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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 1899)
Conservative * GOLD STANUAK1) TOPICS. General prosperity and the gold stand ard go hand in hand. The American people are as eager as over for the gold standard bill. The fifty-sixth congress should begin its work well by passing the gold stand ard bill. The gold standard sentiment is stronger than over throughout the country. The gold standard bill would be a grateful New Year's gift from , congress to the people. In 189G , twenty-three states supported the St. Louis gold standard platform. They still support it. The hour for action has arrived. There should bo no needless delay in passing the gold standard bill. There wore 7,288,208 votes at the back of sound money in 1896. There are many hundred thousands more now. Silverites of all parties and factions say that Bryan will be renominated for president. The wish is father to the thought. Congress should pass the gold stand ard bill early in the session. Delays are dangerous in finance as well as in things in general. The gold standard bill has not been much discussed as such , but its pro visions have been very fully considered by the press and people. Mexico , whose staple product is silver readily makes her foreign debt payable principal and interest in gold. It pays to be honest. Mexican bonds are higher than ever. The silver democrats are about to undertake a "campaign of education. " Their work in that respect in 1896 ended in disaster. The leaders need instruc tion more than the masses. The recent meeting of the national democratic committee in Chicago re sembled a lodge of sorrow. The silver element was in control , and turned wistfully to "Coin" Harvey for solid comfort. In the first nine months of this year the import of gold in Great Britain ex ceeded the export thereof by $55,000- 000. Gold goes where there is a gold standard. This is one strong reason why congress should place the gold standard on a firm and unalterable basis. It is remarked that the bimetallists of France , Germany and England have been dumb for a long time , and will not again be awakened from then ? torpor unless aroused from it by us. Let them slumber. The bimetallist Del Mar 'said sadly of theEuropeansilverites : VThey are not -with us. " He meant that they would not uphold the 16 to 1 ratio. . Conflicting reports have been current concerning the Russian finances. The Minister of Finance , M. Witto , demon strates clearly , in a long report , that the country has beuefitted greatly by the adoption of the gold standard. He quotes figures to show that the amount of money now circulating in Russia is greater than ever , that the new gold coinage is not going out of the country , that the payment of gold for paper is assured , that the State Bank , instead of restricting its operations , is increasing them whenever it can get solid and proper security , and that the condition of the Im perial Treasury is perfectly satisfactory. Without counting treasury bonds and bullion , the total amount of money now in circulation surpasses all previous records. Since the resumption of specie payments , he says , the rate of exchange has never made it advantageous for any body to export gold , and it has been im possible to find any appreciable quantity of Russian gold money , coined during recent years , in any of the great centers abroad. The general dearness of money , he adds , is bound to be felt also in Russia , and Russian industry must deal with it without expecting the govern ment to squander the resources of the state in backing up risky enterprises. This is a good showing , and indicates the wisdom of M. de Witte's financial policy. Sound Money. It is often said that in planting a tree a man rears for himself a monument which may endure for centuries , but it would seem that all monuments are transitory and perishable. Alexander Hamilton , the staff officer of Washing ton , the great lawyer , the first secretary of the treasury , when a proud and happy man , planted on his estate , in the north ern part of New York City , thirteen elm trees in commemoration of the thirteen colonies which formed , largely under his direction and influence , "a more perfect Union. " Hamilton hoped that he would live long to care for these trees , and that after he had passed away , re gard for his memory and his wishes would lead future generations to pre serve them. Hamilton afterwards fell in the prime of life before Burr's pistol , and now the word comes that his cherished trees , after living so long , are to be cut down to make way for a house. The destruction of the trees does not obliterate in any degree the memory of Hamilton's public services. The sad fact is that no hand was stretched out , no voice was raised to preserve so interesting a memento of so great a man. Kansas City Star. Light is dawning in the South. The Richmond , Va. , Times , , a democratic journal , gives -warning that it will not do to revive , the 10-to-l cry. It says : "Under the changed conditions , with great business and industrial activity whore there was stagnation in 1890 , with prosperity all over the land where there was adversity , with the great army of workiugmen profitably em ployed where thousands and tens of thousands were seeking a job at any price a few years ago , it would bo suicide for the democratic party to go before the country again with the proposition to revolutionize our financial system and to swap genuine prosperity for legis lative tinkering and visionary experi ments. " The Times made the mistake in 1896 of assuming that adversity had made the people dishonest or reckless. Many persons were misled by Bryan's sophistry , but 7,000,000 voters stood firm as a rock for the gold standard. Sound Money. POLITICAL. Reform in party representation "should not stop with the republicans , " says the Chattanooga Times ( doui. ) . ' 'The democrats should base representa tion in the convention on the democratic vote , and not on political geography. " "If morality is to bo the test of mem bership in congress , why should Quay be raised up and Roberts cast out ? " asks the Philadelphia North American ( rep. ) . "Roberts offends in one par ticular only ; Quay has broken every commandment , and done it flagrantly and on system. " "If any such plan of government as Secretary Root proposes is adopted for Porto Rico , we ought to make it plain that it is only temporary , and we ought to begin from the very first to give the people a share in it , steadily increasing every year , " advises the Philadelphia North American ( rep. ) . "For instance , they could bo allowed to elect part of the legislative council in the beginning , and the number of elective members could bo gradually increased until it constituted a majority. And it would seem as if better results would come from having the governor appoint his own heads of departments than from having them appointed by the presi dent. " The action of the Georgia legislature in rejecting the Hardwick bill is re garded by the New Orleans Times-Demo crat ( dem. ) "as simply indicating disapproval - approval of that measure because of objectionable features , and not as dis approving of the popular desire to get rid of the negro vote. That vote , " it says , "is large in Georgia , and will prove an element of danger to the state some day , just as it was in Louisiana and North Carolina ; and Georgia will do well to solve the problem now , when it can do so. And it can bo solved in a thoroughly constitutional manner , with out any grandfather clause , and without inviting an attack from the republicans in congress. "
