Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1894-08-02
GOVERNOR NELSO N's SPEECH

OOyGl1NOA AN1IlIJNJANa0SES M AtxSl1I
Present and Future Governor Talks
to the People.
81. PAUL, July IL. Whsn Governor
| Nelson had been notified Of his naomins.
tion by exclamation, fof another tSrfAA;
he Was esseortsd tB ths Auditorium 81
Hob. N. 81. Dunnell, and delivered the
following address TO the Republican
state convention:
Your Kindness il oRaiHh l,eoimiijinasiht ttisl
hnhpthtensly Nrd w acaii aa lima ion, your
tandiuate for the high Office OF governor,
is greatly appreciated, and Is dear to me,
not so much because it tends to give me
another term Of Office. as because to me 4
Is an assurance that you are satisfied with
The spirit and naaniief In whieh HAVE ipse +
ytfihAd lily duties as the chief executive Of
the state. While conscious Of the fact
that In many respects have been far from
infallible, and may have erred in judg-
ment, yet can I truly say that have
spbssrve What eoHceised is be for the
/
conservative, to keep within the beaten
paths Of law and precedent, and to avoid
all that savors Of jingoism have felt
that If any radical change, any new line Of
public policy WAS to be inaugurated, It
should come from the people, through the
legislative departments, and NIT through
the exseheive II | am again elected gov
efnor, shall be guided by these principles
| and shall aim to serve the state to the
best Ut my Judgment and ability, impair
tally and without fear or favor as to any
class, person or interest
We have been struggling for more than
q year, and are still deep Iii tbs midst III 4
great Industrial depression, permeating to
q greater or less degree all classes, all in
terests and employments. The purse
strings OF capital, through want of conf
| dence, or through spirit Of fear or timid-
ity, have frightened or have become entirely
cOngested. In consequence Of this fact, to
| very large extent, the field of labor has
been greatly reduced and narrowed This.
in It's turn has largely increased the army
of the unemployed, and in many cases re-
duced the scale of wages of those who
| who still have something to DO With
capital in hiding and labor furnishing for
something to do, economy and want have
brought about a reduced state of consump-
ton and an enlarged state of over produc-s
ton and over supply. The whole situa-
ton has bsen further intensified by pro-
longed strikes of unusual magnitude,
which, whatever may have been their in.
trinsic merits, have visibly aggravated the
industrial condition, increased the army
Of the unemployed, and frightened still
fibre capital into hiding, and, worst OF
all, loosened the bonds of organized
society and threatened it with up
heaval and chaos. In the
face Of an Industrial and social situation
such as this, 1t seems selfish and heartless
in the extreme to parade before troubled
people, as the cause of these ills, the fac
that wealth is unevenly distributed, that
there are few excessively rich people,
that the relative wealth of the farmers to
the aggregate wealth of the country is
not as great as In 1860, that we had great
national debt and have been paying it of
in gold, and, chief Of all, that silver was
demOnetized iii 1873. The statesmen Who
furnish us this diagnosis, have one univer-
sal cure all for all our ills. Need name
it? 1t is the unconditional free coinage Of
silver at ratio Of Is to 1.
While In critical times like these when
when our house is afire, as it were, and
our first aim should be to put out the
fire and not dispute about the cause Of 1t,
you will pardon me if pause to make
these remarks: It il ut all times, and In
these times more than ever, cruel and saw
oring of foreign nihilism to seek to array
poor against rich, class against
class There has always been, and always
will be, an unequal distribution Of wealth
and few who are excessively rich, AS
compared with the many But in our
country, where there is neither primogeni-
ture nor entail, and where large fortunes
are so often and SO easily dissipated by
prOfiigate sons, there is no serious menace
In rich men. If there ever was any doubt
on this point, these trying times have dis
poiled it, for who have been more worried
more harrassed and more helpless than
the rich. Watching them and their trials,
have not many of us felt like praying, 20
Lord, give me neither poverty nor riches. !"
The demonstration of silver in 1873 is
an obsolete fact, too remote to have any
bearing on present conditions. When sil-
yer was demonetized In 1873, It was, and
for nearly half a century had been, >prac-
tically out OF circulation. Our only eifcu-
lating medium from 1862 up to the time
we resumed specie payment in 1879 was
paper, and nearly year before such re-
sumption, silver was duly remonetized
under the act of 1878. Since 1872 silver han
gradually deprecated in value, chiefly
| from two canses: The almost unanimous
decentralization of the same in Europe,
and the largely increased production
thereof throughout the world During all
these years, since 1878, aside from India,
the United States have been the best
friend the silver has had. From 1878 UNI
til 1890, we purchased and coined silver
bullion to the extent Of over So, 600. 600 am
nually, and from 1880 to 1893 we pur-
chased silver bullion and issued paper cur
rency thereon, to the extent of 81 ,OO0, 600
ounces annually. And today we are car
rying upwards of s525, 600 coo OF silver in
our circulation, as against s660. 600 600 OF
gold, of which s100 coz, GOO is or should be
for the s346, Geo. coo of greenbacks France
has silver circulation of
s7OO, COO, Goo as against a gold
circulation of $500, OOO, 900, while India
with it's population Of 255, OOO, Co., has in
circulation only 5000, OOO0OO of silver, as
against no gold and only t28, OOO, 600 OF UNI
covered paper. While China, with Its
400 COG, 600 Of people, has only 81, 600 coz, GOO
of silver, circulating on It's bullion value,
in circulation. These figures indicate, IL
we take into account the aggregate OF our
population and the aggregate OF our cur
rency, as we'll as the mode Of our doing
business, that silver has not been stricken
down but that, on the whole, it is.in as
much favor here as anywhere. We have
not only maintained a parity In value, but
also a parity in quantity Of circulation be-
tween the two metals We are all in favor
OF the free coinage OF silver, under such
conditions that it can maintain itself in i
circulation dollar for dollar on parity
with gold, without requiring an ultimate
redemption fund in gold and without
driving our gold out OF circulation. Silver
recommendation would in one fell stroke
diyest us Of 8 full half Of our metallic cur
rency and would place ua commercially in
touch with such countries as China. India,