The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-10-10
MCKINLEY AND SILVER.

Under the above head line the Sal
Lake Tribune, a pronounced republican
journal, gives Mr.. Mckinley a roasting
that no other republican paper in the
west dare give him. 1t sets out with the
declaration that: "Major Mckinley is a
great man, but in trying to follow the
lead of John Sherman in Ohio he is max
ing a sorry ass of himself on the silver
question" The Tribune then quotes the
following specimen of McKinley's speech
at Piqua, Ohio:
If any citizen should clip a silver dol
lar he would be guilty of a felony.
Would not the government be equally
culpable if it should fix upon us a clipped
currency? We want no short measures
nor false balance. The good book says:
"A false balance is an abomination to
the Lord, but a just weight is His de-
light" The United States government.
my fellow citizens of Piqua, has just as
much right to shorten the bushel or
the yard measure as it has to shorten
the dollar, the measure of value. And
the poor man is the one who would suf-
2 lloots IhC IlCh uldIl COulu lay uD
his good dollars, while the short ones
can wait on his dividends, but the poor
man cannot wait for his dinner.
To this aggregation of misstatements,
sophistry, and veritable rot the Salt Lake
paper replies: "If it were possible that
Maj. Mckinley could be beaten this
year without having his defeat laid to
the tariff we should pray for his defeat"
And it could have added, tariff or no
tariff a man is a knave or a fool who
would utter such nonsense. and in either
case deserves defeat. He talks about
the government fixing upon Jus a clipped
currency" This is deception. Aclipped
currency is money partially shorn Of its
value. Mr.. Mckinley knows that a
standard silver dollar will buy just as
much wheat, just as much flour, just as
much meat, and as much sugar and
clothing and just as much of every other
necessary of life in Ohio and in every
other state in the union as a gold dol
lar Or a greenback dollar or any other
dollar. Wherein is it's value clipped?
In one purchase, and in only one. 1t
will not buy as much gold as a gold dol
lar. And why: Not because the silver
dollar has lost it's purchasing power; not
because it is a clipped currency, but be-
cause by the characterization of silver
gold is made the measure of value and
its purchasing power enhanced.
The silver dollar of today is the silver
dollar of ninety-eight years ago. 1t con-
tains just as much silver as it did when
mints were first established for it's coin
age. 1t contains just as much silver as
it did when is was the measure of values
and was at a premium over gold, and it
contains just as much silver today as it
did the day it was demonetized in 1873,
and when it vas partially remonetized
in 1878. 1t is the only dollar we have in
the United States. We have the paper
promise to pay n dollar" gold dollars
are no longer coined, and the only coin
or currency Of which a man can say
This is a dollar is the standard silver
dollar of 4l2H-the "dollar of our dad
dies"
What nonsense it is to say it is clip
ped currency, when it performs all the
the offices of a dollar. 1t will pay all
debts, both public and private; it will
redeem bonds, discharge mortgages and
every other financial obligation. 1t is
money az gold is money, as a national
bank note is money, as a treasury note
is money, standing side by side with
them all, buying as much food and cloth
ing and as much land or stock as either
Of them. How then can it be a "clipped
currency" Mckinley is not an honest
man or he would not have given voice to
such a palpable misstatement-such an
uneauivocal falsehood. II he were an
honest man and not a demagogue seek