The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1895-06-15
Danger OF Popular Revolt.

~ NilNt lllSultllolN aI-
ro2ant - Tleir contempt of bimetal-
lls1l, The relclstag has declared for a
9llnetalllc conference after a heated dis
eussion Ill which it was loudly declared
that the present. policy is running the
agricultural 3rferests and is simple ds.
struction to debtors. Within five hour.
OF the publication of this fact in Wash.
nlglOn OFe :"n senate tool most sig
nlficaLt ..GtIOn. Public men in both
houses limited at their belief that the
war Oh silver hal gone too far. and on
the next day Senator Chandler openly
confessed that New England was
alarmed at the general tendency of
prices and business, He said, and il
was a most amazing confession for him,
that the present policy was most unjust
to debtors; that if the Republicans did
not carry out their pledges il aid Of sill
yer there was danger Of a popular re-
volt; that England as the great creditor
nation had destroyed bimetallism in
her w selfish interest, and the United
states had acquiosced to the injury Of
Its people.
Several English writers have recently
been honest enough to put their adyo,
cacy OF blmetallism Oh the g,aund that
there has been such ~shrinkage of the Sc
c~urities Oh which debts are based that
hundreds Of millions Of bonds have been
made worthless. Nh. David Murray,
addressing the London capitalists in re-
gard TO Australia, says: "Banks ad-
vancod on securities at as safe q margin
as their advances were made 20 to 80
years ago These margins have now dis
appeared. The produce of the colonies
has fallen in value ono-half; the estates,
the runs, the mines, the farms, ali pro-
dUcing factors, have fallen i'll like ratio,
not from scant production, but from
diminished prices. Ee gives a loud
warning to the British creditors that
their debtors can bear 10 more. Need |
repe2F his warning to Our money
lords? Need / point to the c0ntinu-
Gus and rapid decline in farm val
Ues, to the -, 900 farms in the west
taken in BY mortgage III one year, to
tie fact that thousands of farms are
now worth less than even the most
cautions lOaning companies were will
ing to advance OF them ten years AGO,
and that III consequence our farmers,
once the most conservative class in
the world, are now the most radical po-
litical i~nnOvators? Will western toilers
submit to pay 81 where they agreed t.
pay but 81?
From Coin" to Gold.
a brief bit Of history is here in order.
1t Is within the memory of all men of
my age that during our civil war the
government inflated the currency at
least $50 per cent; that in 1S65-7O it
was suddenly contracted by the retire
ment of interest bearing notes, by the
drift OF money to the south and to the
new west, and that the people We're con-
fronted with the task Of paying public
and private debts in q money worth at
least 40 per cent more than that in
which they We're contracted. The strug-
Gle was long and doubtful. Even with
all their wonderful prestige from the
success Of war and emancipation the
Republicans twice lost Ohio On that is
sue and twice carried it nv less than
10, 0O9 plurality. We who advocated re
sumption in cOiD--aud | trust | mav
Without cggti5m mention my OWn eE-
perience as 4 speaker and writer in the
causo-had flung at US daily the charge
that we were helping the bOndholder
and usurer to rob the producer. We
could make bat reply: 1t is the let
ter Of the contract; gold and silver are
the money Of the constitution. 1t is
hard indeed to pay 81 where only 20
cents was promised, bat the country
awards it, and the law doth give it.
Iho people hesitated long, but with a
sigh confessed that tho letter Of the
contract was against them, ana with
sublime horOislI voted to keep it.
Scarcely, however, had the verdict
for "honest money been rendered whana
we were confronted with the claim that
Ill place OF tho old specie basis in which
the debt had been contracted We must
pay with one coin. Ia vain did we point
10 the written contract. Oar eastern
friends, admitting that it was accord
Ing to the letter Of the constitution, de-
c!ared that the spirit and understanding
or lC We're Tor payment Ill gold alone. AS
between greonbacks and coin we had
urged the letter. Now as between gold
ana silver we We're to observe the spirit.
Monometallist Absurdities.
The reasons advanced for monomet.
alllsm have been many and ingenious,
and new ones have been urged as the
old ones had to be thrown aside. The
1lrst was that silver is too bulky, but
that is now obsolete. We do not carry
large SIMS of coin; we use paper. Next
u was Mgel that Wa shnnld he nt dis.