, 1889-11-28

and the business of the country, which
has increased out of all proportion to the
growth of our aggregate circulating
medium. vi tho mass of gold In the
country obtained since rcstiinption. some
500, ,O0O, 900 was kept in the treasury and
was virtually no part of the working cur
rcncy. II was only drawn out when
used for foreign shipment. Our working
currency consists oflcgal tender notes,
national bank notes, silver coin and sill
yer certificates.
The latter do not now increase as fast
ns national bank notes are retired, there
fore II can DC truthtllly said that the
stock OF currency that does the work of
the country Is slowly but surely diniin-
ishing, while business demands upon IL
are slowly increasing. Thus there have
been two influences at work tending to
increase the measuring power of money
In the United States and the consequent
depreciation of property. One is the
general effect of the decentralization OF
silver, the other the contraction of the
particular kind of currency used. While
our dollars are of silver and silver certi-
hcatos based upon them, SO far both of
these dollars and their rcpresen-
tations have been restricted in
amount and kept on gold bonds
by policy that has favored gold mon
ometallic standard.
The dcmonet ization of silver has been
and is wicked preference given to the
creditor over tho debtor classes OF our
entire population, and it Is this prefer
ence that Is driving our middle classes
into poverty and enabling millionaires
to multiply their millions. Nothing In
my. opinion will save our people from
social revolution so surely as the full
reconciliation Of silver and giving IL all
the advantages we now give to gold both
In law and i'll the ruling of our treasury
department. The moiio-g gold standard
is the stepping stone 10 anarchy; nay, 1t
is more. il is Il flight of stairs leading to
II chamber of horrors, bankruptcy,
panics, suicide, reputation agrarianism
and universal poverty among all the real
wealth producers, for whose welfare the
best minds, best statesmanship and best
representatives of all legitimate business
Interests should ever be enlisted.
The following resolution, offered by
Jacks of California, was received with
cheers:
|. Where's, Wall street and Eastern
bondholders are now actually at work
striving to elect II speaker for the ap.
preaching congress whose record Is en-.
tirely opposed to the silver interests;
and
Whereas, Representatives in congress
should be the servants OF the people;
and
Whereas, This great convention shows
the unanimity Of public opinion in the
Western aud Southern states and terri.
tories in favor OF moro coinage of silver;
therefore
Resolved, That the Western and South
ern representatives i'll congress be re
quested to support some friend of silver
for the speakership Of the present house
~ and TINT THAR fo q, IN
to do so will be a betrayal of the people,
warranting their political death.
The chairman then announced that
the convention would be addressed by
Congressman r. p. Bland of Missouri.
Mr.. Bland was received with storm of
applause and addressed the convention
at some length.
SENATOR BLAND's sHEECH.
In the course OF his speech he said free
coinage Of silver will settle the silver
question and greatly relieve the poor
The only question with metallists In
our country is whether we should ut
once repeal our decentralization laws or
wait for the concurrence of other powers,
including Great Britain. 1t is u signih-
can, fact that you will scarcely find u
man in public life to-day who will as
sume the responsibility of contending
for n single gold standard. | am IN favor
we'll as all other subjects. II we have
enacted bad laws, let us repeal them.
Especially should we repeal the law that
has been so universally condemned as
the decentralization act OF 1873. No
matter whether the interested few who
engineered this legislation meant well
or not, IL was practically fraud upon
congress and the American people.
Bland spoke ut some length of the
business depression and financial panic
following the legislation of 1873, and
added: Ii is not claimed that demone-
tization of silver alone caused this panic;
there were other contractions OF cur
rency in progress, but the probabilities
are that had we left the nints open to
the free coinage of silver there would
have been a constitutional and heavy
increase in the coinage of the silver dol
lar to cuunteract the effect of paper con-
traction. On the continent to the south
of us and TO the west in Asia there are
500, 600 900 of people who use only silver
as money. They are the best customers
for our manufacture and are, our chief
source of foreign trade. We ought to
have the trade, and proper legislation on
the silver question will greatly aid us in
securing IL, BY the free coinage of silver
and gold, New York, and not London or
Paris would be the money center for the
exchanges of the world.
After listening to a paper on the
silver question from Thomas Jor.
dan, editor of the New York Mining
Record, the convention took recess
at 2:3O 7. M.