Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-07-31
How to Make Personal Rights Safer.

1eating the efforts OF the bimetallists TO
restore silver 20 the position which it oc-
cupied before its decentralization In 1873.
They offer all sorts Of arguments in sup
port Of their contention that 10 open the
minis Of the country to free coinage would
be to debase the currency. 1t goes for no.
thing That silver coins are real money
just as truly so as gold cons-and cannot
be made too abundant. being limited by
the production Of the mines of the world.
We know with reasonable accuracy how
much gold aud silver caa be produced an
nually; but the "son of STR.cH" himself
could not tell how many thousands OF mil
lions of billions .of Undergraduates could
be manufactured in year, or, as to that
matter. IN q month.
To support their contention that the sill
yer question ought 10 be Ovorslaughed IN
the current campaign in OHIO and else
where. the monomstallists gravely tell IA
that there is no question Of civil liberty or
personal rights involved IN the silver pro-
blem. Wonderful discovery This remark
is Just az true of the issues thai will be In
yolved in the next presidential and con
.gressiopal elections rs OF the silver pro-
blein. II is Just a. true Of the tariff ques-
ton as OF the money question. In word,
in the sense IN which it Is intend
ed 10 be understood. il is Just as true OF
one politicO-ecOnOmlc measure as Of an
other. Be sure the Republicans know
what they are after. If they next year
elect their candidate for President Of the
1 ,..~tt. s.,4 h..
House of Representatives they will at once
proceed TO pass the force bill, whether
the main issue in the presidential and
congressional elections Of 1892 shall have
been the tariff or the free coinage Of sill
Yer. Whatever NAV 10 their intentions
and professions pending the campaign of
,next year, their first undertaking after they
regain control of Congress and the presi-
dency will be TO adopt measures which
. will have the effect Of perpetuating the
power Of the Republican party. Surely
the voters cannot be deceived by the
miserable argument--it does not deserve
. that name--that our personal liberties will
safe with Republican President and
Congress if we fight the Republicans tins
year and next upon the tariff question,
but that We shall lose those liberties if we
fight the Republicans this year and next
upon the silver question. Do you believe
that. intelligent reader
Shall we be told that the contention of
the monometal!ists is not exactly rs we
have supposed and represented it to be,
but is that the Democrats Of Ohio and
other States will this year-and the Demo-
Gratis of the whole Union will next year
find that the tariff issue possesses more
strength with the people than does the
proposition to provide for the free coinage
of silver? But that is the very point on
which the Democrats of the Democratic
States differ with Governor RussKIL and
the Democrats Of the Republican States.
The Democrats of twenty-odd States have
heretofore declared for free coinage. In
Vulnerable Alliances favor free coinage.
The men who have hay-seed in their hair
favor free coinage. The Democrats of
Ohio favor free coinage. The Demo-
Gratis of Kansas favor free coinage.
The Democrats Of Virginia favor
free coinage. In word, the people
of the entire United States will show by
their votes that they favor free coinage if
either of the great political parties of the
country shall next year have the courage
to declare in its national platform for that
most important measure. Thus shall the
southern people be saved from the horrors
of the force bill if the Democratic party
shall be the one TO plant itself upon this
impregnable position. Indeed. the silver
issue would in itself constitute protec-
ton of the South worthy of consideration,
seeing that it would so divide the Repub-
icans as TO place the whole party in the
United States IN the same position which
the Republican United States senators
occupied last spring when their regard for
free coinage led them to assist the Demo
Gratis in the United States Senate in kill
ing the force bin for the time.
BE not deceived. Your personal rights
and civil liberties will be safer If silver be
made the leading issue in this and next
years campaigns than if any other mea-
sure occupy that place OF honor.