Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1894-06-09
THAT MONEY PLANK.
lola Register.
A friend in an adjoining county writes
the RaOistar as follows:

lola Register.
A friend in an adjoining county writes
the Register as follows:
see you endorse the Fourth District plat
| form which says, ''W'e favor honest money
! gold, silver and paper on an equul basis. v
Now. ''honest money, gold silver and pa.
| per-" is all right, but what are we to under
stand by an equal basis?' Yours truly,
1t had never occurred to us that there
could be more than one construction put
upon this declaration. Gold, silver and
paper on an equal basis must mean that
the money of the United States made
from these materials shall be inter-
changeable always at par; that one dol
lar, whatever it be made of, must have
exactly the same purchasing power as
every other dollar. That, it seems to
us, is clearly what the declaration of the
platform means.
And is not that what the people of
this country want? Is there ANYBODY
who would be willing under any consid-
Grafton to return to the old state bank
system, under which there were as many
different kinds of money as there were
banks, and under which the value of
bank notes was as uncertain as the di-
rection of the wind? Is there anybody
who would be willing even, to return to
the condition existing from 1862 to 1879,
when gold was at a constantly chang
ing premium over greenbacks? 1t GER
tainly needs no other argument than
the commercial experience of the past
fifty years, to make it plain that the in
terests of all the people are best pro-
NOTED by a stable and uniform curren-
cy, by the use of 'gold, silver and pa
per on an equal basis
How this parity is to be maintained is
quite another question, and one that
concerns the practical legislator rather
than the platform maker It is the part
of the conventions of the republican
party to demand sound currency, Just
as it is to demand protective tariff;
but it is the duty of those charged with
the business of legislation to enact
measures by which this sound currency
is to be maintained, just as it is their
duty to work out the details of pro-
tsctive tariff law. Some republicans
doubtless believe that this parity could
be maintained with the free and unlim-
tied coinage of silver at ratio of 16 to
l. Others, perhaps, believe that it can
be maintained only by making gold the
standard and buying whatever silver may
be needed for subsidiary currency at it's
market price. The Register believes that
the best results would be obtained from
the adoption of the Window plan, under
which gold and silver bullion might be
deposited in the United States treasury
by any one, in any quantity, and notes
of the United States issued in payment
therefor, redeemable, not in SO many
dollars in gold or silver, but in so
many dollars north of gold or silver.
But while there are these individual
opinions as to the details of desirable f.
nancial legislation, there is not repub- |
lican anywhere who does not believe in
honest money, all dollars interchange
able at par. And so we can all stand on
this plank, leaving to the aggregate
wisdom of the party, as 1t may be gath
cred in our representatives at Washing
ton, to frame the Legislation which will !
carry out our wishes, just as we rely On
that wisdom to frame tariff law that |
will furnish the protection we desire.