The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1895-05-11
A FALSE ISSUE.

The Republican press are devoting too
much attention to the monetary ques-
ton, as if it were a new issue upon
which the party had to formulate
platform of principles and were step
ping around, like man in miry
road, to find solid footing. When the
necessities of the civil war forced the
government to issue paper currency
this question of finance was thoroughly
discussed, and the conclusions arrived
at were definite and the result of con-
summate wisdom in unraveling the
intricacies that surrounded the SUBJ
ject. At that time the Republican
party said that every obligation of the
United States would be paid in the
standard coin of the world, and there
has been no deviation from this at any
time since. When the secretary of
the treasury called in any bonds they
were paid in gold, the measure of value
of the commercial world, and to have
offered silver to the holder would have
been reputation to ths'amount of the
difference between the standard and
the subsidiary coin. This principle of
honesty, followed for over thirty years,
has established the national credit on
safe basis, and our securities are
eagerly sought in all foreign countries.
If any other plan had been pursued. it
would have been most disastrous to the
country, and the United States would
been placed in the same list with
South American states and other ma
tions whose credit is not considered
frst-class in the markets of the world.
This sound financial policy has not
only been very successful in our rela-
has SO produced the most bene-
fetal results at home. After the war
the industries of the nation were
wrecked and ruined, and these were
re-established on frmer and better
basis than ever before. The direful
effects of the conflict, both north and
south, were overcome, and the country
enjoyed unexampled prosperity for
over a quarter of century until DEM
ocracy attempted change in the tariff
system. Never in the history of the
world has any nation had a better
monetary policy. Silver is taken the
same as gold, and, by reason of the
treasury redeeming paper whenever
presented, greenbacks pass for their
is no deprecated currency, and no
disturbance is suffered in any busi-
ness transaction by the failure of
banks. The people could desire
nothing better or on q safer basis.
There was no complaint about the
financian policy. until the dreadful
results caused by Democratic free
traders began to be felt all over the
nation, and then the attempt was
made to attract attention to another
than the actuating cause. A few DEM
ocrats and the Populist party sounded
an alarm that the single standard was
detrimental to the best interests of the
country, and had impelled the hard
times that were being experienced.
Nothing could be farther from the true
facts in the case, and the people gen.
orally and the factory owners, cap
italists, and wage-earners in particular
required no argument to disprove this
statement. Republicans should let il.
alone, and not waste ammunition on a
man of straw that is simply placed
in position to attract their fire from q
more vulnerable part of the enemy's
works. The protective doctrine of the
party surved the country during the
civil war, restored growth and pros
perity to our manufacturing industries,
and are able to restore the nation to
its former conditions. In finantial
matters the nation has followed a safe
policy for over thirty years, and a
change now to an untried theory
would be very unwise. But protection
is the true American policy, and is the
only one under which it has prospered.
All questions must be subservant to
this, and the campaign of 1895 must
be fought out on this line from begin
ming to end.