Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-10-01


are regulated, ns ! have said, all other
things being equal. by the amount OF
money IN circulation. | am afraid that
we do not observe the distinction between
the standard of value and the volume OF
circulation.
Gold Is the standard OF value hut VIC
have only a little over $000,000,OOO of
gold In the country, while we have
2,0OO,OOO,o00 in money OF gold, silver,
and paper III the country. and Al,buo,VvV,-
900 In circulation, or outside the treasury.
All money not in the treasury Is said 10
be In circulation. but 1t is not. Much OF
II IL never seen in market. Prices are
not determined by the SGO0, OOO,O0O in gold
but by the S1.6a0.OlOO00 in circulation.
The gold dollar is the standard by which
every article is valued, whether 1t rises
or falls. A great many Of our people
want TO change the standard OF value.
What for? They say II will enable them
TO pay their debts so much custer. But is
it rightl / have been reminded Of the
strong language l used some years ago
in the other house, denouncing those who
wanted TO double up the obligations of
the debtor class and compel them to pay
twice as much as the consideration they
received. and twice as much as in CON
science they agreed TO pay.
| repeat every word Of that denuncia-
ton today. There ia u moral obligation
that enters Into every contract us well
as n legal one. When two persons con-
tract, one buys and Tho other sells, A
vast amount of the business of the world,
and especially of this country. is done
on time. When one promises to pay 100
cents 1t Is 100 cents on the estimnted
value at the time of contract. One hum
dred cents of consideration, according TO
the then standard Of value, passes from
one 10 the other and the promise Of the
lnlfpr Ia huCaI ptff TINT Standard md
when It was proposed to lessen the
amount of circulation one-half TO double
the legal obligation. | denounced 1t as
dishonest and the attempt TO perpctrate a
crime A friend has shown me the speech
of an Engiishman who puts that language
on the front page of one of his. re-
peat now the words / then used:
But. amid the reckless and rcmorse-
less brutalities which have marked the
footprints of rosistless power, some ex-
tenuating circumstances may be found
TO qualify the punishment due TO the
crime Some have been the product OF
the fierce passions of war; some have re
suited from the antipathes that sepa-
rate alien races; some from the supersti-
tons of opposing religions; bat the crime
that Is now sought TO be perpetuntcd on
more than J0,0OO.0OO Of people comes
neither from the camp Of the conqucror.
the hand of q foreigner, nor the altar Of
III lhulAkbIs pUL II fhultH from lhOst III
whose veins runs the blood of n common
ancestry. who were born under the same
skies, who speak the same language. who
were reared in the same institutions,
who were nnrtured In the principles of
the same religious faith.
ut comes from the cold, marble heart
of nvaricc-avuricc that seeks TO paralyze
labor, increase the burden OF debt, and
fih the land with dcsttution and suffering
10 crafty the lust for gold; avarice, sur
rounded by every comfort that wealth
can command, and rich enough to satisfy
every want, save that which refuses TO
be satisfied without the suffocation and
strangulution of all the labor In the land.
With forehead that refuses TO he
ashamed, Il demands Of congress an act
that will paralyze all the forces of pro-
duction, shut ont labor from employment,
increase the burden OF debt and taxation,
and send desolation and suffering into the
homes of the poor. In this hour fraught
with peril to the whole country, | appeal
10 the Impoverished representatives Of the
American people TO meet this bold and
insolent demand like men. Let us stand
in the breach and call the battle on, and
never leave the field until the peoples
money shall be restored to the mint Oh
equal terms with gold, as 1t was years
ago"
And there I stand today. II 1t was i'm
mand then twice us much as was con-
tracted TO be paid on his debt. is 1t not
just us immoral and wicked now for the
debtor to demand payment of one-half
of his obligation? l see no difference,
yet many of my friends want TO change
the standard because the debtor thereby
can change the contract and will pay 10
cents, instead of 100 cents, the debt he
has promised on his honor and conscience
to pay.
Now, Mr.. President, II we are going to
leave out Of view all moral obligation Of
the contract, If 1t Is only legal oblgn-
ton from which the debtors seek relief,
why not, in the exercise Of the consti-
tutionnl provision. pass u bankruptcy law,
and why not in passing that bankrupt
law provide that the debtor shall pay his
creditor with q certificate of discharge
and keen all his PROPERTY He will get
u good deal more money That way, II the
moral obligation Is to be left out of the
contract entirely. If we want to do
everything we can TO release the debtor
without requiring him by law 10 comply
with the contract which he has made,
then pass bankrupt law and acquit
him entirely and let him retain every
thing that he has. i do not believe In
impairing the obligation of contracts /
believe In enforcing them, and If one per-
son has obtained the property OF another
by promising to pay for IL, he should be
required by law 10 perform the contract.
Mr. President, l believe, with Thomas
Jefferson, that honesty is the first chapter
In the Book of Wisdom. | denounce, as
John q. Carlisle did tbut not in rs strong
language, because | am not as strong a
man as he Isl the combination that was
being formed all over the whole earth TO
strike down onelhalf Of the monetary
circulation of the world aud double the
entire value of all the contracts on the
debtors; and / denounce now IN this
country the attempt to shift aud change
the standard Of values for the purpose of
enablingrthe debtor TO cheat and defraud
his creditor ont of one-half of what he
has promised him. and in doing so to put
the country upon n variable aud shifting
standard Of value By which the people
viii be plundered continuously from one
end OF II to the other.
Every contract now in existence in the
United States made since January j,
1879, Is on the gold standard, and where
a dollar is mentioned 1t means a gold
dollar or one as good as sold, and | will
never vote for any law that enables any
man TO cancel an obligation 10 pay 100
cents by paying 50 cents. When depre-
cinted standard is substituted for the real
standard Of the contract, all contracts are
changed, and as Mr.. jefferson repeatedly
says Il works revolution OF property.
II swindles a whole nation. When the
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