St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-19
QUESTION AND ANSWER

QUESTION AND ANSWER
There has been nothing moro char
acteristic in the Chicago debate on the
financial question than the answers
Which We're given by Mr.. Horn and
MI. Harvey respectively to one of
the questions propounded to them
after the close of their regular de-
bate. We do not know who Mr.
Bolllnger, the gentleman with an in
curing turn of mind, may be, but he
summed up the practical aspect of
the silver question as it probably
presents itself to ninety-nine men
out OF every hundred who think
about it at all. This is what Mr.
boilnger asked: "Why is it I have
mad SO little silver or gold since the
passage of the act of 1892" Now
that is precisely what every fellow
Is trying to find out. His views of
the money question are largely DOM
mated by the amount of money
-'
his purse. Probably 80 per cent of
those who favor the free coinage of
silver at the present ratio have no
better reason for it than that thew
nave found money scarce and diff
cult to get during the recent years
OF Industrial depression. They have
d vague notion that if there were
more money in the country. the
snare OF each man would be larger
and in some mysterious and n,irao
ulous way they would get more than
they now have. This is what dis
turbs Mr.. Bollinger. He has not had
DIS much money as he wanted since
1913, and there are something over
oz'ooO,ooO people in the United States
IN his precise predicanent He
wants to know what is the cause
of it.
The answer of Mr.. Horn was ad-
mlrabiy concise and to the point He
SAID: 1T is impossible for me to tell
unless L know how you have been
behaving since 1871 That is q
fair, honest, and comprehensive an
sWer to the question. In the long
run in this world, men fare pretty
much according to their deserts
Ihere are many victims of unde-
served misfortune, and of business
or financial catastrophes which they
could not have foreseen. But
they are an infinitesimal percentage
OF the Whole. They compare with
the mass who suffer or enjoy abou+
according to their honesty, industry
and frugality, as the number of
people who are killed by accident
every year compares with the num-
Der of those who die of disease or
IN the ordinary course of nature. If
a man spends more than he earns.
or all that he earns, he will not have
money in his purse, though we coin
the very stones of the street into
currency. If a man is not industr;-
Gus and saving, he will not accum1I-
late wealth under any financial sys-
| TEN that the world has ever seen
Ii man bOrrows money under an
explicit agreement to repay nrin-
cipal with interest, he makes a bed
for himself so hard that it will rack
his bones for years to come. Bar
ring the cases of loss by sickness
ana such misfortune as financial
panic or crop failure, men who have
worked hard and lived economically
since 1873 have found themselves
able to get gold and silver and
| paper money. The men who refused
TO make the sacrifices necessary ia
the accumulation Of wealth could
not get hold Of money before 1873
unless they were spectators or dis
honest. So that Mr.. Horn was with
IN the lines of exact truth when he
said that the first condition to
knowing why a man found it diff
cult to get money is to know how
he has behaved himself. 1t might
have been his misfortune, but il
might also have been his fault.
Compare with this frank and hon.
est statement the answer of Mr.
Harvey. He said: my answer to
it is because we have been on 2
gold standard" The long and con.
tinued applause with which the re.
ports state that this reply was re.
ceived must have been made by
idle palms acting under the direc.
ton of empty heads. 1t is a frs
principle of the school to which Mr.
Harvey belongs to attribute ever,
calamity that it is possible for MAJ
to suffer to the act of 1873. AS the
Christian scientist processes to hea
all kinds of Affections by one uni
form remedy, SO these advocates Of
a financial faith cure attribute every
possible public or private failure
unhesitatingly to the act of 1873. i
is not the method of the student O.