The Van Buren press., 1895-08-10
Reply 70 Secretary Msrtsn.
70 the Editor Of The Republic.


GLASGOW, No., July 27.-It IL aI
recent converts to the single gold
standard ~ tho basis Of our financial
scheme are sndeavoring 10 show that
tho great mass Of the people are
ignorant Of the first principles Of
finance. These parties are much mis-
taken In regard to qualifications Of the
people TO judge Of these questions. The
people have been reading and studying
these questions, and many Of these new
dedged patriots who now assume to be
par excellently honest arc very anxious
70 begin campaign Of education that
they may educate the ignorant masses.
Some Of the arguments they use are
amusing, and some are an insult to the
intelligence Of the American people.
Az evidence Of the truth Of this asser-
tion I would call attention to q recent
emsnatjon from one Of the Cabinet
ofncers, the Hon. ]. Sterling Morton,
who presents IN object lesson to
illustrate moro forcibly his position on
the money question. His article Is
published In The Republic Of July 25th.
and The Republic prefaces the letter
with c0mmendation, THAT he IL
probably the most able and ready letter
writer Of the present administration and
who 10 generally recognised ~ . hard
hitter when he hits. -
Now, get the article and read II.
Here is In substance his object lesson
He presents the case Of good citizen In
cash In hand. . large lot Of land. Many
citlsens arrived ct the hotel the night
before the sale. 10 Of whom had each
u 900 In silver and one man had u 900
IN gold coin. That night the hotel
burned and the silver and gold coin
were al melted and became - bullion.
Now, what does our wise Secretary say
In order to prove that the silver dollar
u dishonest money! He admits, under
the law, - It stands, the 200 silver
standard dollars will buy ~ much land
- the 81 900 In gold. But after the
coin u 20 melted q to become bullion,
he says the 90, 900 in silver is worth
only about q 900, while the gold
bullion II worth nearly the 81 200. And
yet our learned Secretary failed to
inform his readers that the reason Of
this was because the gold owner could
90 to the Mint and have his bullion
recoined but the silver owner, by reason
Of the law Of 1873. could not have his
bullion recoined. Now will he dare
deny that II this incident had happened
prior to 1873 the loss to the silver men
would have been about the same q the
gold mani
You see he measures the gold bullion
according to It's value, having the
~ IwaA
measures the silver at it, commercial
value. with the privilege Of recoinage
denied under the law, and yet with this
kind Of subterfuge he attempts to
deceive the people by intimating that
gold II sound money and silver unsound,
whom common honesty would have
impclled him TO have stated that, by
reason Of the discrimination IN favor Of
gold. the silver men lost. II / under.
stand properly the position Of the
bfmetallists. It Ia that good faith
requires that silver bo frst restored to
it, position prior TO 1873. and then II
within reasonable time the parity Of
the two metals cannot be retained, then
alter the ratio. The people feel that It
b dishonest In regulating the ratio to
take the standard value Of gold and the
commercial value Of silver n tho basis
Of the ratio.
I tell you. Mr.. Editor, the people
cannot b deceived by such sophistry.
They demand fair dealing and fair play.
They arc tired Of this double dealing.
OF this we have another example In
tho platform Of the % called sound
money convention Of Memphis. They
. declare 1--WE favor the policy Of
the country. standing In the attitude Of
readiness. at al times, TO co operate
with other powers In any effort they
may inaugurate looking to the adoption
Of true bimetAllism. - Here is . com
plete surrender Of financial independ-
ence and complete subssrviency to
foreign powers.
They go further. They indorse the
sound currency publication in New
York. from which take this quotation,
volume ., page 80: ''Gold mono
metallism is the unavoidable destiny Of
this country, The sooner We recognise
this and fix It in our laws. the sooner
will we reap the fruits the longer we
defer the recognition the more we
impede and postpone it's establishment
by law. For bimetallism Ia \