Conservative * i
stilting prostration of Western property-
values , has brought mo to the brink of
financial ruin. None the less I have
honestly tried to keep my eyes open to
the truth and to resist the specious , de
lusive arguments which self-interest is
always so ready to suggest. Every for
ward evolutional change in life and in
civilization has brought disaster and
suffering to some. Its ultimate effect ,
however , is to multiply the happiness
and the wellbeing of the many.
Like their brethren in the South who
but a few years ago were eager to sacri
fice life and all for their "lost cause , "
the men of the West , redeemed from
error , will yet live to bless their defeat
in this monetary battle. And the
younger men , breaking away from the
wiles of politicians , and from the soph
isms of deceived deceivers , will open
their minds to the clear , impressive
facts of financial history will realize
that the advent of the single gold stand
ard had become an inexorable necessity
in our advanced and higlily progressive
civilization and will appreciate and
unreservedly admit the folly and futil
ity of fighting evolution.
During uncount-
' * ? " ? Htsront
globe has been in
dustriously revolving among other
worlds and stars. During millions of
years it has witnessed , and perhaps felt
as a dog feels fleas the human race
crawling and strutting over its diversi
fied surfaces. And if inanimate matter
can enjoy a joke , or laugh at a farce ,
how the rock-ribbed sides of the earth
must have shaken and its big bowels
undulated in mirth and its whole face
wrinkled with laughter at the attempts
of the children of men to establish
governments.
Autocracies in the persons of mou-
archs , emperors , despots , tyrants , kings ,
princes , czars and whatnots ; oligarchies
aristocracies , democracies , dulocracies
in the form of republics have germin
ated , flourished , flowered , fruited and
vanished. Long processions of the
failures in human government have
belted the globe time and again am
filled the world with the woes of war
But any form of government honestly
and wisely administered is a good thing
for the people. " Nothing is so bad as no
government.
Perfect justice can never bo attained
by mortals in any form of government
God alone can do absolute justice. Mai
can only hope to approximate justice
And such approximation can only bo
attained where- liberty and order are
conserved by law. The liberty to labor
to aspire , to strive for the best and high
est levels in the intellectual and ma
terial life of this Republic is the privil
ege and duty of every American citizen
And those who will not aspire , who wil
not make efforts to improve iutellec
tually , to acquire wealth of mind , and
; o accumulate material wealth , ought
lot to have the same rights and powers
11 government which inhere to the in-
; elligont , the industrious and the suc
cessful. The individuals who best im-
irove themselves and best care for them
selves are best qualified to improve and
administer human government.
Thrifty and thoughtful integrals ,
called citizens , are best constituted for
; ho formation and management of that
concrete or composite which wo call a
epublic , when we talk of governments.
And the sooner Americans place a premi
um upon ability and acquirements ,
ipon fitness and adaptation to the per
formance of specific duties when they
seek public servants the better for our
government.
Voluble ignorance is too often quoted
above the par of modest and reticent
merit.
The walking , talking delegate is the
worst of all the walkers who ever
walked and the most pernicious of all
the talkers who over talked. He belongs
to all trades , is common in all profes
sions and is useful in none. He will
not work. Ho will not permit others to
work except to pay him for showing
them how. He denounces all capital.
But he yearns to loot the wages-fund ,
which is the treasury of the laborers ,
by strikes. He preaches war against
capital to all wage-earners. He declares
a demand for money universal when it
is a mere desire he construes as demand.
The walking delegate is a disturber of
industrial energies. Ho is a promoter
of social and political antagonisms. He
may sometimes be an honest idiot. He
is oftener a selfish scheming knave. Ho
is frequently a real anarchist when ho
thinks and calls himself only a Bryau-
archist.
The original gold
A I GKADED
DEMOCRACY.bnsls democracy of
which Andrew
Jackson , Samuel J. Tilden and Grover
Cleveland are illustrious examples has
ceased for the moment to bo a political
organization of great national force.
In its stead there poses a party repre
senting the massed and disciplined dis
content of the Republic. It is fused
with the vagaries of all those who op
pose the courts , all those who desire
more money and less work , all those
who believe the government can create
values and all those who wish to have
government do sometliing to support
them , instead of being themselves
obliged to do anything to support the
government.
And yet this deluded and demented
mob calls itself the democratic party ,
notwithstanding the fact that it daren
not in 1890 and will not dare in
1900 to name national candidates whom
populism would repudiate. In all the
northern states this sham democracy
takes its candidates and adopts its plat
forms in accordance with the dictates of
populists. Nowhere except in the south
ern states is this foul fusion refused by
an organized and alleged democracy.
And now Jones of Arkansas distin
guished as "an Arkansas gentleman of
the olden time" throws up the job of
being chairman of the national commit
tee and as an attorney in fact , with the
power of substitution , sublets his contract -
tract for welding democracy to all the
fallacies of populism to Coin Harvey
and christens the said Coin Harvey
"the " while Allen
general manager ; ,
Teller , Altgold and other bimetallic
apostles stand solemnly by as sponsors
and godfathers for the "General Man
ager" of the degraded democracy.
The quantitative theory of money is
beautiful. According to Towno , Bar-
tine , and Monsinger of Indiana , money
can bo made so plentiful that one hour's
labor will bring more than a whole day
of hard work fetches now. And at the Ire /
end of a year the wages of a man who re
now carries all his money in a trousers'
pocket will fill a wheelbarrow.
The quantitative theory is delightful
to contemplate. Think of the heavenly
condition of the dear plain people , when
the quantity of money shall have been
increased , by the free and unlimited
coinage of silver at sixteen to one , so
that the heavy wagons , now used for
hauling coal and other base products of
the earth , will bo loaded with glorious
silver dollars with which to pay the _
farmers for cows and corn and pigs and
wheat exchanging even up , load for load.
Tliink of paradise ! think of the gor
geous garden of Eden and all the glor
ious luxury and deshabille of Mr. and
Mrs. Adam in that home of splendid
indolence and ravishing bliss !
Then think of the quantitative theory
of money in full practical play in Ne
braska ! Money plenty ! Money every
where ! Money so abundant and redun
dant that men who have no credit now
will have unbounded lines of discount
then ! Money franked homo to each
constituent by Senator Allen as that
same great , good and self-adjustable
man now sends them squash seeels !
Given the full logical result of the quan
titative theory and there will bo free
distribution of dollars as there is now of
letters by government agents in every
town !
More money ! More money ! is the
song of Towno , Allen and all the other
quantitative theory advocates.
In business affairs men get salaried
positions because they can do and have
done useful work. But in political life
they frequently are nominated and
elected to salaried offices because they
have proved themselves useless every
where else. Why not adopt the meth
ods of business when voting for public
officers ? Why not pick out men who
have merit , and records of usefulness ,
to perform the duties for the people ?