The advocate., 1892-04-06


of those who were in debt. IL deprecated
the value of farm products, and said to the
unfortunate debtor that it would impose ad-
ditional obligations upon him and make his
life one of servltude to the creditor class if
possible; and, Mr.. Speaker, full justice will
never be done until the last feature and last
vestige of that unfortunate legislation is re-
pealed and driven from the statute books.
Silver should be recrowned and should be
given it's honored place as one of the money
metals of the world. The mints of the
country should be opened to its coinage and
it's ancient prerogatives and ancient priv
ileges should be reconferred upon it the
same as upon gold. The money Of Jacob
and the money of our fathers should be
good enough for the bondholders and bank
ers Of to-day, and in the name of patriotism
and a common country as well as in the
name of justice and the common people we
ask for legislation that will give to the peo-
pie of this country the free and unlimited
coinage of the silver metal.
But here our then Representative Per-
kins approvingly quoted the following
from the report Of the monetary commits
sion of the Forty fifth Congress:
At the Christian era the metallic money of
the Roman empire amounted to 81, ,8OO,0 ,000-
600. By the end Of the fifteenth century it
had shrunk to less than S2OO,OO0,0OO. Dur
ing this period a most extraordinary and
bsleful change took place in the condition
of the world. Population dwindled and
commerce, arts, wealth and freedom all
disappeared. The people were reduced by
by poverty and misery to the most degraded
conditions of serfdom and slavery. The
disintegration of society was almost COM
plete. The conditions of life were 80 hard
that individual selhshness was the only
thing consistent with the instinct Of self
preservation. All public spirit, all gener-
GUS emotions, all the noble aspirations of
man shriveled and disappeared as the vol
ume of money shrunk and as prices fell.
History records no such disastrous transit
tion as that from the Roman empire to the
dark ages. Various explanations have been
given Of this entire breaking down of the
framework of society, but it was certainly
coinCident with shrinksge in the volume
of money, which was also without historical
parallel. The crumbling of institutions
kept even step and pace with the shrinkage
in the stock of money and the falling of
prices. All other attendant circumstances
than these last have occurred in other his
torical periods unaccompanied and unfol-
lowed by any such mighty disasters. Il is
a suggestive coincidence that the first glim-
mer of light only came with the invention
of bills of exchange and paper substitutes,
through which the 3Ssnty stock Of the
precious metals was increased in efficiency.
But not less than the energizing influence
of POtosi and all the argosies of treasure
from the New World were needed to arouse
the old world from it's comatose sleep, to
quicken the torpid limbs of industry, and
to plume the leaden wings Of commerce.
1t needed the heroic treatment of rising
prices to enable society to re-unite its shat
tered links, to shake off the shackles Of
feudalsm, to relight and uplift the almost
extinguished torch of civilization. That
the disasters of the dark ages were caused
by decreasing money and falling prices,
and that the recovery therefrom and the
comparative prosperity which followed the
discovery of America were due to an in
creasing supply of the precious metals and
rising prices, will not seem surprising or
when the noble functions Of
money are considered. Money is the great
instrument of association, the very fiber Of
social organism, the vitalizing force of in