The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-08-28

is to have staple and persistent standard
| The theory of the monometall1st is tnat
| gold of itself is subject to less fuctua-
| ton, to less change than silver, to less
| fuctuation and change than both go1id
and silver together The theory OF the bi-
| metallist is that if two lakes, l1abe to De
| disturbed by different causes, can be con-
nected and made to flow into each other
| INTERCHANGEABLE, they will present amuch
will therefore be much less, the change
| in each lake being distributed over both
| I can understand this theory as appllled
| to the metallic standards of the world
| 1 can understand that if gold by any
| accident should be undervalued IN any
country and driven out OF that country
| that would send it to the other countries;
and the effect of that surplus of gold in
| the other countries would be to lower
the price of gold, and, therefore, have
| a tendency to send it back to the original
| country; in other, words that the erect OF
| the two lakes would be to cause lesser
| variation in the level; but when you
country, you will perceive at once. that
| it cannot be applicable, that the effect OF
undertaking one metal will necessarily
| be to drive that metal out OF the country.
| You do not have to indulge in any far
| fetched thetories to understand Inls.
| You do not have to discuss the questlon
of the Gresham law at all. All you have
| to do is to apply yourself to the history
of the United States; and the speech OF
| the gentleman from Tennessee, Mr.. Pat
| terson) a brave and admirable speech,
shows conclusively that this country,
while it was pretending to be b1metalllc
in its standard, was never really So .tnat
| one metal drove the other out OF the
! country; that the standard was not posi-
| BILE of maintenance as long as there was
/ an over valuation.
Now today the proposition is that we
| shall undervalue gold over forty per
| cent. If three cents on dollar OF under.
| this country, what will an undervalua-
| iton of forty cents on a dollar do for
| gold? Does anybody have any question
| or doubt about it? Not the least. But
! you say if we undertake to maintain gold
| standard in this country, first, you Will
| demonetize silver and drive it out OF ex-
/ istence; and, second you will raise Jhe
| debts which the people owe to some per-
sons unknown, presumably enemies
/ who ought to be despoiled This first
| charge would be a serious one II 1t were
| true. If the adoption of gold standard
| destroyed the uses of silver it would Ger
! tinly be a very grave misfortune to this
/ country. In the first place, it would de-
stroy productive industry OF this TIL
country. For my part, am never will
| ing to do that. Second, it would destroy
an industry, which, in my judgmnt, is
of more value to this country than a
merely protective industry. TO my be-
4 lief, the region beyond the Missouri river
will one day or other constitute compare
lively the great riches of this country. 1t
i would not be possible for me to prove
this 1t would not be possible for me to
demonstrate this, perhaps, even to the
people who live beyond the Missouri;
L y. foif t,of 1ah IC
the case. The wonderful possibilities OF
their soil have never been appreciated
even by themselves I believe that the
settlement and the growth of this
country depend greatly upon it's mining
interests. I have therefore, been ready
all my life, by duties on lead, and by
| any action upon the silver question which
| seemed to me to be adequate and suitable
to promote those Industries; and should
be sorry to believe that the maintenance
of gold standard woul& cause them per
manent harm. do not believe that the
adoption of gold standard in any way
| initiates against the reasonable use
silver. as a coinage metal. The ques-
ton whether there is to be double
standard or a single standard is entirely
/ different from the question OF the use OF
4 silver as money.
We have purchased, and have in the
vaults of the United States Treasury
u
| yet there has been moment OF time
/ since 1872 when the standard has not
been gold; the standard today is gold.
The repeating of the purchasing clause
i of the Sherman act, therefore, would
not in any way establish STANDARD.
We are only refusing to establish u, a
different one. The continuance of the
purchases under the Sherman act, would,
in the estimation of the world, be de-
claration that we intended to go on with
our purchases to such an extent that we
would find ourselves upon silver basis
after no great lapse of time.
Now, whatever this country may de-
sire to do, whatever it's intentions are
for the future, one thing seems to be
clear, if the people are to go upon
Silver Basis
they want to know that they are going to
SO and want to do it deliberately. If
the plain question were presented to
every American citizen whether he de-
sired that this country should be upon q
purely silver basis with gold banished,
the great majority of answers would be
no. And this ground they would take
without abating a jot their determine
ton to coin and use both metals. With
six hundred millions of silver already
IN clfculaG1On we Cali ndfuly Ut d mOuO'
metallic nation.
The next difficulty which we have to
meet is the assertionthat by the repeal Of
the Sherman act we increase the burden
of the debt upon the borrower. This
would certainly be very grave mis-
fortune, if it were true. The business OF
borrowing and the business of lending
are alike honorable.
Such transactions arise out of the
nature of mems needs Some men pre-
fer certain gain to the chances of great
profit. Some men are willing to take
the chance of the profit and pay the small
gain, which is necessary in order to OBJ.
tain the stored up wealth of the other.
Men who have money may not have
enterprise and brains; men who have
brains and enterprise do not always have
money. Borrowing and lending marries
money and brains to the great advance
ment of the world If we were to make
law which only related to single
series of transactions such as now exist
in the United States, it Nigh possibly be
an advantage to the borrower to have the
payment so adjusted that he would have
the advantage of the transaction, but
when the present race of borrowers is
!