The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1895-07-03

yer miners generally desire to es.
tablish the silver standard, and to
expel all the gold from the coun-
try, because they wish to make a
market for their silver bullion.
They do not care in the least that
this will cost the laboring men of
this country from ten to twenty
billions of their earnings. Their
hired attorneys who are every
where blatant for silver monomet-
allism do not care forssanything ex-
cept to earn their fees. There are
Dugald Dalgettys of politics who
will take a fee to advocate any.
thing, and who would be willing
to destroy half the wealth of the
country in order to get a bride of
500. These may safely be treat
cd as Dante treated men Of the
type whom he found in his Inferno:
quadrate passa-glance at them
aud go on.
But the mass of those who rally
to the silver banner care nothing
for silver nor yet for gold. What
they wish is a cheap currency.
The silver miners and their attor-
neys tell them that the Govern
meut stamp can add the fifty cents
lacking in the bullion value of the
silver dollar. They admit, and
are pretty we'll strengthened i'll
the belief that it can add 100 cents
as well as fifty. The winning ele-
ment proposes to throw off so per
cent. Of the debts of their allies;
the latter, not to be outdone in
generosity; propose to throw off
be other 80 per cent.
The mining element has the
nest money, but the others have
the numbers. They look on free
silver AS only a way station to ir-
redeemable paper. 1t has leaked
out that the Populists on the Com
mittee OH Resolutions at Memphis
compelled the others to strike out
the words redemption money
from the platform, they being
"agin redemption" They argued
that there could be no such thing
as redemption money, as indeed,
there cannot be when the country
is flooded with irredcemable paper
in quantities so great as to exceed
the resources of the strongest Gov.
eminent to redeem. There was
no redemption for the French as
signats or the Confederate curren.
cy. These are the models which
the Populists propose for our imi
tation in establishing currency,
The silver mining interest is in.
significant as compared with the
other great interests of the coun.
try. The few nine owners have
accumulated large fortunes, and
have good deal of money to ex.
pend in effort to induce the PEG
pie to ruin themselves to make a
market for silver. They look to
the advocates of cheap money to
help them out in this struggle. At
the same time the Republican con.
vention of Colorado last fall, after
declaring for free silver at the "di
vine ratio" Of 16 to 1, denounced
the Populists because they advo.
Gated paper money. But when
the fifty cent dollar wins the fight,
if it ever should the victors would
not stop there. They would be
wiling to allow the miners to coin
their silver, but they would insist
that the government should Issue
"direct to the people" an unlimit
ed supply of irredeemable paper,
which under their treatment woul,'
speedily become OF something like
the value OF the French assignats.
The battle for unsound money
will so on till it is squenched
Those who imagine that the Popu.
list animus back of the movement
will be satisfied with ffty.cent
dollar are cherishing a cruel illu.
sion. To the mind Of a Popnlist
any dollar with intrinsic value is
All outrage. A fifty cent dollar is
just half as great an infamy as a
lGO-cent dollar. Of the two he
prefers the cheaper, but he would
vastly prefer dollar that was
good for paying debts and nothing
else. If lie could pay d 100000
debt with the price of a bushcl of
potatoes he would still be bowling
tor more money, and complaining OF
tie contraction of the currency.
The hunger for cheap money is in
satiable. Silver monometallistn is
only a way station on the road to
irr. nnn,n l.. tr