Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-01-25
THE PoPULlsTs INDICATED.

The POPULlSTS INDICATED.
Senator Allison Gives expression to Sur
prisingly Radical Views on the Silver
Question.
| The opponents of free silver are COM
PEELED to admit its necessity; and what
Is more, they are compelled to admit
| every monetary position taken by the
| populists. They do not do so in so many
words, but they do it in fact as will be
seen by the following Senator Alli-
son, of Iowa, one of the American
members of the Brussels conference, is
now at home, and talks quite freely
81 was struck" says the senator, ''by
the general disposition of the assem-
bly, to admit that the existing none
tary relations of civilized nations were
unsatisfactory and calculated to seri-
ously hamper and check the carrying
on and development of the worlds COM
merce." This may be new to Senator
Allison, but it is not new to the readers
of the Progressive Farmer, nor to the
populists anywhere. 1t was unneces-
sary for him to go to Brussels to learn
that fact. Had he taken and read any
OF the reform papers he would have
known it long ago
But the senator goes much farther,
and admits all that the populists have
claimed with reference to the effect of
monetization or demonetization upon
the market value of the metals. Hear
him:
my remarks have been published in French
and English, and will be given out here in due
time. 1 may summarize them, however, by
saying that advocated strongly the free coin
age of gold and silver at the mints of the ma
tlons entering into the union, with provision
that a certain ratio between gold and silver
coinage be maintained"
"Do you mean a ratio between the quantities
OF gold and silver coined:
Certainly not, for I believe in coming all the
refer to is between the values of the metals as
coined into dollars; that is, the number of
grains in each"
'Can that ratio be maintained by law"
81 think 1t oan You have been poisoned in
your idea on the silver question by reading the
textbooks OF our college professors They are
good men, brilliant men, learned men but,
however, that is another question Yes, sir:
do think that the ratio spoke Of can be main
tanned by law. You think II will f1uctuate with
the varying production from the mines of silver
and gold But such has not been the case in
the past Hundreds of millions of gold were
poured into circulation during the California
excitement without affecting materially the
relative value OF gold and silver. The fact Is,
gold OF the world is OF very little absolute value
for the arts, Independent of its fictitious value
as legal tender. If the governments of the
world should agree to abandon the use of gold
as money. what do you suppose would happen I?
l will tell you. There would be 81 ,0Ol, O0l O00
Of gold, or rather what had been worth that
amount at our present valuation, dumped into
the market as bullion, to be changed into iew-
elry, teeth filling, etc How long do YOU sup
pose 1t would take the civilized world to use it
up. allowing for the normal rate of increase?
Not less than 100 years That is fact Now
suppose the world had on hand a supply of
clothing sufficient to fill its wants for century
to come? What would happen? Clothing would
go down like shot, would 1t not, and become
ridiculously cheapP The same would be true of
gold 1merely give you this argument which
Is one of those used with effect on the Brus-
sells representatives to show that, however you
look at it the values Of these metals used for
money whether there be one of them or two are
fictitious So what difference does it make If
the ratio between the two dollars is maintained
by law? If all countries agree on maintaining
1t there will be no trouble"
What populist ever did or could say
more than that The sole reason for
the inordinate advance of gold and the
fall in the price of silver and every
other marketable commodity, was the
demonstration of silver, thus increas-
ing the monetary demand for gold.
This was in the interest of those who
owned the gold, and it directly robbed
everybody else. We appeal to our
friends who are conscientiously in favor
of silver coinage, and whose every in
terest lies in that direction, but whose
minds have been poisoned by."-well,
no matter whom, to read the above ex-
tract several times. 1t is from lead
ing republican. Then set about the
work of getting that ''poison" out of
your minds The populists are right;
the monetary system is bad.-Mount
Vernon Qll.) Progressive Farmer.