The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1895-11-29
nR. GARLIsI.R,s sPREGE.

Last week Secretary Carlisle address
ed the members and invited guests of
the New York Chamber Of Commerce,
in the banquet hall of the Delmonico.
It seems TO be customary for the guard
ians of the public purse to make annual
pilgFimages to New York city and pay
homage and renew their ALLEGIANCE to
the money lords of Wall street. It viii
be remembered that in 1891, on such an
occasion, William Window, then secre-
tary of the treasury under Harrison,
fell dead at the banquet table after de-
liyering mis- address.
Carlisle's speech was, of course, for
the gold standard. He also urged the
retirement of the greenbacks, the ces-
satiOn of silver coinage, and the doing
away with ambiguous phrases in party
platforms and public utteFances. The
time has come, and it should be hailed
with delight by all honest men, when
lying and double-meaning platforms
can no longer deceive the people, and
Mr.. Carlisle strikes a popular chord
when he asks for honest declarations.
The astute secretary characterizes
the greenback issue as the "fundament-
al vice Of the currency system" and at
It's door lays the blame of the drainage
of gold. To the majority Of people who
are accustomed to think for themselves
there will Turk d suspicion that Mr..
Carlisle is trying to clear his actions
from blame in the matter by accusing
the greenback. The law gives the secre-
tary Of the treasury the option to re-
deem paper currency in "coin, " and this
option Mr.. Carlisle has steadfastly re-
fused to recognize as meaning anything
but gold, thus giving the gold kings an
opportunity to loot the treasury at will
1t was never intended that the govern
meut should pay out gold on demand
for the convenience Of individuals in
the matter of foreign exchange, and
it would never have been done but for
the treachery of treasury officials. The
greenbsCk, hampered as it was by the
exemption clause, was a potent factor
in putting down the southern rebellion,
and that which proved good in time of
war certainly could not be vicious in
time Of peace.
Carlisle ridicules the assertion that
the government can create money by
placing its stamp on paper or any other
material, and by so doing ridicules also
the constitution of the United States
and all authorities on that question
since the age of barter.
That money is a creation of law, and
not of nature, cannot for a moment be
questioned. The states delegated to
congress the power to coin money and
and to fix its value, and to emit, also,
bills Of credit. No less an authority
than Henry Clay declared that "what-
ever the government agrees to receive
in payment of public dues, is money,
no matter what its form may be-"
Judge Tiffany, on constitutional law,
says "there is legally no such thing as
gold or silver money, or paper money.
Money is the sovereign authority i'm
pressed on that which is capable of tax
ing and retaining the impression. That
upon which the stamp is placed is call
ed coin; the coin may be metal, parch-
ment or paper. The value is in the
stamp and not in the metal or ma
terial."
The secretary's speech from begin
ming to end bristles with inconsistent
Cies, carefully secreted beneath seem
ingly plausible theories, worded to
deceive, It's import outlines a policy
of contraction that means widespread
disaster to the debtor and laboring
Glasses and the creation of a panic the
like of which was never experienced in
this country.