Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-05-06

William A. Vincent. president of the
club in the chair. The $50 pupils
present were first served with a din
ner of six courses, and at 9 O'Clock
were in a fitting mood to hear what
wisdom the teachers had in store for
them. The unique feature of the
Waubansee clubs financial school lay
in the fact that it really was school,
that the pupils were there. the teach
ers were there and the whole affair
had in it a substantial and tangible
reality. Prof. Laughlin made a chart
talk. and addresses were delivered
by Senator Palmer, S Zeisler and T..
W. Knott, of Louisville. Letters of
regret were read from Secretary of
Agriculture j. Sterling Morton and
Hon. Ben L. Cable, the latter's being
as follows:
Rock ISLAND, May 2.-William A..
Vincent, President Waubansee Club.
My Dear Sir: 1 beg to acknowl-
edge the receipt ST your invitation
to attend the sound money ban
quet, which the Waubansee club pro-
poses to give on the evening of May
4. Unhappily for myself, am con-
strained to send you my regrets. A
business engagement OF too much
importance to be neglected requires
my presence in the east. and hence l
must forego the pleasure OF the eve
ning's entertainment to which you so
kindly bid me.
"At the dinner, If / correctly I'M
derstand your purpose, you propose
to ask an expression of opinion from
members of the club upon the wis
dom and expediency of the free and
unlimited coinage of silver at 4 ratio
to gold established some sixty years
ago under conditions OF relative value
vastly different from those that exist
today. From what | know of the
Waubansee club and it's sterling
democracy there is no doubt in nv
mind as to its answer. Its members
are not prepared to enroll themselves
as upholders of policy which, if
adopted by the country, would re-
pudiate one-half of the amount of all
Indebtedness, public and private,
except where payment in gold had
been distinctly specified in the con-
tract.
1.-The unsettling of values, the ire
mendous disturbance in the business
and industrial world that would fol-
low the adoption of free coinage in
this ratio, together with the inevita-
BILE sequence of hard times, of dis
tress and suffering in the laboring
community, of prolonged and cruel
to all classes, would of
themselves give answer even if one
did not meet upon the very threshold
Of the question considerations invit-
ing honesty and fair dealing between
man and man. A year hence the
same question will be submitted to
the democratic party of the state
and nation for answer. When one
bears in mind how sound has been
the party record in the past, it is
easy to predict what reply will be
given. 1t has held too firmly and
too consistently as principle OF eco
Monies that value cannot be created
by the mere stamp of the govern
ment upon piece of paper to COM
promise that proposition when for
paper is substituted a piece of silver
worth just one-half the legend that
the government die prints upon its
surface. Pecks cannot be made into
bushels nor quarts into gallons by
legislative enactment. nor can half
dollars be converted into dollars by
an act of even the most kindly and
beneficent of legislatures. 1t will
declare for'sound money, an offen-
sive term at times, and one that our
free coinage friends question our
right to appropriate; sbut under
whatever name, for a money-gold
and silver-that will withstand all
attempts to lower its value, that will
enter the melting pot as coin and
emerge as bullion, losing nothing in
the change from one to the other,
save the government stamp of weight
and fineness, and just as valuable in
the eyes of the world as before it
its journey. 1t will de-
clare for money Of both metals
coined in the ratio of their market
value, money that is intrinsically
sound because in the market of the
world the demands of mankind have
fixed it's value in determining the
value of the metals which compose