all draw our lives and have our being. But change to any material de gree and. instead of being the vital , life- giving air , it becomes a deadly and de structive miasma. But the free-coiners assert that unlim ited coinage of silver will restore it to a parity with gold. It has been tried by many nations of'thw world. Has it done it in " a single instance ? Not one. They said the same thing when Congress passed the Sherman act of 1S90. They said buy of us freely 4.500,000 ounces a month , or 54.000.000 ounces a year , and you will see that silver will go up to $1.29 an ounce immediately. In the face of clamor , in doubt as to what might be the result , in willingness , ( it went too far ) to give such claims every oppor tunity to be demonstrated whether they werecorrect or incorrect , that legislation was enacted. And silver did go in the course of about ten days to $1.19 an ounce ( Applause by one man ) and the free-coiners were exalted , and said , "I told you so. " But , my friends who ap plaud at that delusive statement it last ed but a short time. Silver proceeded to fall lower than it ever fell before. ( Great applause. ) It did not take it long to do it The an nual average production in the United States for ten years before that act was passed was 44.000,000 ounces , in 1S91 it ran to 54.000,000 ounces , and in 1S92 to 62,000,000 ounces , nearly 20.000,000 ounces more than we produced in the average of ten years up to the time when that bill was passed , and it was then seen by all wise men , by all men who had the stability of the currency and the prosperity of their country at heart , .vith intelligent vision , that that immense vol ume would break down indeed it did break down the very theory upon which the bill was passed. ( Applause. ) It pro duced the panic of 1S93 , put distrust into the minds of men. The silver men said before we passed that bill in 1890 , that infiMtimnmmummMna * * * * * * " * " " * * l nrmrrinfiMtim S silver would go at a parity with gold if fl H vou will only give us a limited purchase i i l of 54,000,000 ounces a year. It did not l H go to a parity. How can they say now , < l H and look the American people in . he taco 4J H with steady eye , that where it failed then /Hl H it is going to work entirely different and i l H satisfactorily now ? H l BKYAtf ( KN TIIE EATIO. fH He Sang a Different Song on thb 'IS H Subject When He was In Ml H Congress. S H On the 16th of August , 1S93 , on the 3 | floor of the House of Representatives , /M l Mr. Byran said : l a H "In fixing the ratio we should select that vl l one which will secure the greatest ad- Jj l vantage to the public and cause the least "Vji l injustice. The present ratio , in my judg- H l ment , should be adopted. A change in < J l the ratio could be made ( as in 3834) by M H reducing the size of the gold dollar , or { 4 H by increasing the size of the silver dol- J H lnr , or by making a change in the weight ' , | ( H of both dollars. A larger silver dollar - H would help the creditor. A smaller gold ( , -j H dollar would help the debtor. It is not , 4 H just to do either , but if a change must ' il H be made , the benefit should be given to ' H j the debtor rather than the creditor. Let J I H no one accuse me of defending the just- , - 4 H ness of any change ; but I repeat it , if T VJH we are given a choice between a change " • ; TH H which will aid the debtor by reducing ) 'j H the size of his debt and a change which i 'l H will aid the creditor by increasing the ul H amount which he is to receive , cither by „ ) > * , H increasing the number of his dollars or * v H their size , the advantage must be given H H to the debtor. " ' S H Legislation in favor of debtors or of "l H creditors , as a class , would be class leg- I H islation and wholly unjustifiable. Ques- f ; H tions between debtors and creditors are H properly settled in the courts ; and every H court will hold that what is right for the i H one is right for the other also. Mr. Bryan - • > H an , therefore , did well to disclaim advocacy - ; H vocacy of any change of the existing ' | ratio. Should a change be made at any H time hereafter it cannot and ought not ; H to affect contracts antedating such H change. | But in advocating the unlimited coinage - H age of silver bullion , at the present ratio , H for the owner and without cost to him , H Mr. Bryan does propose a change of the H entire basis upon which business is trans- / H acted. We are informed by him that H there are three ways by which the ratio H between gold and silver coin can be altered - M tered : 1. The shrinkage in size of the M gold dollar. 2. The enlargement of the M silver dollar. 