The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1893-07-15
UNITED BY SILVER BONDS.
Spokane BImetallic Club Inaugur-
ated by Enthusiastic Silver Men.


Spokane BImetallic Club Inaugur-
ated by Enthusiastic Silver Men.
Spokane organized a bimetallic club
Monday evening, and scores of persons
of all trades and business have Joined
it. Judge Claggett in long and howery
speech proved conclusively that the
only relief to be had was to make 4
stubborn fight for silver. Among other
things Judge Claggett said:
"Money of whatever kind, to be an
article of exchange, must first be a me
dunn of universal exchange, and as such
must be subject to the law of supply and
demand. Anything that is money, its
value having been secured permanently
by making it the legal tender, then be-
comes property just as much as cotton,
hops or wheat. The problem to which
the people of the United States must
now address itself is to raise the
price of labor to such point that it
will be proftably paid, and enable a
debt-ridden people to discharge their
debts as we'll as the annually accruing
interest
"The volume of business done is in
creasiug four times as fast as the popu-
lation And it is the volume of business
and not the number of people that de-
mands money to prevent bankruptcy.
On the occasion of our recent bank fail
ures 1t was not, as nearly as can learn,
from any lack of solvency OH their part,
but because the little slips of paper we
call money and the little discs of coin
could not be obtained in sufficient guam
titles to discharge all of the necessary
obligations. And let me tell you that
your bankers here are just as tightly
bound as you are to the wheels of Nam
mons golden chariot that rolls through
the streets Of the city of New York.
GAS mere republican l could not say
what l am about to tell you, but as an
independent citizen l can-that the only
difference between Harrison and Cleve-
land is that while Harrison soothed us
by holding out hopes of monetary con-
I ference, Cleveland rolls up his sleeves
like butcher and tells us to prepare
for slaughter.
1.-THE Sherman law has been boldly
set aside and not executed. An autocrat
who tells you that your representatives
can make laws just as they please, but
he will execute them If he sees TT,
reminds me of a representative not far
from the city of Spokane who sends
word that you can talk as much as you
please, but he will vote as much as he
ID pleases.
81 have endeavored to impress the
proposition of the tremendous necessity
- IL, - a I
want to add a word in favor of bimetal-
hsm aside from the question of quantity.
When silver and gold both had access
to the mints, and either could be coined
at will, upon the fuctuation of one or
the other it has been the rule that the
dearer fell back into practical disuse,
being boarded by the people. One or
the other may be Withdrawn temporarily
from circulation, but it is in the coun-
try. And when a reasonable amount is
boarded by the private people OF the
country it constitutes the very best kind
of a reserve for the protection of the
business of the country.
'Within the last sixteen years mar
velous changes have been going on in
the masses of the people. 1t is not the
wageworker who has been hurt until
within the last year. And yet labor
during these years has been growing
rightly Disconnected 1t has been the
middlemen-those who have sympathies
in both directions, who have been eaten
up with ravenous haste that is ruinous
to the people.
Forty thousand mortgages have been
foreclosed in six months and there are
probably 400, 900 more, while the volume
of currency has been growing smaller
day by dav. Labor sees that it has little
hope to rise above the position of the
wage-earner, and consequently both the
middlemen and the wage-earner is prop
erlY dissatisfied.
eff we had all the silver we could. get
we couldn't begin to do the business OF
the United States. We would still have
to resort to forms of paper obligations
that bring US again to the banking ques
ton. The trouble with the national
banks is only that they are inadequate
What we want is TO put them in posi-
tion to discharge adequately the func
tions for which banks were originally
intended. We do not want to abolish
it. We want to make it better and bet
ter, and supplement it by system thai
will benefit the farmer and Co away
with the custom of short credits, which
is of no benefit to him.