People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-10-14

tional Record. Perhaps that is one
of the things I have been deceivine
the people about. daughter and
applause.) Perhaps that is one Of
the things Judge Maddox could ex-
pose if he was here. Renewed
laughter.) No party can pass a law,
in secret, without the concurrence OF
the other. If either one said that
the other slipped an unjust law
through without its knowledge, 1t
would be putting itself in the position
of sentinel whom you put on duty
to watch the movements of the army
of invasion and came back with the
confession that he was asleep on his
post Of duty and the enemy came
upon your slumbering companions
without warning. These men, at the
very best, show that they were slip
ped up on. I am going to show you
that they were not slipped up on. I
am going to show you that it was
done deliberately, and partly by the
OeLhOCIdUIC parry.
How was the demonetization Of
silver accomplished? You will re-
member that up to 1873 silver had
been coined freely and without limit,
just as gold had been coined, until
there was $14O,O00,000 Of full legal
tender silver, exchanging the pro
ducts of labor, doing the service of
money, and allowing the people to
exchange their commodities for fair
prices. Well,sthe bondholders and
gold bugs wanted to strike it down.
Why? The less money you have
the more power the combination of
men who have that money. Why :?
You have to swap the products of
your labor for that money, and the
less money there is in circulation the
more of your labor or your products
it will buy-the more Of your pro-
ducts or labor 1t will take to get it,
and when you do get it it does not
pay any more of your debts. There
fore, the man who holds the larger
amount of your obligations has a
larger amount of your wheat, Of
your corn, of your cotton, and
1t takes two bales of cotton to pay
a debt that before could be paid
with one. Who has stolen that bale
of cotton-not one year but every
year, reaping where they did not SOW?
Why, it was the bondholders and
goldbugs who struck down your cur
rency, and besides getting under their
control every branch of industry and
every field Of labor. Now, they
struck down the silver dollar, how?
By the act Of 1873, saying that no
more standard silver dollars should
be coined. The next year they did
what 2 They took the legal tender
from $140,0O0!0O0, and
as the second andeclosing act
Eana and the crime was COM
pl4 II tnele is antfhingt that the
Democrats charged thu Republicans
more strongly with than another, it
was the demonstration Of silver.
Il there ever was anything that the
Democrats promised ito fright more
than another, it was the wrong Of
1878. What are the facts about that
crime of 1873? When the bill de-
monetizing silver was ON its passage,
the House disagreed to it, and thus
there was a deadlock between the
two houses-the Senate on the one
side saying that the coinage ofnsilver
should be stopped, and the House on
the other side saying that it should
not be stopped. The two houses had
to get together. To do that they ap-
pointed a conference committee, and
that committee reported to the Senate
on the one hand, and tothe House on
the other. Now, when you get law
in that fix, neither can dodge the is
sue. Why? Because both parties
are put on notice. The highest con-
tract which the nation knows is when
the Democrats appoint their man on
the one side, and the Republicans the
other, and when the Democrats ap-
pointed their man to represent them,
they were bound by his action. The
same is true Of the Republicans.
Now, fellow citizens, II hold in my
hand the record whicRo shows that
the Democrats and Republicans ap-
pointed committee OF conference,
John Sherman acting for tgseiI1epub-
lcans and Thomas IT BaygTd (who
became Cleveland's 9Beoretary of
State), acting for the9d8e1hocrats.
The House appointedGaE committee
man representing the Democrats and
a committeeman representing the
Republicans, also, and5theseocommit-
tees from the two houses formed the
conference committed Thisconfer-
ence committee, charged with the re-
sponsibility Of adjusting the Difficult
ties between the two houses, agreed
among themselves that the standard
silver dollar should be stricken down
knowing that it was a CRIME against
the. people. Here is the record. [
will give you the pageIanda date and
l respectfully Ichallenge my friend,
Judge Maddox, to deny ityiinlthis dis.
trict.- TCongressionaHdGlobe of the
Session of 1928. Part 2,53d SEES
sion. pace 1150 "a