The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-02-25
The SAME OLD QUESTION.

HUN, COWiey Co., Nall, TeD. ~, u.
To the Editor Of the Eagle.
In an article in last Sunday weeks
edition of your daily Mr.. H. E. Bidwell,
writing under the head of "Money for
the People," gives expression to some
views which seem to me as wild and
extravagant, to which at present we
might revert with profit. In the leading
paragraph of his epistle he asks the ques-
ton, "Can we live without gold to
which he finally returns a partial and
incomplete answer measured by its
illogical force and inability to succeed.
Gold is indispensable. Its intrinsic
valne. its quantity and the source from
which it is obtained gives it unexcelled
value as medium of exchange, and the
universally of its adoption by the COM
merciai nations of the world gives it
prominence from which it can not be
readily cast but it is also treacherous
and domineering, devoid of conscience
and of pity. Ii kept bridled and con-
trolled it remains an unobjectionable
blessing as useful, as precious and as
good for one man as for another; but
once allowed full sway and unrestricted
power it becomes a tyrannical master,
yet this characteristic is but necessary
concomitant of an important good
Gold is on top today. 1t has ultimate
" obtained supremacy and because of
its triumph for a season, are you going
to throw it aside entirely, holding utter
4 4 f,>x.
tiles? The free coinage of silver has
been restricted and gold has received its
royal heritage by law, and who is to
blame? The people make the laws,
shape and fashion the destiny Of the re-
public and hold within their hands the
scepter of power. If Wall street is more
potent than the west; if the hard and
dusty thoruughfares of New York City
afford a better subsistence for intel
lectual power and business foresight
than the fertile plains of the west, then
let us accept with shame the mortal
subserviency of our lives.
We blame, SANDER and denounce the
gold bugs of the east, but there are
not many men but who would be opu-
lent and aristocratical gold bugs"
themselves if they had the opportunity.
In Senator ingalls, great speech deliv-
cred in the United States senate some
time ago, as he nears the perora
ton the orator descends and
commits himself to radical
error He says money is the creation
of law" and the author of the article to
which | have referred voices the same
sentiment when he states "a dollar in
gold is only dollar because it is made
so by law" and: why not make t pa
peri" Such declarations standing alone
in grammatical isolation, unmodified
and untempered. should be the recipients
of more than passing glance.
You cannot make fat money any more
than you can make fiat star, or fiat
with which to clothe the sock
less sage: neither can you build perma
nent fabric of national prosperity upon
treasury notes unless they are instanta- |
neously redeemable.
Let this government issue bills of !
leather or paper, lrredeemable in gold or |
silver and unsuppor, ed except by the |
itself. and what would be the |
result: individuals could not be forced |
to accept them. Foreign nations would |
refuse to take them in exchange. They |
would lose their value. 1uctuate. con-
tract and expand. The first rejection |
they received after coming shining /
and bright from the national |
mint, bearing the profile desired |
and the superscription chosen, would |
reduce their value and stamp them down |
as below par. The currency of the /
would become the object of |
speculation. Banks would fail. become |
insolvent and render worthless the certifi /
Gates of deposit. Commerce would grow
tiniid. fretful and unequal. Good money !
would seek a place OF refuge. The for
tunes of America would be the play of /
piraticaI financiers. France tried this |
plan of making money by law and failed. /
Other nations have tried it and the same
pitiable results have been the unavoida-
BILE sequences.
The truth is, each paper dollar put in
circulation must be backed by its value
in gold. silver or something else of equal
worth and tangibiiity in order 10 insure
4 sound basis on which to do business.
Our money today is peerless and unap-
proachahle. Our present national bank
system is the only barrier which keeps
back what would be the most disastrous
panic that ever menaced the safety Of
the land, and is the greatest nlodifier Of
the present crisis which has had its pro-
.otype with little variation every twenty
Tears since independence was esta blished
lpon this continent. but the volume
II currency is insufficient and it viii
not do for Us 10 wait with the present
wis confronting Us as Mr. Window sug-
yested until we can gradually bring into
lse the free and unlimited coinage OF
diver
but now revertiDg To the quotations
With winch | prefaced this particular
sne OF taoughtlu money Is the creation l