The Delta independent., 1894-03-28
AMERICAN CIVILIZATION.

n AMEHiSAN CIVILIZATION.
reu. Not MANAGED by the Demand for Sill
yer CoInnge Can Only Come
by the Complete Impoverishment of the
People.
1t Is unlikely that there is in the
, country Mt the present moment a well
informed and patriotic man who de-
sires that the American people shall
have the single standard of silver. Nor
is there, indeed, any fair, reasonable
probability that the nation will ever
find itself in that situation. But OBJ
lection may be made to the method of
encouraging the people to favor the
single gold standard by misreprcsent-
ing to them the consequences which
would cnsuc upon making any move
Incnt away from that system. In
slavery times some persons regarded it
as an unanswcra BILE argument TO the
contention of abolitionists to demand,
''would you like your sister to marry
n black MANI And SO now, with
equal fatuity and childishness, the
American people are warned that when
they shall move toward bimctallisIn
they risk reaching the silver standard
and degrading their civilization to the
low level OF that of India and China.
The solemnity with which this propo-
sition is urged by some of the ncwspa-
pcrs fails of imprcssivencss because it
is manifestly ridiculous
India was upon n gold basis until
1885, when the East India company, for
purposes Of robbery, forced it upon
silver basis All the world knows that
India since that time has made greater
progress toward true civilization than
during the preceding one hundred
years Holland abandoned gold and
went upon silver basis in 1850. Where
are the facts that sustain the theory
that Dutch civilization experienced any
deterioration in the ensuing years? In
1857 Germany also threw aside the gold
standard and established silver alone
ms standard money. Are there any
proofs that German civilization de-
cllned to lower level from that date
until the gold standard was set up in
1873? In the year Of Gcrmany's great
est power and glory. in the year 1871,
when Germany destroyed the French
empire. silver, and silver alone, was the
money of final payment among Ger
mans -;
From 1860 TO 1878 the people OF the
United States had neither gold nor sill
vcr. Their business was transacted
with fat paper money, and II was
while they were thus cut loose from
both metals that they conducted to n
successful Issue the greatest war of
modern times II our civilization did
not move toward degradation when
our currency was paper, must that fate
necessarily oycrtake IL when we shall
have n currency composed OF one Of the
precious metals?
Does any sane American believe that
such use of silver would drag our pco-
pie down to the level of the Indian
peasant? Let us have from some of
the propagntors Of this theory demon
strntion of the process by which the
result will bc reached. Let them show
TO the nation in what manner the use
OF silver will reduce us to such a cupdi-
tion that VIC shall incline TO substitute
brcochclouts for clothing and To steep
our souls in ignorance and supcrsti-
tion. This kind of argument Is nbout
ms respectable as that of the nursery
maid who should try 10 govern stub
born child by representing that there
II n robbcr in the dark closet under the
stairs There may be Americans who
can be won TO the side Of gold by Wis
Ions of q juggcrnaut car rolling up
broadway, say. in 1901. but we doubt it
Degradation OF American civilization
will como, II ever II shall como, by the
complete impovcrishmcnt of the pco-
pie. II John Jones should own nil the
gold In the world, and debts must be
paid In gold. Jones would be the abso-
lutte master, and the rest of us would
bc slaves fact, IL not In name. Sub
stitutc for an Individual Jones tho
comparatively small body OF men who
do own the bulk of the gold and who
control credit, and you will have tho
precise situation in which we shall
find ourselves II silver shall be thrust
aside and the gold standard made per-
mancut The destruction OF the
western farmers, now plainly in prog
rcss, will then be extended TO other
wealth producers of nil classes, and the
day of doom for human liberty and for
high civilization will have dawned.
But that day will never come to tho
people of land where there is univcr-
sal suffrage. The impulses Of nero
blind instinct of self preservation will
nvert the catastrophe. The people of
the United States will certainly choose
silver nfono rather than gold alone;
but they will have neither by itself
They will have both together, and woe
to the political party that arrays itself
upon the side Of their cncmies-N. Y.
!. Press