St. Paul daily globe., 1893-08-28
Had Put Its Feet


Had Put Hts Feet
on any one who undertook to interfere
with the free course OF its operations.
And he remembered that when the
financial part of the platform was read
delegate from Colorado proposed, as
all amendment, the insertion of tine
word free before the word ''coin-
age" apd had supported it in a speech.
| But it did not poll ten votes when the
convention took action upon it. Talk
to me-" Mr.. Cochran said, "about the
Democratic party having declared for
free coinage. l believe that the claim
for free coinage came from Colorado
and Nevada. But why did Colorado
and Nevada take to the woods during
the election of 1892? Laughter Why
did they turn their backs upon both
parties and enlist in the Populist
branch? l stand by the Democratic
platform, which declares for the ''use"
of silver, and | believe in it. As to bi-
metallism in the United States and in
France, there never has been bi-metal-
lism IN the sense argued for"
MIR. Cochran quoted from Locke and
| Mile to show that both gold and silver
cannot be at the same time the measure
| of value in the same country, because
| the measure OF value must be perpetual
and invariable. France was practically
OH a gold basis. and the United States
must do what France has done-rlose
| her mintS to the free coinage of silver,
in order TO maintain the value and par
lty of silver. [Applause.l Both gold
| nd silver fiuctuated in value. The
| advocates of
| F'iae Wilson Bill
wanted the metal which had the
| minimum of fluctuation; its op-
ponents wanted the metal which
! had the maximum of fluctuation. [Ap-
plause, The silver men wanted
to give the farmers 37l4 grains of
pure silver. He wanted to give them
65lA grains because he knew G514
graius would enable them to buy a dol
lars worth of anything in any part of
the world. He believed in international
bimetallism. On economic questions
there should be no party lines. When
the economic laws were laid down as
| clearly as they had been laid down by
the gentleman from Maine (NIr. Reed)
they should he accepted not only by
this house, not only by this country, but
| by the whole world.
Mr.. Cochran told the story of how the
British government had tried to have
Jonathan Swift indicted for writing
against the proposed de5aSement of
coin, through the patent to William
| ,,f laa nf
rency, and of which Swift wrote that
"The remedy would be to cure scratch
on the finger by cutting off the arm.'
The only two iurieS that live in Irish
history, said Mr. Cochran, and they are
enshrlned in the affections of the Irish
people, were the first grand jury that
threw out the bill, and the second grand
jury, which, instead of presenting
Swift, presented those who attempted
the ruin of the currency. "Never be-
fore this time" Mr.. Cochran exclaimed,
'had the attempt been made to debase
the coin of a country One of the
causes that led to
The French Revolt
against royalty was that the king had
debased coinage. And twas in1S65. when
it was suggested in France, in order to
keep silver in the country, to reduce
the amount of gold in the twenty franc
piece. that the French people. with the
memory of what they had suffered from
the debasement of coinage, made such q
determined protest against the sugges
ton that even the Slavish court of the
Second Empire respected that protest
and the coin remained untouched
Never in the history OF the world haG
gold and silver circulated side by side
They never could SO circulate, and they
never would. 1t was said that ire
mendOus wrong had been committed il
1878, and that then silver had beer
! demonetized. D;d not the gentleman
from Missouri tMr. Bland) know tha
silver had been demonetized in 1881 b!
the simple process of undertaking i
aC the mints? The gentleman was tot
r familiar with the history OF the develop
ment of human civilization not 10 b,
aware that instead Of the demonetizatiol
of specific enactment, the method puT
sued by nations to accomplish TIL
: characterization had been that of under
valuing it at the rnints. Between 1884 an,
1879, although we had had free coinage
we had no bi-metallism. The gentle
man from Nebraska (Mr. BTyau ha
said that we could not have an homes
! dollar, and that there was no sue
| thing as a nerfpctIV stable mpa Surn q