People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1892-09-30

free coinage of silver from the outset, and
l am free 10 say that after having OBJ
served the operations of the act of 1878, l
am more than ever convinced of the wis
dom of that legislation and of the futility
of the accusations by which it was assailed.
The people Of the country that represent
hare lost their reverence for gold. They
have no longer any superstition about
coin. Notwithstanding all the declara-
lions of the monometalists; notwithstand-
ing all the assaults that have been made
by those who are in Jdror Of still further
increasing the ralue Of The standard by
iohich their possessions are measured, they
know that money is neither uealh nor cap
ital nor rdlue, and that it is merely the Gre
alton Of the ldw by phich all these are
estimated and measured. We speak, sir,
about the volume of money and about its
relation to the wealth and capital of the
country.
Let me ask you, sir, for a moment, what
would occur if the circulating medium
were to be destroyed. Suppose that the
gold and silver were to be withdrawn sud-
denly from circulation and melted up into
bars and ingots and buried in the earth
from which they were taken. Suppose
that all the paper money-silver certif-
Gates, gold certificates, national bank notes,
treasury notes were stacked in one mass
at the end of the Treasury building and
the torch applied to them and they we're
to be destroyed by fire and their ashes
spread-like the ashes of Wyckliffe-
upon the Potomac, to be spread abroad,
wide as its waters be. What would be the
effectf Would not this country be worth
erdctly as much as ii Is to-ddyf Would
there not be just as many acres of land, lust
as many farms, as many days Of labor, as
much merchandise and as much property
tmprored and unimprored, as there is TO-
dGyf
The result would be that commerce
would languish; the sails of the ships
would be furled in the harbors; the great
trains would cease to run to and fro on
their errands; trade would be reduced to
barter; and the people finding their ener-
gies languishing, civilization itself would
drop, and we should be reduced TO the con-
dition of nomadic wanderers upon the
primeval plains.
Suppose, on the other hand, that, instead
of being destroyed, all the money in this
country we're to be put in the possession
of single man gold and paper and
silver and he we're to be moored in mid
Atlantic upon raft with his great hoard,
or be stationed in the middle of the Sa-
hara desert without food to nourish or
shelter to cover, or the means of transpor.
tation to get away. Who would be the
richest man, the possessor of that gigan-
tic treasure, or the humblest settler upon
the plains of the West with a dug-out TO
shelter him and with corn meal and water
enough for his daily breads
Doubtless, Mr. President, you search the
Scriptures daily, and are therefore familiar
with the story of those departed politi-
clans of Judea who sought to entangle the
Master in His talk by asking Him if it was
lawful to pay tribute to Caesar or not. He,
perceiving the purpose that they had in
view, said unto them: "Show me the trib-
ute money" and they brought Him
penny. He said: "Whose is this image
and superscription?" And they replied,
Caesars" And He said: "Render unto
Caesar the Aings that are Cesar's, and unto
God the tSsbgs that are Gods"
i hold, Mr.. President, between nv
thumb and finger, silver denarius, or
"penny," Of that ancient time. bearing
the image and superscription of Caesar.
IL has been money for more than 20 GEN.
turtles. Imperial Cesar is "dead and
turned to clay" He has yielded to a
mightier conqueror, and his eagles, his
ensigns and his trophies are indistinguish.
able dust. His triumphs and his victories
are school-boy's tale. Rome herself is
but memory. Her marble porticos and
temples and palaces are in ruins. The
sluggish monk and the lazy lazzaroni
haunt the senate houses and the Coli.
scum, and the derisive owl wakes the
echoes of the voiceless forum, but this
little contemporary disc of silver is money
still because it bears the image and super
scription of Cesar. And, sir, it will con
tlnue to be money for 20 centuries more.
should 1t resist so long the corroding
canker and the gnawing tooth of time.
But If one of these pages here should take
this coin to the railway track aud allow
the train to pass over it, in one single in
slant Its functions would have disappeared
and 1t would be money no longer, because
the image and superscription of Cesar
would have disappeared
Mr.. President, money is the creation OF
ta'c, and the American people have learned
that lesson; and they are Indifferent TO
the assaults; they are Indifferent to the
argument; they are Indifferent to the az.
pensions which are cast upon them for
demanding that the Idw of the United
states shall place the image and super.
scription of Cesar upon siirer enouoh and
gold enough and paper enough to enable
them to transact without embarrassment.
without hindrance, without delay and with.
Ou' iniPoEerishInent their daily business
affairs, and that shall give them measure
OF values that will not make their belong.
ings the sport and the prey of the specu-
lators.
Mr.. President, this contest can have but
one issue. The experiment that has be.
gun will not fail. II is useless to deny
that many irregularities have been toler.
ated here; that many crimes have been com.
mitted in the sacred name of liberty: that
our public affairs have had scandalous
episodes to which every patriotic heart
diverts with distress; that there have been
envy and jealousy in high places; that
there hare been treacherous and lying plat
forms; that there have been shallow com
promises and degrading concessions to
popular errors; but amid all these disturb
ances, amid all these contests, amid all
these inexplicable alterations, the path of