3. Making a change in the M size and weight of both dollars. Either M of these three methods contemplates a v " M nearer approximation of the coinage ratio - ( M tie to the commercial ratio and is so far i J forth honest If this approximation of M the two ratios were carried to the point M of ideality , the change suggested by him M would be absolutely honest nrovided ' | that it is not retroactive in its application , | to outstanding debts. ' | This is not. however , the change which v ; H would follow the adoption of free coinage - H age at 10 to 1. There is still another i H possible change to which Mr. Bryan H made no reference in his speech , namely , H the shrinkage of the silver dollar. A ' H silver dollar containing 371/t grains of .HH pure silver , worth 53 cents in gold , which H nevertheless passes current for 300 cents ' > H in gold , is an anomaly in finance , unless ' H explained. The explanation is simple. t H Fifty-three cents of the current value of , " | H this dollar is visible : 47 cents of its value J | H is invisible , and consists in credit Free fS H and unlimited coinage would destroy this / * , H credit In advocating free coinage at ' j H 16 to 1. therefore. Mr. Bryan proposes to H make the silver dollar smaller not to the _ j H eye. but in fact \ H This would be a change of ratio in the " H purchasing power of the silver dollar , ns H compared with a gold dollar , from 16:1 B to 31:1. H To avoid this result Mr. Bryan gravely H proposes that we should do one of two j M things : double the weight of the silver H dollar , or else coin gold dollars half their V present weight Anybody can sec that //M one of these would have to be done , in ' Herder order that identity should be established H between the coinage ratio and the commercial - < H mercial ratio. H Which of these two expedients does H Mr. Bryan favor ? He tells us that en- J M larging the silver dollar would help the " ' | creditor. It could only help him by M maintaining the present standard of | H value. He also tells us that halving the M gold dollar would help the debtor. If so , M it would be by a change in the present M standard of value. Finally , he tells us , H that he prefers the latter expedient , because - H cause the debtor has rights superior to S the rights of the creditor. * H v The Lesson of 1892. " " * • What happened in 1S92 ? Everybody had money , plenty of money ; and then I they came to you and whispered in your , H ear that although you had plenty of " 1 money and plenty of work that you were ' fl not buj-ing what you bought cheap 4m enough ; that they were taxing the many f for the benefit of the few , and too many 1 of the American people listened to it V It was the arousing of the class of employers - ' ployers against the employed ; and the employed against the employer ; and we had the change. They gave us the cheap stuff , but in what condition did they leaT'6 the American people ? 9 It reminds me of a colored gentleman | who wanted to cro s the Arkansas river , ' and had no means. He sat down awhile * fl upon a log and waited until someone r f | should come up. Shortly a white gentleman - / " • * I tleman approached. He says : "Boss , / - fl I want to cross this river : will you ' H please give me two cents ? I haven't a J I cent in the world. " "Well , sir , " he said , 1 "if you haven't a cent in the world it I don 't make a damn bit of difference T which side of this river you are on. " And so it is with all cheap goods that these gentlemen furnish us. They fill the stores with their clothing , made of shoddy , brought in under an ad valorem law by which the importer is made to swear that it is worth nothing , and it is worth nothing. It is made out of old hats picked up out of the streets m > and alleys of our foreign cities , of rags from Switzerland and rotten socks from Italy. It is sent over to be placed upon \ American backs. That is not the civilization - t ization we want. We want American wages , American clothing and Ameri can civilization. Now , in 1896 they came to us. We had plenty of money before , now we have no money. They come to us and say they are going to give it to us ; and they propose this doubling of the face value of silver. From a speech by Congressman Fowler of Netf York at Milwaukee. , ' Carlisle's Five Points. : x- "There is not a free coinage country - \ IK in the world today that is not on a silver % basis. il II. * "There is not a gold standard coun- S (72 try in the world today that' does not use * ! * jf silver as money along with gold. * r * \ HI. * } "There is not a silver standard country flH in the world today that uses any gold ' HI as money along with silver. - B "There is not a silver standard countrj ' flfl in the world today that has mdre than WM one-third as much monev in circulation * WB per capita as the United States. / * j . "There is not a silver'standard country I in the world today where the ' ' ffl laboring > > jam receives fair pay for his g S J * M two yH ' " ' ' / - * * r t lN i H
