The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-05-17
the Runlpus.

4 country. There are
kzR more weighty ques-
R1w ~ tions discussed and
49, decided in the cor
ner grocery than in congress, and the
only wonder is that the people of the
United States don't find out what in
finite wisdom is wrapped up in
the average Younger. 1t was a damp,
drizzly afternoon when Jeremiah Stebbens
met Absalom Smith and they walked to-
gether to the corner after the usual chew
OF tobacco and the recognized opportunity
to white box and now and then steal
q cracker or few raisins.
oval" said jeremiah, "the liberties OF
the country are in danger. Every man
ought to be at his post"
lis that so ?" said the amazed Absalom
II hadn't heard OF it. "Who's the miser-
able wretch that has been doin' ont? He
oughter DO shot N hung ter ther nearest
. tree"
Il guess you don't read Their papers"
said jeremiah. my Calamity said this
mornin' that if Secretary Carlisle and
President Cleveland persisted in Their
course they are follerin' regardin' the
treasurery crisis there will be truble. 1t
says tibet he is q gon ter cut inter tibet
gold reserve fund and make Their bankers
of Wall.st. ante fer ther amount"
"Well," said Absalom, what has tibet
got to do with our farms2 | don't think
that it will injure you or me any,"
Don't Ell? Well. it amt any use to
talk to YOU. Why, gold will 90 to a pre-
MUM and we shall have the times Just
after the war repeated, and if q man has q
Rreenback he can't buy anything with it.
And if he has q gold dollar il will be worth
about two. The real truth of the matter
is that the president and secretary of
the treasury will ruin this country and
bankrupt us al"
At the Corner Grocery.
They arrived in due course of time at
the corner grocery. There they found
number of door-yard politicians of vary
ing faith. Some were on one side
and some on the other, while a
few didn't know what side they
were on. There was laxative. the pop
ulist. who would have been socialist if
re had had slightly different environ
ments. There was Conservative, the re-
publican, who was a cold blanket on the
progress of the community. And there
WAS Progressive, the democrat, who was
trying to tell wherein the democratic ad-
minstration differed from the repub-
lican. 1t was a babel of voices and the
one who could get anything like order out
of it was being to be envied.
and said: Here Is man who thinks
that the outlook for the premium on gold
won't have no effect on our farms and Is
trying TO argue me into the belief that il
is all right for the god reserve to be
handled in this way. Why, il is uncon-
stitutional and ought to be forbidden for
ever. The fathers never intended that
the gold reserve should be touched. Did
they nOw?'
He looked around with one of those sat
isiied expressions which the aiter-dinner
speaker always employs when he wants 10
create the impression that be has made a
joke.
Conservative assented to the PROPOSE
tion.
Progressive laughed one OF those mel
low. exasperating laughs, which always
arouse the very evil one in a man and
makes him think that he wants to eat
somebody up. What fool you are.
Don't you read the Boomer? If you don't,
you don't know much about the
talk on the gold question. The fact OF the
case is that you fellows who are talking so
learnedly about cutting into the gold re-
serve fund, as though it was something
sacred, don't know what you mean. There
is nothing in the constitution or any other
law which save that there shall be fund.
u is simply fool notion of the repub-
lican party that they have inculcated as
true. There is nothing in it and the
sooner you get the idea out of your heads
the sooner you will see clear on
financial questions"
Talkative here broke in with: There
is no need OF any reserve fund of any kind.
All that is wanted TO make money is the
stamp of the government. and it could
issue paper money to the value of ali the
property owned by the people of this
nation and it would be good. 1t only
needs the government fiat. That is what
makes money and not the official or
relative value of either gold or silver. in
coin or bullion. Give US greenOscks
give US paper money. Put the crops into
storehouses and issue bills of credit on
them bearing per cent. or more give US
anything so that money will bear the of
fetal sanction of the government and you
have fulfilled your purpose as govern
ment. After all, the government is but
the people and the officials at Washing
ton are mere figure heads"
jeremiah stared. He had heard that
such was the policy OF the old Rreenback-
ers and the fiat money enthusiasts years
ago, but he supposed that the rising gen.
GRAFTON had come down to something
more sensible than that and was aston
ished to hear the policy advocated. How
ever, he was not very conversant with the
condition OF politics and was now getting
his first lesson in the mixture OF creeds.
PrOgressive's Views.
Progressive spoke for the democratic
party and said: I'VE are advocating the
parity of gold and silver on such basis
as shall be equable to all and that is the
only way to settle the currency question.
1t is useless to undertake TO drive silver
out as n money metal. 1t was a money
metal long before gold was used to any
great extent and it should be retained In
its place. The only thing is to have a
dollar represent dollars worth of silver,
| the same as a gold dollar shall represent a