The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-15
Considers the Line of Battle
Drawn Between Safe Cur
rency and Silver.
WOULD ADVISE THE woRKMEN.
They Should Be Told That the White
Metal Is Only a DeIusion They
Are After.

lands reply to the Chicago committee:
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. c.,
April Is, 1S95.-Gentlemen: I am much
gratifed by the exceedingly kind and COM
plimentary invitation you have rendered
me on behalf of many citizens of Chicago
to be their guest at a gathering in the in
terest of sound money and wholesome
financial doctrine.
my attachment to this cause is so great
and 1 know so well the hospitality and
kindness of the people of Chicago that my
personal inclination is strongly in favor
of accepting your 1attering invitation. but
my Judgment and my estimate of the pro-
prieties of my official place oblige me to
forego the enjoyment of participating in
the occasion you contemplate.
81 hope, however, that the event will
mark the beginning of an earnest and
aggressivs effort to disseminate among the
people safe and prudent financial ideas.
Nothing more important can engage the
attention of patriotic citizens, because
nothing is so vital to the welfare of our
fellow-countrymen and to the strength,
prosperity and honor of our nation.
1.-THE situation confronting US demands
that those who appreciate the Importance
OF this subject and those who ought to be
the first to see impending danger should
no longer remain indifferent or overconfi-
dent.
''If the sound money sentiment abroad
in the land is 10 save Us from mischief and
disaster it must be crystallized and COM
bined and made Immediately active 1t is
dangerous to overlook the fact that a vast
number Of our people, with scant opportu-
nifty, thus far, to examine the question in
all its aspects, have nevertheless been in
geniously pressed with suggestions which,
in this time of misfortune and depression,
find willing listeners prepared to give Gre
dence to any scheme which is plausibly
presented as a remedy for their unfortu-
nate condition.
what is now needed more than any
thing else is a plain and simple presenta-
ton of the argument in favor of sound
money. In other words, it is time for
the American people to reason together as
members of great nation which can
promise them a continuance OF protection
and safety only so long as its solvency is
unsupported, its honor unsullied and the
soundness of its money unquestioned
These things are i'll exchanged for the illu-
sions of a debased currency and groundless
hope of advantages to be gained by dis
regard of our financial credit and CONNER
cial standing among the nations of the
world.
''If our people were isolated from all
others and if the question of our currency
could be treated without regard to our re-
lations to other countries its character
would be a matter of comparatively little
Importance. If the American people were
only concerned In the maintenance of their
precious life among themselves they might
return to the old days of barter and in this
primitive manner acquire from each other
the materials to supply the wants of their
existence. But if American civilization
were satisfied with this it would undoubt-
eddy fail in its high and noble mission.
I'm these restless days the farmer is
tempted by the assurance that though our
currency may be debased, redundant and
uncertain, such a situation will improve
the price of his products. Let US remind
him that he must buy as well as sell; that
his dreams of plenty are shaded by the
certainty that if the price of things he
has to sell is nominally enhanced the cost
of the things he must buy will not remain
stationary; that the best prices which
cheap money proclaims are unsubstantial
and elusive, and that even if they were
real and palpable he must necessarily be
left far behind in the race for their enjoy
ment.
1.-THE pages of history and experience are
full of this lesson. An insidious attempt
is made to create prejudice against the
advocates of a safe and sound currency by
the insinuation, more or less directly made,
that they belong to financial and business
classes, and are therefore not only out of
sympathy With the common people of the
land, but for selfish and wicked purposes
are willing to sacrifice the interests of
those outside their circle.
II believe that capital and wealth,
through combination and other means,
sometimes gain an undue advantage; and
it must be conceded that the maintenance
of a sound currency may in a sense be in
vested with greater or less importance to
individuals, according to their condition
and circumstances. 1t is, however, only a
difference in degree, since it is utterly i'm
possible that any one in our broad land,
rich or poor, whatever may be his occupa-
ton, or whether dwelling in center of
finance and commerce, or in a remote cor
ner of our domain, can be really benefited
by financial scheme not alike beneficial
to all our people, or that any one should
be excluded from common and universal
interest," in the safe character and stable
value of the currency of the country.
"In our relation to this question we are
all in business, for we all buy and sell; SO
we all hayeto do with financial operations,
for we all earn money and spend it. We
cannot escape our interdependence. Mer-
chants and dealers are in each neighbor-
hood, and each has its shops and manufac-
turers. Wherever the wants of man exist,
business and finance in some degree are
found, related in some direction to those
whose wants they supply and in another
to the more extensive business and finance
to which they are tributaries. A auctua-
ton in price at the seaboard is known the
same day or hour in the remotest hamlet.
The discredit or depreciation in financial
centers of any form of money from the
hands of the people is a signal of imme-
date loss everywhere.
IF reckless discomfort and wild expert
ments should sweep our currency from its