The Waco evening news. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 1891-1894, 1893-08-25

And vet in other times and in other
countries these were illegal TENDER
and the counterfeiting of them was
pnnjshable with death. | mention
these facts to illustrate great
truth, which is. that the world pro.
crosses in money as it does in every.
thing else;and that any great cutlery
we NAV hear about this sort of
money or that sort of money being
u,he money of the people," or "the
Democratic dollar of our daddies"
is only nonsense BY common con.
cent and tacit understanding be-
tween the nations of the earth
claiming any degree of civilization,
gold and silver came into promi-
nence at a very early day as a COM
mon medium of exchar &c, chiefly
because of convenience, and they
have held their places of supremacy
uudisputed until comparatively re-
cent years
The reason that shells, stamped
leather or stamped iron is not good
money in this government is be.
cause the law governing "the coin.
age of money and regulating the
value thereof" does not say they
shall be money. That is the whole
reason in nutshell.
hope l won't startle you when
| say that gold and silver are now
almost obsolete as money, and that
the world has practically outgrown
both. Why do l say this? Be.
cause the world now transacts 90
per cent of its business with a
wholly different medium of ex.
change. Paper is the money of
civiliz alton today, and gold and sill.
yer have become mere basis of
value. Silver especially has almost
lost its status as medium of ex.
change among the leading nations
of the earth except in subsidiary
amounts, and in order to make it
Ego" to any extent, even under the
impulsive force of our great govern
ment, it is forced to don the habili.
ments of paper.
Judge Clark does not startle me
nor great many Alliance men,
when he says that gold and silver
are now obsolete as money. We
have known this for long time.
A great many of our people are
looking forward to the day when
they will both be demonetized.
You, in your demands, call for
"the free and unlimited coinage of
silver" as one Of your specific rene.
dies for financial relief, without
seeming to realize that it is a de.
mand that we step backward in our
civilization to the realms of barbar-
ism, when men paid their debts by
breaking off chunk of silver of the
size from a mass of stuff
melted in washpot; and if your
paid you debt of $4,000
in silver dollars you would have to
haul it home in two-horse wagon.
| cannot answer why this is in our
platform, unless it was put there to
please such people as have been
listening to Judge Clark and others
who held during the greenback cam.
paign in ISIS that God Almighty's
money isgold and silver. We know
that there are great many people
(and | place the number as the sum
total of all those who voted for
Harrison and Cleveland) who have
not learned better since the last cleo.
ton. There were those who thought
gold and silver we're intended by the
great creator Of the universe as a
standard of all money, while a few
thought this privilege should only
be extended to gold 1t must have
been put in our platform to please
this crowd is the only reason that
can give.
If we learn wisdom from no other
source we ought to at least take the
trouble to consult contemporary
history ard realize how ssfree and
unlimited coinage has served other
nations who have tried it. Mexico
has passed through the valley and
shadow of silver experience, and her
dollars are now worth little more
than one-half of our greenback
dollars.