The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-03-22

IL Hdu silver standard Will Soiu dl
premium, that the country would be
no worse off than it Is now with a
single standard subject to such de-
pletion as the past few months~has wit
messed. However, as he puts the Wall
street side of it, so plainly that all may
understand, we publish liberal extracts
of his letter as follows:
Il read with anazement the editori-
ais in the Eagle on the silver question
For the life of me / cannot see what
is the matter with Marsh Murdoch
You western fellows all misconstrue
the causes OF hard times, This coun-
try was never in more hourishlng
condition than it was in 1881 and u
under the Mckinley bill. unless IT was
during 1SS0-Si-S2-S3, when the country
| was under the Norrell tariff BILL The
tariff bill of 1883 that lowered the
duties, followed by the election of Gro
yer Cleveland for president, damaged
this country many billions of dollars
/ Cleyelands former administration cost
| the country more than the Civil war,
and this one will cost it more than two
! Civil wars. and if you succeed in get
ting the free coinage of silver you will
a Republican government in the Unit
ed States.
{, You have this To learn that we cam
| rot have two standards of value. You
cannot have bimetallism with the free
| and unlimited coinage OF both metals
| so long as there is much, If any, differ
ence between the ratio of the coinage
value and the ratio of their market
value.
! Now here is a fact: Previous to 1913
! there was a difference between the
ratio Of the market value and the ratio
/ OF the coinage value of gold and sill
Yer. and although that difference was
/ very slight. yet it was sufficient To send
/ silver to a premium and the standard
dollar was not in circulation as money
/ Neither was it coined to any great ex-
| tent at any time previous To 1S!3.-
! There is in the country today about ~
per capita of silver, either in coin, sill
yer certificates or notes, that are rep
resented as money. more than there
was at any time previous to 1873.
Another fact: While the ratio of the
market value from 1894 to 1873 varied
from about 1 of gold to 1919 to l TO
l0.tD Ol S1ikSI- YET tiidt
sent silver to so much of a premium
that it retired from circulation. To-
day the ratio of the market value Is
| l of gold to 80 of silver. Such being
the case what will become of our gold
if you make the coinage of our silver
free? Every dollar of it will go out OF
circulation in twenty-four hours after
such a law is passed. In fact gold VIII
go TO a premium before such q bill is
passed if it is likely to do so. what Ell
feet will that have on the business OF
the country? In the first place ii is an
assault upon the credit of the govern
ment and it will practically ruin that
credit. Ii will send our foreign Secur-
tiles home to be paid, just what is
taking place now. 1t is this threat to
make the coinage of silver free that is
hurting the credit of the government
and forcing Cleveland TO borrow money
on bonds. If the Wilson bill had been
passed it would have ben infinitely
worse than the German bill, but the
German bill will bankrupt nearly half
of our manufacturing industries before
a change can be made. The pottery
business in this country is not doing
bIlt-ifdlI lndl 1t WdS Ill 1857. the NtOt-
en- mills are closing all over the coun-
try and so are some cotton mills, and
the German bill is just beginning now
to get in its work. Imports of dry
goods are increasing and exports de-
creasing. Wait until next August and
September and you will see what condi-
tion our manufacturing industries are
in, even under this German tariff bill.
Nobody has wanted or said anything
about having the greenbacks retired
previous to Cleveland's last election.
Now there is a general howl all through
the east to have the greenbacks retired
because they are being used to get
gold out of the treasury. The gold is
being withdrawn from the treasury
because our creditors have lost conf
dence in the government; and it is
this threat to have the coinage of sill
yer free that is bringing it about.
The credit of Kansas today is such
that you can hardly find an eastern
man that is willing To loan money to
anybody in Kansas. / notice the Eagle
is denouncing Wall Street, the money
bags, etc. What would Kansas be if il
We're not for the money that Wall
Street has nut into her railroads. In
1885 she built about 5000 miles of rail
road. and nearly all the money was
furnished by eastern capitalists, and
for several years, since the railroads
were built. they did good business.
but what condition are they in now
The whole bushes of the country
being bankrupted, and yet the west is
SO stupid as to keep UP the denuncia-
ton of capitalists. The sooner you /
drop that free coinage business the bet /
ter il is for you and every citizen Of I
Kansas. You could not do anything /;
that would hurt Kansas more. than To 4
adopt the free coinage of silver, it 4
would be calamity 10 every citizen !
OF Kansas 10 have a measure of that /
kind adopted.
Now what would you gain TO change I
the gold standard for the silver stand /
ard? That IS exactly what viii take I
place il TIE coinage OF silver is made 1
free. vow viii lose $500. 900 0eo OF gold 4
in twentyfour hours time. That. Of /
course, VIII produce widespread bank 4
ruptcy. IL will bankrupt nearly one I
third of the business men OF the United 1
States. Such a contraction OF the foun- /
dalton money as that, could net take
place without doing immense harm.
Then what follows? Why you simply 4
change the standard or which three
quarters Of our foreign trade is car
ried on.
The trade OF this country with /
-esf 81. y