The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-10-09
BEST ARGUMENT YET.
ssThe Conscience of the People Must
Be Aroused" or Bankruptcy
Inevitably Follow.

H. Harris delivered at the Gold and Sill
yer Club last Tuesday night:
The most important thing to do with
this question is to make balance sheet;
get clear statement of all the resources
and liabilities, and look all it's difficulties
squarely and fairly in the face.
1t may be assumed as true, beyond the
power of successful contradiction, that
these three things are established: First,
that both gold and silver is the money of
the constitution; second, that by the act
of 1889, which put the organic law OF this
country into operation the silver dollar Of
certain number Of grains of silver was
made the unit of value, by which every
thing was measured including gold;
third, that the act of 1873, by which sill
yer was demonetized. was surreptitiously
passed, by those who intended to strike
down one OF the primary moneys of the
constitution and substitute for the two
moneys, provided for by this constitu-
ton, "the single gold standard"
This last conclusion is not agreed to
by all of our people, but any one who
lived in 1873 and knows the facts of cur
rent history, as every we'll informed man
does know them knows it is true, and
those who deny it Stultify history as
well as themselves. | undertake to say
that do not believe that there were to
exceed twenty men in the United States
in 1873 that knew that silver was demon
etiZed. DR.. Stephens, of Decatur, Ill,
was one of these twenty. He told me
what the act was and what it's results
would be, and everything has happened
according to his prOgnO sticatlons, think,
therefore, it may be stated with all the
force of which the English language is
Ii %lo<,
of silver as one of the primary moneys
is all in favor of it's use, and none what
ever against it.
Mr. Gladstone is in favor of the single
gold standard. So would be were l Mr..
Gladstone. Mr. Rothschilds, Mr.. Morgan,
Mr.. Cleveland and Mr.. Sherman are in
favor of the single gold standard; so
would | be were | either of these honor
able gentlemen From the standpoint of
the very rich, | am prepared to say what
/ should believe in the single gold stand
ard. | have a profound respect for Mr..
Sherman: he is said to be worth three
million dollars, and | am not. | have
profound respect for Mr.. Cleveland.
A few years ago, before she was sheriff
of the city of Buffalo, he was content
with "a ten-cent lunch" and glad to get
it; today he is one of the rich men, of
this country
AS far as the argument is concerned
it is all on our side; but argument does
not count. This nation was never aroused
by argument and never will be, and I'M
til the nation is aroused. the settlement
of this subject on the lines of justice and
humanity is impossible The potential
force or the men who have the other side
Of this question in charge stands in the
n 10 bo
millions Of our people rs the fifty million
Japanese stood in relation to the four
hundred million unorganized Celestials
who opposed them.
Unless We can arouse the conscience
OF the nation, we may consider ourselves
lost. The conscience of this great nation
is as divine as the mind of Christ The
sense OF this nation is-wei the less
we say about the sense of the nation the
better it will be for our self respect We
all remember once upon time when the
conscience of this nation was aroused.
There was a great wrong being perpe-
trated and the heart Of the nation felt the
wrong.
| remember the Saturday afternoon |
read Uncle Toms Cabin 1t was an
old book, with the covers torn off but the
involuntary tears of childhood, and the
flushed face and flashing eyes, which my
mother perceived and sympathzed with
when she returned from town, testified to
the wonderful effect Of this Incompatible
book of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Under
the influence of Uncle Toms Cabin" |
would not have changed places with
the most noble senator of the South if he
were a STAKEHOLDER. The effect that it
had on my mind, it had on the nation.
1t was in this way, by appealing to its
moral sense and feelings, that the con-
science of this nation was aroused, and
when its conscience was aroused. and its
heart was warmed, there could be no
other result. 1t must do right
But, with this question, we seem to
have no way to arouse the conscience of
the nation. 1t is said to be mere ques-
ton of dollars and cents; it is said to be
a mere question of business polity: it is
said to be a question that concerns the
sense of the nation and not it's conscience
and its feelings. This is the largest
amount on the wrong side of the ledger.
and it is to be greatly feared that this
consideration alone will put us into the
hands of a receiver.
The spring of industrial and CONNER
cial prosperity for this great nation is in
a high mountain. It's streams and
branches should flow over all the land.
like the little stone that was cut out of
the mountain and filled the whole earth.
The desert places should be irrigated
thereby, and made to bloom and blossom
as the rose. This spring should light the
fires of thousand industries. million
spindles should turn in glad response:
But around this spring, whose limp:d
waters should quench the thirst of the
whole people, has been built an impene-
trable wall with lone small golden aper-
ture." Before this golden gate sit
Rothschilds, and Morgan, and Belmont:
and we'll in the 'front.' as if to afford the
other parties the protection of his mon
strous corporosity, sits our own stuffed
prophet" He mods, and a small golden
stream gushes forth, but not sufficient to
light the fires of industry. These people
hold the gate, they control the stream,
no matter what the result is,--be it pen
ury and want, be it a burden of gold
mortgages that cover the land as the
SHOWS in winter, the pinched faces of
little children; be it the drying up of the
spring of liberty and the substitution
therefor of the fetid cesspool of indus
trial slavery; be it all of these dire ca
lamit.eS and more. unless the people can
be aroused, they will continue to control
the stream
Now, what can be done? 1t is a very
difficult thing to determine The inter
ests of those who insist on the single gold
standard are antagoniStic to those whose
interests favor bimetailism | don't mean
their interests as patriots, but their self
ish interests as business men. and ac-
cumulatOrS of money. Business as m