The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1893-09-28
YHAY OPEN LEYYKR
Written to President Cleve-
land From Utah.
BY C, c, GOODWIN OF THE TRIBUNE
That Able Salt Lake Editor Reminds
MIR. Cleveland That Man Owes
Humanity to Mana Glowing
Tribute to the TOiler-Etc.

Not since the struggle in congress has
begun for the cause of silver has there
appeared in the columns Of the press a
more brilliant article than is found in
the open letter Of Judge G. g. Goodwin
to President Cleveland on the event of
tht recent birth in the White House.
The letter, which we print complete be-
low, is not only worthy of careful peru
sal by the president and his wife, but
should be read by every one who is op.
posed to the free coinage of silver, while
TO silver's advocates it will furnish much
comfort:
Mr.. PRESIDENT: Upon your home
within the past week benediction has
descended. The anxiety and anguish
have been followed by peace and hap
plness which no words can portray. The
greatest of blessings has come to you,
and the JOY is donbly sanctlfed by the
knowedge that the millions of your coun-
trymen shared your anxiety and rejoice
in your JOY. Surely, if any man should
be exultant and at the same time humble
in thankfulness, it should be you. If
any man should, in all the depths of his
nature, desire to express his gratitude to
his countrymen for the generous sympa-
thy they have given you and yours, it
should be your Excellency.
Over million other homes in this land
the same anxiety is brooding that brood
ed over yours a week ago. but added to
it there is IN each Of these homes fear
for the future and for the unexpected
guest which never haunted you. The
people, the great working hosts OF the
land, are very poor. The great middle
class, they who have little capital, and
by their capital and labor, and by the
work they are able to others poorer than
themselves, because of the harvests to
rlpen, the wheat to turn to gold and the
cotton to snow.
They have made no money in ten
years, except in one year when the fam
Inc across the sea gave the farmers, sdes-
plte the methods at home, a profitable
market for food. If they were in debt
ten years ago, they are more in debt now,
and they do not know which way to
turn. While the millions of people in
The land have been swelling and doub-
ing, they have seen steady decline in
the values of their products. and in the
land which they till. They think this
monstrous in great great free land like
this. They ascribe it to but one cause,
and the instincts of a great free people
are never wrong.
You, Mr.. President would be shocked
were a proposition to be seriously made
to take half the money of our country
and cast it into the sea; you would cry
out: Why, this is pure lunacy; it
destroys half the values of the land and
make the paying of debts impossible by
taking from the debtor the ability to
pay" Mr.. President, that was precisely
What was done by our lawmakers twen-
ty years ago, and hence the congestion
since, You have called congress in ex-
traordinary session and insisted upon
their repeating the Sherman law, ascrib-
ing to that law the manifold troubles
now affecting the country. Were you
sure OF your premises?
Have not subsequent events proved
that you were IN error then? Does no
gllmmeriug of the truth come to you
that for fifteen years storm has been
gathering and it was in this year that it
broke? Thirty years ago man occupied
that exalted station which you now oc-
cupy who was ever in close rapport with
the people. 10 his nearest adviser he
once said: 'God must love the poor: he
makes SO many Of them" That man was
much derided in his lifetime, but his i'm
age is now enriched with a golden halo
in the thought Of all who look back
along the years to call up his memory.
1t was because his uttermost thought
was to do what he thought was best for
all his people, especially for the poor OF
the land.
Mr.. President, you often in your state
papers speak of the people and their will.
OF course, you feel all that; it is not
merely a form of speech. But in this
crisis who have been your chief counsel
ors? Have they not been national bank
ers and their attorneys? Have they not
all been f the creditor class Do these
men lie awake nights to think what they
can do to smooth the rough paths of the
poor?
Twenty years ago the silver mines of
the west began to yield largely. It was
clear that if left alone the people would
soon shake off the mighty burden of
debt then upon them. National banks
cannot live unless nation is in debt.
What more natural then than desire
on their part to continue that debt?
Wat more natural than the covert
to destroy one-half the real
money of the country in order to reduce
values, give mightier purchasing power
to interest when collected, and at the
same time take from the debtor 70 per
cent of his capacity to pay? It was in
the interest of national banks and bond
holders that silver was demonetized. No
other reasonable or rational explanation
can be given. At that time silver was
worth more than gold.
The present movement is likewise in
the interest of national banks, the object
being to utterly destroy silver as money
and to force the issue of more bonds. Do
you not see, Mr., President, that the pre-
monition Of the dangerous powers which
would follow the establishment of ma
tional banks, which filled the soul of
President Jackson, by present revelation
stabli,hes the supreme evidence of the
justice of that immortal mans clam to