Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-07-05
GOLD MEN ON THE WITNESS


From the Memphis Commercial Appeal
In the resolutions adopted by the
friends of honest money at the Mem
phis convention on the 18th and 18th Of
this month there is one that pricks the
flesh of the gold contractlonists more than
any other. 1t is the resolution in which
the declaration is made that all candid
and well-informed men, whether mono
metallists or bimetallists, admit that Il
period of sustained or rising prices and
great prosperity ended and Il period of
falling prices and general depression be-
gan with the decentralization of silver.
Some of the advocates of the single gold
standard have labored desperately to
break the force of this declaration, and ig-
norant denials have come thick and fast.
They understand very well the difficulty
of making the people believe it a mere
coincidence that the world should have
plunged into period of depression and
tized silver and adopted the single gold
standard; that it was a mere accident
that universal prosperity came to an end
with the destruction of silver as full
money. and that widespread depression
in trade and industry came in with and
has attended the gold standard wherever
it has been established throughout the
civilized world. The young person who
is now writing in the place of the late
and much-lamented Mr.. Henry Waiter
son SCOTS and snorts with much ability
at this resolution, and tries to answer it
by reference to the decline from the high
war prices that prevailed from 1861 to
1865. Replying to the assertion that all
candid and well-lnfOrmed men admit the
facts alleged, this bumptious ignoramus
contemptuously AYERS that it is com
mon trick with dishonest advocates to
say that all men admit what all inteli-
gent men deny. SO far as the Courier
journal person is concerned, it is easy
enough to believe that he is speaking
out of the depths of a vast and lmmeas-
iect. and his performances may simply
be referred to his cone-shaped head
without raising any question as to his
morals or his motives. That the decla-
ration of the resolution in question is
literally and exactly true, we here re-
affirm, and we propose to establish it by
the best evidence that can be gathered
exclusively from authorities on the gold
side of the question. The language OF
the resolution thus brought IN question
is as follows: "Ihere are some facts
bearing upon this question recognized
and admitted by all candid men, whether
advocates of bimetallism or of the single
gold standard. Among these is the fac
that the very year that marked the
change from the bimetallc to the single
gold standard is the very year tina
marked the change from condition Of
rising prices, large profits, general con
tentment and great prosperity to a con
dition of falling prices, diminishing
profits, insecurity of investments, unem
ployed labor and heavy depression il
all branches of trade and industry. |
is not matter of dispute even among
honest advocates of the single golC
standard, that general prosperity cam,
to an end with the destruction of the bi
metallic system, and that hard times
idle workingmen and widespread de
preston came in with the gold stand
ard" The proposition is that this state
ment of fact is conceded even by the
honest and candid authorities on the
gold side of the question, and in proof Of
the truth of the statement we shall in
troduce a number of such authorize:
and let them speak for themselves. The
first witness is Mr.. David A. Wells. the
great American mOnOmetalist and stat
istician. No man i'm the country is more
devoted to the single gold standard OF
more implacably hostile to the whole
theory of bimetalism, and he is regard
ed as among the very abest exponent,
of the gold standard doctrine. The fol
lowing passages are quoted from hi,
work on Recent Economic Changes:
The existence of most curious and
in many respects, Unprecedented distur.
bance and depression in trade, com
merce and industry, which first manifest
ing itself in a marked degree in 1873 has
prevailed with fluctuations of intensity
up to the present time OSS9) is an econ
SEASON