People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-08-26
FREE COINAGE OF SILVER.

bic speech in the House of Repre-
sentatlves, in behalf of free coinage o.
silver. The following extracts com
prise a considerable part and are
commended to those who would
study the question from a philo.
sophical standpoint:
We ask that silver shall
be restored to the position it occcu.
lpied for 1000 years prior to 1873
and when we make this just demand
the sanctimonious souls Of the bond
holders and the money-lenders are
shocked at what they deem ou1
moral deprav1ty. Laughter. Their
Christian virtues that have been
sleeping in sweet repose for 10! these
many years, are all aroused, and in a
flood of plying tears they beseech
us to have pity upon the widow and
the orphan, and the hard-working,
poorly paid servant girls. It is per
fectly astonishing what a wealth OF
sympathy the Eastern bankers have
for the servant girl whenever the
silver question happens to be men
toned. And yet fancy that the
cases are by no means rare in which
those same servant girls can be
found toiling like slaves in the kitch-
ems Of these same sympathetic
bankers for the magnificent stipend
of $3.50 per week. Laughter.
But, while conceding that the sill
yer producer is actuated by desire
to improve his condition, is 1t not
equally fair to assume that there is a
little, just a little, selfshness behind
the virtuous demand for eshonest
money" that comes rolling up in
thunder tones from Wall street? Is
it quite reasonable to ask the people
of the country to believe that the
money brokers and the stock -jobbere
are the personifcation of all that is
honest in American finance? The
money kings of the East, as such, are
engaged In no productive industry
Their business is simon pure specula-
ton. Their dealings are very largely
with things that have no tangible
value except for speculative pur-
poses. They organize corporations
and joint stock companies upon q
basis scarcely more substantial than
the ethereal frostwork of a winters
morning. They water the stock SC
as to multiply the number Of shares
thus giving them wider field fol
speculation.
Then the ''bull' exerts all his en-
ergies to force the prices up, while
the "bear" labors with equal vigo1
to force them down. They build uE
great mountains Of credit, and when
the collapse comes it carries ruin In
to every quarter Of the country
There has never been a "Black Fri
day. or any other paralyzing com
mercial panic in America that cannot
be traced directly to the wild specu
lations of the money kings, who
have in the main dictated the fnan-
cial policy of the United States ever
since the outbreak of our great civil
war. Applause.
Is there a gentleman in this House
who really believes that in presenting
united front in opposition to silver,
the great money centers of the world
are actuated by desire to benefit
the poor man? If so, that gentle
man presents a picture Of innocent
credulity as beautiful as it is rare.
assert that the great money centers
Of the country have never given
their sanction to any monetary law
that has had the slightest tendency
to ameliorate the condition of the
poor. Every scrap of such legisla-
ton which has been placed on our
statute books with their approval has
been in the interest of the national
banks for the enhancement Of the
value of our bonded debt, national,
State and municipal, for the benefit,
in short, of every man with a fixed
income, or an accumulation of money,
and the injury of every debtor and
taxpayer Throughout the length
and breadth of the land. Ap-
plause. y
WHAT IS THE SILVER QUESTION
What is this ''new-fangled scheme
of finance, as our opponents term it
Before the year 1873 the "siIve1
question" was unheard of In America
Through innumerable centuries OF
time gold and silver had been the
two great money metals of the
world. In some countries gold was
the principal currency and silver oc-
cupied subordinate place. In
others, and indeed in most of them
silver was primary and gold was
secondary, while in third class the
two metals were used upon equa
terms at fixed ratio to each other
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