The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-10-20


Of phenomenal audiences General Harri
son arrived in Fort Wayne about an hour
later than he expected. finding crowd
that exceeded anything he had previ
ously seen on this or his last weeks trip.
The sidewalks and streets out to the car
riages which bore the party to the Ave
line hotel, were densely packed with peo-
pie who kept up a continuous cheering.
The ex-president was escorted immediate
ly after reaching the hotel to the bal
cony from which he spoke to a crowd OF
fully 5000. This was another speech out
side of the schedule arranged especially
for the benefit of the farmers who could
not stay for the night meeting. At s
o'clock he was waited on by the commit
tee and attended by an informal process
sion and escorted to the skating rink in
which 1900 people had sandwiched them
selves TO hear the great Indianian, When
he entered the hall an extraordinary
scene ensued. The great building shook
with applause. Hon Charles d. Everett,
chairman of the county committee, in
troduced General Harrison, who said in
substance:
Ny Fellow Citizens-When we have a
debate on I always like to find in the
first place the points of argument. SO
We may go on to discuss these things
about which We differ. l find there is
very general argument among Republic
cans and Democrats upon two PROPOSE
tfons. One is that we have had a very
wide and disastrous panic in which all
our people have shared; the second is
that one party or the other-Democrats
o. Republcans-are in a considerable
measure responsible to the people for
these evil times.
What He Wanted to Talk About.
Now that makes the discussion easier
a little. We have had, and we are still
in the shadow of very evil times. The
farmer has felt them. the merchant has
felt them; above all the man who was
dependent upon his daily wages for his
living has felt them, because when he
lost his job he lost everything; whereas
the merchant, when his goods were mark
ed down, had still something left. There
were one or two features of the panic
that ] want to tell you about. In the
first place want to say that In my opin-
ion il was not one of those panics which
sometimes come from over trading and
over speculating- 1t was not a relapse
from some balloon enterprise that we had
entered into. We have had such panics
as that in this country and they were
always characterized by great deal Of
litigation in our courts. In the panic of
'73. when the courts of all our country
were crowded with collection suits, men
were being sued on notes. and mortgages
were being foreclosed. That state of
things has not characterized this panic
through which we have just gone. 1t was
not over trading and over speculation;
IL was not validating in business that
brought this panic on us. If it had been
we would have seen the necessary Incl
dents and concomitants of that sort of
thing in the collection of notes and fore
closures of mortgages all over the coun-
try. When this panic began we had more
money in circulation per capita than we
have had for many years. This had come
about in this way. In the first place
under what is known as the Sherman
law, the silver purchasing law, under
ounces Of silver every month, we issued
a large amount OF what was called treas
ury notes, so the money in circulation
had been increased by about one hundred
and fifty million by this new currency
that had been put out among the peo-
pie. The money in circulation had also
been enormously increased by the reduc-
ton OF the surplus in the treasury. You
remember my Democratic friends-I hope
we are all friends-you remember, when
they made a campaign on the theory
that the country was being ruined be-
cause there was so much surplus. They
said: You have taken this money out
of the pockets of the people and locked
il mp and it is not doing anybody any
good"
That surplus had, by the purchase of
government bonds, been reduced enor-
mously, and the money was out among
the people doing its work: And then by
the Increased pensions-which 1 am glad
to say Republican Congress voted and
Approved With Pleasure,
And have never apologized for-an enor-
nous additional amount of money was
nut in circulation among the people, un-
til our Democratic friends changed the
form of the Indictment against us. They
indicted us for having too much in the
treasury and now they have left too lit
tie Ny point is that the money in cir
culation was so largely increased that it
could not have been a lack of money
that brought that panic on. 1t was not
any lack of confidence on the part of
the people in the money that was in cir
cuIatfon. II was not because they doubt
ed the value of the bills or the coin they
had in their pockets. 1t was one of the
curious features of the panic that men
had money and went TO the bank to get
ii. thew did not care what kind of money
was paid theln-whether it was silver GER
tjfcates or not They did not stop to look
at IL but Just wrapped ii up in a news
f,aper and took Il home and hid it under
the bed or took 1t to savings deposit
company, hired box and stuck Ii in
there. The result was great scarcity
of money but presently the people got
over their fear of the banks and they
brought the money back. But the banks
could make no use of it. Nobody want
ed it There was no solvent borrowers
who could uEe the money and from that
time 10 this this has been the situation
of our country. All our banks have been
filled with money by people who did no
want to use II. What is the cause OF
all this? 1t was the uncertainty that
the Democratic success of 1892 induced.
The Democrats said they were going to
DESTROY this protective system. They
were going to tear down this house which
sheltered us. From that time to this
ing. dreading what might be done on
There was great applause when the
speaker concluded.
Hard times have increased the sale