Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-09-19
CLARK CLOSED.

oSIs ICIoy III thC "a lIlG
United States, he quoted these very
same political economists to demon
strate the righteousness and feasible
ity of the free and unlimited coinage
of gold and silver at the ratio of 16
to 1.
He has done more to build up the
sentiment than any other man in Mis-
souri,.
He claims still to be a bimetallist.
His case seems to be about as follows:
Up to and including 1893, he could
find inconvertible reasons for free
coinage of 16 to /.
At the Kansas City convention in
1894, he was still in favor of it, but
wasagainst putting it in the pla torn.
Now he is dead against it and, asfar
as I can ascertain, favors the present
commercial ratio, which is about %
to /.
He is not a gold monometallist, but
at his present rate of progression
how long will it take him to be?
Stated by the old rule of three it
would be as follows: AS 16 is to 80 so
is one year to the answer.
IN other words, if in one year he
raises the ratio from 16 to l to 80 to 1,
it viii not require much more time to
raise the ratio SO much that a four
mule team would be needed to haul
a few dollars of silver to market.
He quotes Thomas H. Benton. He
ought to remember that Benton went
to his political grave because he would
not in good faith carry out the will OF
his constituents.
Another one of Mr.. Halls argu-
n1ents is that if we undertake free
and unlimited coinage at 16 to /
Europe, and especially England, which
is our largest customer, wont buy our
surplus stuff.
Does any san man believe that
England buys anything of us because
she loves us? Not a bit of it. She
loves us no better than she loves
Ireland, and would treat us in the
same way if she could.
She buys of us because she can't
help it; because her people are naked
and must be clothed; because they
are hungry and must be fed. She
buys our breadstuffs because she
breads bread riots. She buys our
cotton because she fears her idle
spindles would precipitate such dis
turbances as would endanger the
Government itself. There is no danger
Of her quitting trading with us, and il
she did, it would end in giving US the
bulk of the trade of every silver using
country of the world. Mr.. Hall is
fearful that all the worlds silver
would be dumped on us. Suppose ii
should be? 1t would only be about
SOC a head for our people. How could
that happen? Only by their buying
our stuh-which, after all, is the great
d~esideratum.
But suppose it would happen r we
to suppose that the French are fools
enough to have 500, GOO, 900 silver
NOW outstanding at 15R to u RECON-
Ell at is to I, thereby losing about
5000 600 in the transaction, besides
eXpressage both ways across the
ocean and interest while the RECON-
age takes place? And SO on with al
the other nations of the earth. That
bugaboo of the worlds silver being
dumped on US are nobody any
longer.
He says independent coinage at II
to 1 would ruin us; but he'll vote fol
it! That's a strange proposition
truly. John Tyler and John Quincy
Adams had conscience enough to re-
sign seats in the Senate rather thar
vote under instructions for what they
thought was wrong. Mr.. Hall claims
to have arisen to the height of states.
manship by reason of his present at.
titude. If, in 1894, he had told the
people before he was nominated thai
he had changed his opinion, OF if hi
changed after the election, and haC
then resigned, he might claim to have
acted the part of a statesman; but he
can't claim it now with a straight face
and his claim will never be allowed.
He said further: Therefore there
is a debt, variously estimated at from
3 to 80 billions of dollars, that rests
upon the people of the United States.
and we must pay it; and it is mainly
paid by the people of the West and
South and the Northwest, the regions
of corn and cotton and wheat. We
must pay it to the people of the
northeastern part of the United States
and Europe.
"My friends, when you gentlemen
carry this out and force us to pay
this on a gold basis, / tell you that we
will only do it at the end of the last
| fight we can make in this House; but
if you wish to be fair you will aid us
in keeping the volume the same; il
you want to be unfair you will force
us to pay a debt of $4,000, 600 600 con-
tracted upon a volume of currency
that could not be less than $50 pei
capita in a volume of currency Of
about SIS per capita.
at is not fair, it is not honest, and
you cannot defend it on any principle
of political economy or on the greater
and higher plane of morality"
Yet again he said: "There is but
one class of men that are trying tc
swindle and defraud in this transac-
ton and that is the creditor who de-
demands that a debt contracted when
we had both gold and silver freely
coined should be paid in gold or on a
single gold standard.
"AI that we ask, and this we de-
mand as a right, is the golden rule oi
finance, that the debtor shall have
the right to pay his debt with the
same volume of circulating medium
and of the same value of money as
when the debt was contracted. This,
Mr.. Speaker, is my golden IL OF
finance. We ask for nothing more
and nobody but a coward will dare
take less"
1t is difficult to believe, after listen
ing to Mr.. Halls speech to-day, that
+! he uttered those words, in a carefully
prepared and thoroughly digested
+