Birmingham age-herald., 1895-05-03
A SINGLE SILVER STANDARD
Is What This DeplorabIe Agitation Has for Its
 Continuation.
THE GREAT PARLIAMENT OF COMMERCE
Is the Only Lawgiver Whose Fiat Stamps the Medium of Exchange Education Is the Only Antidote for Folly.
 Depew on the Subject

Detroit, May 2.-The Detriot chamber of commerce was formally dedicated at
 noon today To celebrate the dedication
 a banquet was given in the Hotel Cadil- lac dining room this evening. Many dis tinguished guests from the state were
 present and occupied seats around the tables Covers were laid for $50.
 At the speakers table were Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, Comptroller of the Currency Eckels, John B. Blanchard of Chicago, G. V. N. Lothrop, Governor | Rich, Hon. H. D. Goulder of Cleveland | Hon. w. c. Mayburo of Detroit, O. D. Ashley president of the Wabash rail
 road, Mayor Pingree, President Gillett Hon. Thomas w. Palmer, who was the l toast master.
 Hon. w. C. Mayburo of Detroit was the l first to respond to toast, which was:
 No North, No South, No East, No West, | But the Commercial Supremacy of a | Great Nation
 Chauncey M. Depew responded to the | toast, "The Union of States; the Bond or l Commerce Is their Mutual Dependence and Enduring Prosperity"
 Hon. James H. Eckels spoke on Car rency; It's Relation to the History of tl- | nance."
 l The comptroller said in part:
 The discussion of the currency question l has been precipitated at a time when the l country is emerging from a period or 1 financial and commercial depression, | widespread and of long continued dura- | ton. It finds every avenue Of trade giv- | ing evidence of renewed activity, mills and factories again in operation and ag- riculture promising to those engaged Tn it's pursuit abundant harVeStS ana ap- preciating prices. It presses itself upon lffafr q with the employment which has come with the settlement of questions which | have long vexed the public mind, and af- | ter ample demonstration of the ability of | the government to maintain untalnteu | the public faith and the nations credit. 1 If under such circumstances the cause | of those who stand against the schemes | proposed to rid by means of law people | from making proper payment Of thelr
 1 just debts, and give them riches through Legislative action, cannot be sustained, l the experience of all monetary history | would. be reversed. If this contest shall | end otherwise than in the triumph of | that which is right in theory and sound | in principle, it will be because the Amer l ican people have lost much of that good | sense and honesty which great writer l declared, though sometimes permitting | an agitation for something wrong and | mischievous, always when the danger l point is reached brings forth mass of | opinion which, though ordinarily quies- 1 cent, at such times forces itself into ac- | tivity, puts down the wrong thing and
 peremptorily demands the right thing in l stead.
 1 1 believe we have come to point in 1 this discussion of our monetary system | and agitation for complete change in l our standard of value when this mass of | opinion should not only be aroused, but | should make itself an active force in l and tn the VaQariQS l of which the free silver movement as | today presented is the continuation. If the commercial and industrial re- | vival Is to continue, recurring loss to l every citizen prevented, natlonal ana | individual financial credit and integrity | maintained and ultimate disaster avert ed there must be no longer spirit of l hesitation in those who know the bane- | ful effects of the thing proposed There | can be no political ends to be served, no | party considerations to be advanced of | sufficient importance to warrant any | man in long debating as to the position | he should take when the financial honor | of his country is at stake and the pros perity of great people threatened | Here at least is no room for party and no place for the machinations of de- | signing politicians or arrant dema- | gogues
 The American people cannot too | quickly recognize that they are in the I | zealously being carried on with the end | in view of revolutionizing the coun- l trys existing monetary system. Those | who now direct the free silver idea, map | out the policy of it's advocates and con- | trol their action have ceased playing with words and put from them the pro- | fessions which heretofore have charac- | terized their utterances when urging the cause for which they have stood. Their demand today, interpreted in the light of their acts, is that the United States shall at once abandon its present stand ard of value and substitute therefor irrespective and without the co-opera- ton of any other. country, single silver standard.
 Nowhere is the intimation by the spon- sors for the latest tenet in the silver creed that this nation shall ever under take to maintain at home double standard. Nowhere is their promise given of an attempt through interna- tional agreement to make every dollar of silver which shall be coined the equal in value of every dollar of gold which comes from the mint and fairly inter- chafigeable herewith. They no longer give recognition to the fact, attested by every monetary union formed and con- ference held, that no nation can isolate itself from those with which it has com mercial dealings, and maintain, inde- pendent of them, a distinctive standard of value. It is not even designed that the dollar coined shall approach in in-