The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-11-23
! | SHOULD |! Be 1|'.R|.El.
fhst ". j. Eryan Thinks en- This All
important Question Of 4
"a the Day.
LARGE AuplEHcE IN ATTENDANCE
Tho Grasping Msthods Of sha hsany
Grabbers Shown Up ma
Mastery Way.

Seats commanded good premium Tues
d day nighs. at Harmonic hall, where j. w.
Bryan, the brilliant ex-congressman from
Nebraska delivered a stirring speech i'll
favor of free coinage Of silver.
Judge Vanderburgh acted as president
and Henry d. Stocker, Jr., secretary OF the
Gold and Silver club, made brief address
that elected frequent applause. Ignatius
Donnelly was invited, by special request
OF Mr.. Bryan, to take a seat On the plat
form, which he Gid amidst hearty ap-
plause. ......... ....
MI. Bryan, on beifg introduced, in an
easy, graceful style at once began his ad-
dress. the substance OF which is as fol-
lows:
In advocating the free and unlimited
coinage, of gold and silver at 16 to l, we
are advocating q restoration OF policy
which existed in the United States from
1892 to 1878 There never was law
passed from the beginning of our govern
ment down to the act OF decentralization Of
1873 which Disseminated against either
gold or silver. During all that time soid
and silver were treated exactly alike.
They were admitted to the mint Gu equal
terms. and, when coined. vas made 1ll!l
legal tender for all public debts and prl-.
vate. No party in the United ISates ever
adopted a national platform which &C.
elared in favor of a gold standard or aa-
vocated discrimination against silver,
and yet those who advocate the coinage
Of gold and silver on equal terms are no"l
denounced as "cranks" and "lunatics,"
and the free silver sentiment is called
disease and a craze The Republican
platform of 1892 explicitly declared for
himeta!lism, but, as has been said some OF
those who were elected upon it repudlated
it by their votes in congress- The last
Democratic national platform contained
these words: eve hold TO the use or botn
gold and silver as the standard money Oh
the country, and to the coinage or poth
gold ard silver without the discrimination
against either metal or charge for mint
age" When we demand the free coinage
Of silver We simply carry out the declara-
Iian of the platform, which says that there
Will be 10 charge for n,lntage Wheh
we declare in favor OF unlimited coinage
of silver, we simply carry out che declar.-
alton OF the platform which insists that
against either metal because we now
have an unlimited coinage of gold. The
qualifying words used in the last Demo-
cratic national platform cannot be con-
str1ed to destroy the demand for free and
unlimited coinage When our opponents
tell us that we are disturbing the har-
mony Of the party, We answer that they
are the ones who are disturbing the mar
1nony Of the party, because III advocating
the gold standard they are advocating
that which the Democratic party mas
never favored. Y
We are in favor of the free coinage CT
both gold and silver because the coming
of money is function Of government anc
there is as much reason why money TOT
all the people should be coined at the ex-
npnse of all the people as there is that
the other work of the government should
be paid for by general taxation. There is
another reason for the free and gratult-
Gus coinage of both gold and silver. The
only idea of sound money that most OF
the gold advocates have is that the money
should be made OF a material which Is
worth as much in the form OF bullion as
in the form of coin that is that sound
money should not lose any value by melt
ing. This definition OF sound money be-
trays the absolute ignorance OF the money
question. According to that definition
silver dollar in Mexico is just as sound
a money as gold coin in England.
In England gold is the standard ana
the pound sterling is defined by law TO be
. certain weight of gold Of a certain fine
ness. and since the holder Of that amount
Of gold can always convert it into money
a. the mint price there can be no differ
ance between the bullion value and the
coinage value Of gold. Since the pound
only purports to be worth a certain
amour. Of gold bullion 5here never can be-
any material f'uctuatio1. The same is
true of silver in Mexico. because there the
country has a silver standard, and the
Mexican dollar is defined as certain
weight of silver Of a certain tineness, and
the holder Of that amount of silver can
convert IT into dollar at any time
Therefore there can never be any material
difference between the bullion value and
the coinage value of the Mexican dollar.
Accordin ne to the definition given by the
advocates OF sound money silver in Mex
len is. Il sound currency. The only way
however in which the bullion value and
The coinage value can be made the same
is to give free and unlimited coinage in
hath metals. II a charge is made for
coinage that charge will create q differ
ence between the bullion and coinage va
,3es IN other words il the government
should charge cents for converting rs
and S-1Oth grains Of standard gold into
dollar then the market value OF that
weight of gold could never be more than 80
GEMS because the holder OF the bullion
would never pay cents to have it con-
verte;i into dollar if he could sell the
hnliion for more than IS cents. Free
coinage is, therefore. necessary in order 10
have a money which will not suffer in
value from melting We are in favor Of
the unlimited coinage Of silver because
w. have the unlimited coinage OF gold.
and must treat them exactly alike in order
to have binletallisn. Some have advocated
ed the free coinage OF the American prod
ltct only. but this is Objectionable for sew
erai reasons In the first place to advo-
cafe the free coinage Of American silver
only is to give color to the argument tina.
The silver question is CT Importance only
4, the mining states, whereas the silver
question is as broad as humanity. The
st:ste of Minnesota is interested in the free
and unlimited coinage OF gold and silver.
not because it produces either. but because
# 7,ses. both and needs all the gold and all
+he silver. available for coinage. The lin
station placed upon the amount Of silver
IA he coined is Of no effect unless it ex-
cI,,,ies some silver from the mint; that is,
if the amount to be coined is great enough
IL take all that comes then the limi-
fation is of no Importance. II, on the
x. -1...J.