The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-03-23
THE FIAT-MONEY CRANKS.
The Experience of Mankind and the Teachings
of Time Find No Favor With In1ationists.

TO the Editor of the indianapolis Journal:
You have left very little of Mr.. A. VOL
colt in the two little whacks you have
taken at him. 1t is wonderful how utterly
your FULL blown iptatIoniet parts from
sense and truth when he strikes the money
question. The uniform experience of man
kind, the teachings of all time. the lessons
of history go for nothing. To him his fool
ish WITNESSES take :he place of all human
experience. and he props his exploded thee.
ries. drawing on his Imagination for his
facts and his statistics. You have to-day
stamped ont the Populist lie that the seven
thirty bonds were currency, though they
here interest at the rate of 73 per cent.
But that lie will pop mp tomorrow as large
as life.
It is saddeninQ that the friends of honest
money ore Obliged constantly to fight. here
IN enlightened America, for principles
which lie at the very base of the financial
system. 1t is like having to defend the
multiplication table. Anybody ought TO
know that IA staple. solid standard of value
Is well-nigh Indispensable to business pros
perity; that changing, shifting. unstaple
one. varying in value from day to day Is
more treaoherous and dangerous than the
shifting sands. Yet here Is Mr. Wolcott with
bis theory that avast quantity of lrredeem-
insure prosperity. and the West swarms
with Wolcotts. This tiat-money crank Is as
unable TO cite history correctly as to theor-
izs soundly. Our fathers fought the war
of the revolution with continental money
which became worthless. Therefore. ac-
cOrding to your crank, worthless money is
q good thing The war of 1912 was fought
amid financial disaster and with the money
of suspended banks. Therefore. rag m oney
is just what we want. We issued green
backs during the war of the rebellion,
therefore we need no better currency. The
noble attempt In 1876 to return TO specie
payment. happily and triumphantly suo-
cessful in 1879. amid the acclamatIons of
our W hole people and the applause of map.
kind. now referred to by the Weaverites
as the cause of the panic of 1873. thus blam-
ing the physician with the work of the
disease.
The creditor class" "gold bugsn wall
street sharks" etc.. are very favorite terms
with these people, and are always used IN
the interest of cheap money. Now, the
capitalist class is far more generally and
more truly the debtor class han the wor king
class. and capitalists are a thousand times
better able to protect themselves from the
evils OF fiuotuating and debauched cur
rency. The friends of the gold standard a
growing body of men who know what they
want and can give reason for the faith
that Is in them. have little cause to fear
the gold bug term of reproacb.
wall street. may not be o saints rest,
bu: it's denizens are the friends of sound
money for the same reason that they
are believers in yardstick thirty-six
inches long. no more and no less. This
IL very bad in fiat.m0ney eyes, but il
agrees with the views of enlightened mar
kind. and is founded on the rock of expe.
rience. The quotation to-day of bar silver
at s24 cents ounce in New York, or
about CO cents for the silver in q silver
dollar. emphasizes the necessity for the
friends of good money to consider seriously
the question, mere are we at. and
where are we driftingf' And in the solu-
ton of the difficult and fearfully impor-
tant questions thus pressing upon US for
intelligent determination. may we have
the virtue and discernment To choose the
way pointed out by the finger of expert.
ence. and avoid the paths so dear to our
Weavers and Donnellys. j. Is. LEWIS.
PENDLEToS. March 81.