Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1895-06-14

VIII bne peOpie IMAM ROld, III always
had been the money of the people.
The people had never demanded its
taking off. The people had never ex-
pressed dissatisfaction with IL. For
four thousand years it had breasted in
the vanguard of humanity's progress.
In times of both peace and war 1t had
been the faithful, tried and trusted
friend of the toiler. You had sent il
forth in times of carnage and from 1856
to 1865 it armed and fed and clothee
the soldiers of your army. 1t passed
through that fiery ordeal and at the
conclusion of hostilities it came bach
20 you with it shining face unblotteo
and untarnished. In peace it had been
your mainstay and in war it was thu
metal upon which you relied; for gold
is cowardly money. When the first
shot ratified from the forts of Charles.
ton against the walls of Fort Sumter
this cowardly, craven golden metal
took its fight from among the moneys
of the country and hid itself away
Applause.
Gold Is a Coward.
Gold never was the money of the
people. Gold is the money of com
merce; gold is the money boarded for
war purposes; gold is the money used
in heavy financial transactions; gold is
the money of the money-hoarder ano
the money-handler. The horny hand
of the honest son of toll is not even
permitted to touch the sacred metal,
What is it? Is. it gold that provides
the loaf of bread to assuage and stay
the pangs of hunger when the son OF
toll comes to his humble home? No.
no. 1t is the shining silver piece that
passes from his sweated, sooty hand
across the counter to the baker Is il
gold that redeems and reclaims from
the clutch of night the humble home Of
the poor by providing him with the
tallow dip? Did he buy it with gold
coin? Never. He relies upon his long
tried friend, the silver metal, to give
him, not the Injuries but the necessi.
ties of life. This was the metal which
was murdered, and yet they tell us
the people of this country had no use
for it. My countrymen, the man who
assumes to advise and counsel, if not
instruct and guide and lead his fellow
man, owes a solemn duty to the people,
and that is TO be candid and to tell
them the truth. The secretary of the
treasury tells you in his speeches to-
day that are ringing throughout the
length and breadth of this land that
from 1902, when Jefferson esta blished
your American system of money, down
to 1878, when it was overturned, there
never had been but eight million silver
dollars coined.
That is technically true; substantial
ly it is false. 1t was not so intended,
but it is misleading and unfair state
ment Should not the honorable sec
rotary of the treasury, if he meant to
tell them what was true, have added
that whilst there were but SIS, 600, 600 of
silver coined in all this well-nigh sew
enty years there had been coined at the
minis of this country and put into cir
culation, not So, 600, 600, but $105, O00, 900
of silver money; only 5000, 600 dollars.
grant you, but nearly 500, 600, 900 Of
half dollars, quarters, dimes and five-
cent pieces of silver money was foated
upon the land. Would it not have been
fair to have told you that instead of
IS, 600, 900 there had been $105, 900, 600 of
silver? But would not it have been
fairer still if the secretary, after tell
ing you that, should have gone little
further and told you that between 1892
and 1860, 500, 900, 900 more of honest
silver had come into this country
Spanish, Mexican and Canadian coin
and been added to the money of the
people? Would it not have been fairer
for the secretary to have added that
the American congress had passed
law making legal tender these $780,
10000 of foreign Spanish, Mexican
and Canadian--silver which was equiv
alent to our having coined it ourselves?
Appeal for Fairness.
Would it not have been a fairer
statement, if instead of telling the
people that eight millions of silver had
been furnished to you from 1892 to
1878, if he had told you that sos, OO0,-
600 of silver had been put afioat in this
country and made legal tender by the
law of the landP But that is not all.
wish it were. He tells you that you
must adhere to single gold standard
because it is absolutely indispensable
and necessary to conduct our business
with the foreign nations of the world.
i answer and say that the heaviest
transactions we ever had with the for
eign powers of the earth were from
1866 to 1879 There never was period
in American history when your foreign
transactions were heavier in volume,
and yet during those thirteen years
while Europe was standing upon gold
and silver the United States never had
either. You had by law declared
suspension of specie payments, and for
thirteen years we did manage to carry
on our heavy foreign transac tions
without either gold or silver. We
settled our balances in trade, as they
were always settled.
But he wants gold and nothing but
gold, because it will circulate abroad.
Does this government of ours make and
issue money to circulate in Russia or in