The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-05-16

s J are BTdpeIuI TOT the sovereign bounty,
 But in 0 republic there is no room for
 humility or gratitude Pensioners there 0 fore cannot but regard as a right that < which is no right at all, but charity. 8 A charity would bring humiliatloni
 therefore pensions are right. A million of citizens living under such notions . and scattered all over the country can - not fail to communicate their ideas to $ their millions of neighbors. Their neigh
 bors begin to ask Why should we not
 have rights? Have we not rights? If one class is to be supported in idleness, , why not another? The war ended thir- ty years ago; it cannot be that the
 whole million are disabled and impover- ished veterans. If the government be . Q paternal institution, where does our share of the paternity come in?. Why should we be omitted? Let us band to-
 gether and see what we can do. If the government be for plunder, we will have
 our share of the spoil
 This is the position of the silverltes
 For their plunder they propose forcing
 the United States to pay them dollar
 for every fifty cents worth of silver they
 have on hand, or can control. What may become of the finances of the coun-
 try in the process; it's commerce; its in-
 dustries and it's relations to the other
 countries of civilization, are not matters
 in which they are interested. Pension-
 CTS may point to their wounds and to
 their services. The silverites have ad-
 vanced the paternal idea beyond the ne-
 cessity of any pointing at all. Such
 simple, old-fashfoned ideas as patriot
 ism, self-sacrifice love of country, can
 have no place in the thoughts or actions
 of such people.
 The plea that free coinage would be
 followed by such an appreciation that
 silver would soon be on Q parity with
 gold is false, as no one knows better
 than the silverltes themselves. If they
 believed such result would ensue, they
 would not advocate the measure. The
 object of the movement would be de-
 feated. which is that for each fifty cents
 worth of silver they receive the value
 of gold dollar If the silver dollar be-
 came the equal of the gold dollar, they
 would not be benefited, their labor would
 be lost, they would only receive for their
 silver coin it's exact value. The silver
 it's know exactly what they are about;
 nor can they be accused of disinter- ested affection for silver. They propose
 taking their plunder in gold.
 This is the pure and simple statement
 of the case as it stands to-day, divested of all casuisty, subterfuge and deceit. The pensioners have shown the way, the sllverites propose following. Who
 will come nexta
 There are other matters involved of
 more general interest Every civilized country needs a fixed standard; that is,
 a standard as fixed as can be. An ab-
 solutely invariable and unvarying stan dard is, of course, impossible. This
 point Is automatic, acknowledged by
 every one. The United States standard is the dollar Years ago its was regu- lated to contain so much gold or so much silver. At the time so much gold was worth so much silver. Up to not many years ago the relative value of the silver and the gold dollar varied but slightly But within not many years the far greater production of silver has so l cheapened that metal in the markets | of the world that the silver dollar of | to-day is intrinsically worth but lit- | tie more than half the gold dollar. A | fact which does not seem to be suffi- | ciently consideredl is that the gold | dollar has also depreciated. The stan dard gold dollar of to-day will not begin to purchase what 1t purchased | fifty, or even thirty, years ago. Owing | to improvements i'm manufacturing pro cesscs, a large number of fabrics and | products are much cheaper even in com parison with the present reduced in trinsic value of the standard dollar. But all substances and services of a nature not to be affected by modern inventions and improvements, are in comparison with the dollar vastly dear CT. Fifty years ago three hundred dol lars was a salary on which a clerk could live comfortably. Six hundred dollars a year supported clergyman | and family in respectable style. Twen- ty thousand dollars was fortune. One hundred thousand dollars consti- tuted an exceptionally large fortune. Before the war, good board in re- spectable family could be had from two to four dollars a week. Two per- sons could live luxuriously at the most expensive hotel in the country for twenty-five dollars a week. A student could go through Yale on five hundred dollars year and have plenty of pocket money. The best cut of beef cost eigh- teen cents pound Consult your cash book for to-day's prices for all these things. The greater depreciation of sil- yer Is used as an argument by the silverites to blind the eyes of the pulp lie and to lead them to infer that gold has appreciated, and that the intrinsic value of the gold dollar Is beyond the standard originally established and ac- cepted. The slightest examination any one may make will suffice to prove that this assertion is as absurd and as false as any of the other assertions put forward by the slverites. The people of the United States who propose keep ing the silverites in their business must confess frankly their intentions and their expectations. The rest of us are not deceived Perhaps when all of us are engaged In robblng the govern ment; then, and not till then, will we find out that, as we are under a republi- can form of government, we have been 1 robbing ourselves,
 The purpose, pure and simple, of the silverites is to reduce the standard 50 per cent in their favor at a jump, expecting to get out from under the crash with their booty before the coun-