'Cbe Conservative , 9
ders aud investors , and again and again
have been invested in bonds.
Instead of driving gold and silver out
of circulation they would have drawn
these metals to our cities for investment
in bonds and increase the circulation.
It is true , that , after a time , it was pro
vided that greenbacks should not be re
ceivable for interest on the public debt ,
nor for customs duties , but that only
depreciated them farther without per
manently improving the status of our
bonds ; for the first act of qualified re
pudiation having been done by the first
issue of paper legal-tender , the fear was
that we might , proceed to others
"worse and more of it. "
When Mr. Bryan so heartily com
mends Mr. Lincoln's financial school he
commends something which was not in
harmony with the principles of Jeffer
son , Jnckson , Benton , Pierce , Seymour
and Tilden. And if he commends Mr.
Lincoln's financial school omitting
political considerations he must also
commend that of Jefferson Davis , as
the latter practiced , but did not believe
in. Mr. Davis was a man of the sound
est views on finance , in the abstract ,
but he "lost his head" in the storm of
war , and approved of the French revolu
tion , greenback , and Turkish , Chinese
paper legal-tender , when the constitu
tion of both the United States and the
Confederacy provided that gold and
silver alone should be legal tender.
It was much more inconsistent in Mr.
Davis than it was in Mr. Lincoln to
"remove the ancient landmark , " for
Mr. Davis was a State Right's democrat
of "the most straitest sect" of that faith
while Mr. Lincoln , although equally fer
vent as a Unionist , was at the same
time , an opportunist.
The fight was on to save the Union
and to kill slavery , for which aims the
constitution had made no explicit pro
visions. The fight was on to admit of a
state's right to secede , for which many
eminent statesmen have thought the
Constitution does provide ( or did , for
John Quincy Adams , and some other
senators advised their states to secede if
Texas was admitted to the Union. )
This was called the Whig manifesto.
It is said by Adam Smith that "The
whole paper money of every kind which
can easily circulate in any country ,
never can exceed the value of gold and
silver , of which it supplies the place ,
or which ( the commerce being the same )
would circulate if there were no paper
money. "
Like Malvolis , Mr. Bryan "talks an
infinite deal of nothing , " but he talks
"more nuthin' " when he talks on
' ' finance than he does at other times.
I agree with him on one point , how
ever , that the national banking system
I ; rt is an imperfect , or perhaps a bad one ,
but it has not been under discussion in
any recent campaign.
From the time Mr. Bryan supported
the Wilson tariff bill , till this good hour , I
have thought that politically he did
not "know where he was at. " Like
the ship which hunted the shark , his
bowsprit gets tangled with his rudder
sometimes.
Let him study the democratic princi
ples historically , and see where the dem
ocratic party has tampered and dallied
with them , and avoid like error in the
future. Let him cast aside the stuff
which Lawrence Gronland brought here
and promulgated as "The New Demo
cracy , " and be a democrat indeed , or
call himself the socialist that he is.
In the interest of democracy ; in the
interest of anti-imperialism ; in the very
interests of trust-smashing itself , Mr.
Bryan ought to be smashed himself , for
he is skilled in none of these things. He
is merely a plausible quack. In finance
he is a raging ignoramus.
POSEYS. WILSON.
Lincoln , Neb. , October 10 , 1900.
SHALL WE PAY THE COST OF
URYANISM ?
The ingenious scheme of Bryanism is
now fairly before the people , and no one
able to read and think will have any one
but himself to blame if he is led into the
trap that has been set for him. It is
conceded that every intelligent , patriotic
voter intends to cast his ballot this year
for the good of his country. Notwith
standing the fact that the fusion plat
forms which Bryan has accepted are
filled with demands for the immediate
restoration of the free coinage of silver ,
and denunciations of the supreme court
of the United States , the democratic
candidate and his coadjutors are saying
in effect to the people of this country :
"Give us control of the machinery of
this government and we will save you
from imperialism. "
That is their single plea for election.
That they are simply masking their
purpose to place the finances of the
country on a silver basis is evident from
their failure to fix imperial purposes
upon their opponents , and from their
own declarations of what they will defer
for silver if they ever get the chance.
We have stated what Bryan as president
could do , and quoted a few of his in
numerable utterances which bind him
to do it. The only hope of his sound-
money apologists among democrats is
that the republican party will take a
bond of fate this winter by tying his
hands by legislation. This no party can
do. No law can be passed that will
permanently preserve the present mone
tary standard. It is safe only in the
hands of its friends. The only way to
defeat free silver is to defeat the party
which advocates it.
A Vote for 10 to 1.
However politicians may try to conceal
it , the man who votes for Bryan votes
for the restoration of the free coinage of
silver at the ratio of 10 to 1. The
restoration will begin at once by the
payment of every government obliga
tion in silver that is not protected by a
gold redemption clause. If the govern
ment pays in silver , its receipts for cus
toms and taxes will be in silver to the
extent of silver in circulation. Gold
will be at a premium and will be hoarded
or exported until it finally disappears
from circulation. Congress will be con
voked , a free-silver bill passed , the
mints opened to the free coinage of the
white metal , and the finances of the
United States will then be comparable
to those of Mexico and China. Does
such a prospect interest the voters ?
There is none so rich or so poor that
he can escape the evils of a debased
financial system. The free-silver move
ment is a movement for inflation , and
is the logical successor of the proposed
greenback inflation which , to a great
extent , was abandoned in 1870 , when
silver began to take the place of paper.
Its sponsors contend that it will raise
prices. It undoubtedly will , but it can
not raise intrinsic values. It may
double prices , but it will do so by cutting
in two the standard of value by which
prices are measured. The products of
our soil might bring twice as many dollars
lars , merely because the dollars were
worth only half as much as now. How
would that benefit the farmer ? It would
ruin every farmer whose land is mort
gaged. Every mortgage is payable in
terms of gold. If any power decreed
that it might be paid in silver , it would
not only be unconstitutional but it would
be repudiation and dishonor. The
mortgagee would either have to buy
gold at 100 per cent premium , or pay
two silver dollars for every one in gold
which his obligation called for. The
farm mortgage is not alone in this.
Every bonded debtor would share in the
disaster. Including the bonds of rail
roads , industrial corporations , counties
and municipalities , there is more than
$2,500,000,000 of such indebtedness now
extant , the settlement of which would
mean repudiation or ruin , or both.
Wage Earners Would Suffer.
Would the poor man profit ? There
are about five million saving-bank de
positors in the United States , and their
savings represent more than $2,000,000-
000. If the standard is debased they
would be paid in silver , which would
amount to an actual confiscation of one-
half their hard earned accumulations.
The wage-earner would suffer more
than the capitalist. The latter can
stagger along through the storm. The
former is dependent on his daily remun
eration for toil. His chances to work
would be cut down by the closing of
industries , while the price for his labor
would be the last value to rise because
the demand for labor would be vastly
less than the supply , the latter being
enhanced by the wreck of industries.
Let no one say that this is a fancy