Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-03-29

are going apart. Even if this be true, even
II gold is appreciating, one of the very rea-
sons Tor TINS result is that the apprehension
Oh continuance OF our present policy of an
excessive silver coinage, together with the
apprehension that We are going TO nav our
| obligations in cheaper metal-these yery
apprehensions by an sccelerating ratio are in
spring alarm, are weakening the value of
silver, and are giving an artificial and except
lonal value 10 gold, making everybody anx
lous to secure and hoard it, and therefore
sun more appreoiating it. The simple, COM
mon sense thing TO do now is TO cali a halt
we nave an abundance of silver-more, evi.
IDENTIFY, than with all the efforts which. the
administration says it has made we can force
into circulation Give silver coinage. then
at least present or prospective rest. Do
not demonetize silver and do take away its
legal tender function but suspend AT some
time Its coinage, the unlimited continuance
OF which is one of the very causes of the ap-
preclatlon OF gold, and, therefore, | have
SAID, TO some extent, OF present disparity be-
tween the two metals. The only other point
l care to make Is as 10 the relation of this
question to the interests of what are called
the debtor classes. | agree that it is not the
capitalists, not the banker, not the money
powers whose interest should be preferred. but
those of the body OF the people, the men who
toll, and whose labor is the most
sacred trust confined to the care
of the government. Indeed, am
inclined to think that nothing has been exag-
gerated more in this whole discussion than
the attitude of capital 1t is said, whv paw
the bondholder in gold and everybody else in
silver? false impression is produced by
these constant references to the bondholder,
as tha hal
calling names aud invoking rhetorical
bugbears. Whether it be silver kings on the
one side or gold bugs on the other, we NAV
be pretty sure that one is just as selfish
and not a bit more interested in the ..dear
people" than the other. The laboring man
is not tool or a weakling. He knows
perfectly well on which side his bread is
buttered, Is good deal brighter than a silver
dollar, and has organized for his interest and
for that share in the benefits of the wealth he
creates TO which he is so justly entitled You
cannot in the long run cheat him with soph-
istries. He is the one constant creditor,
His pecuniary interest Is represented by his
wages and his savings. These to him, are
sacred; and anything that impairs them is
his enemy and ruin. He rarely owes any.
thing, except for daily supplies, which are
less than his daily wages. On the contrary,
generally thrifty, he has his balance in saw
ings laid up for wet day. In Massachusetts
there are in its savings banks S274 ,OOO, 900,
almost equal to one-quarter of our national
debt. 1t is an increase of Sl2 ,000, 900 in the
last year, and represents in round numbers
$780, 900 open accounts, number equal to 40
per cent. of all the inhabitants of that state.
and more than 100 per cent of all the families
with an an average sum to each depositor of
over $500. 1t is the adventurous capitalist,
the blooding speculator, the gambler in prop
erty, the borrower on risks and chances, the
would-be monopolist, the wrecker in mining
ventures and land schemes and paper. and
water-railroads-in other words, 1t is the very
vultures against whom today organized labor
is most protesting, that constitute to A large
extent, that part of the debtor class for whom
and in aid of whose reckless ventures YOU are
really depreciatIng the currency. Give labor,
then, a sound currency, so that it shall be
insured the payment of its credits in the best
money-money as good and of as great pur-
chasing power as that of the most favored
creditor class. And not only the interests of
labor but the interest of public and private
credit Talk of gold and silver and green
backs and bank notes Vast as is the volume
of all these it is nothing compared with the
real currency of our country, which is credit
the infinitely more precious ore of human
faith and trust. | appeal to the victorious
majority of this House. flushed with success,
and now entering on full administration of
the government. Is this the democratic
standard, this the first act of the democracy
now regainng full national control, that it
strikes its first blow at public and private
credit, that it refuses to sustain its own exec
utive in keeping the financial flag at mast
head, and that it announces to the world that
democratic supremacy and leadership are
only another name for impaired credit for
half mast financial standards, and for trans
ferrng the republic from its financial rank
among the foremost nations of the earth to
that of India and the "heathen Chinee?" In
closing, the ex-governor quoted literally from
Mr.. Joseph Ii. Walkers address on the
peris of wage-workers in continued silver
coinage, and presented some very interesting
statistics relative to the yearly cost Of sup
plies of family from 1859 to 1885, with the
wages and their purchasing value from 1859
to 1885 inclusive, and farm products at higher
prices touched each year.
Mr. Dorgan of South Carolina, declared
that the so-called friends of silver held the
light of experience in contempt, and held that
those who differed with their views were the
enemies not only of this country, but of the
whole human race. They had been loud in
their denunciatons and had included in those
denunciations the President and secretary of
the treasury, but all that they had done had
been to send forth an empty blast of words.
| They had been fierce in tongue but gentle in
action. 1t was now proposed to permit the
| free coinage of silver, while the undeniable
| fact was that, having been fully and fairly
| tried in this country and Europe, free coinage
! and bimetalism has always been, and would
| always be, a complete failure. He made a
strong plea for the establishment Of single
| gold standard, and advocated the suspension
| of coinage under the Bland act, declaring
that the so-called debt paying dollar was in
reality debt stealing dollar-nothing but sc
cents worth of bullion, with false head
stamped upon it. In concluding his speech,
he said: 1.-The device of flooding the country
with deprecated silver dollars in order to
make everybody rich, seriously threatens to
make everybody poor, and, when it is remem-
! bered how many of the advocates of free
coinage are opposed to the bankruptcy bill
now pending. we may reasonably expect that
the result Of congressional legislation will be
not only to create but also to keep on hand ar
I abundant supply of these poor men, so deal
to the heart and so necessary to the elOquenct
of the average politician. Venturing TO speab
for my own State only, just emerging from
the gloom and poverty consequent upon dis
astrous defeat in war, made ten fold more
terribly by 20 years of unparalleled violence
pillaQe and robbery, under forms Of war, say
that what her people need above all thing'
is capital with which to develop their resour
COS This they can never hope to get on sat