The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-07-17


is hardly proposition made to which
/ give my assent. l propose to contro-
vert many things which are stated as
facts, and shall attempt to prove that
the entire theory set forth by its author
if adopted by the people of this country
would lead only to business disaster
and financial ruin. do not remember
ever to have examined book carefully,
in which l found SO few statements
that / consider worthy of belief, and
certainly never saw SO many absolu to
errors crammed into so few pages.
Not Opposed to Bimetalism.
l am not here as an opponent OF BIZ
metalism. l believe in the use of gold
and silver as money to the fullest ex-
tent that can be done on sound busi-
ness principles. My position upon this
question has been too frequently stated
within the last five years to be misun-
derstood by anyone. l believe that both
gold and silver are the natural money
Of the world; that in all the larger
transactions gold is better adapted to
the necessities of the people than silver;
that all the smaller business transac-
tions of the human family for many
years have been and always should be
conducted with silver. l also believe
that in all transactions of the nations
of the world, between themselves, the
two metals should be used in the set
tling of business balances, but only at
their commercial value, 1 also believe
that in the business of our nation the
people should never attempt to use
either metal, except that it be at equal
value, only in cases where one metal
may be used as token money, and may
be made redeemable in metal at its coin
value.
Hopes for International Agreement.
l have always entertained the hope
that the business men of the world
would yet come together in an inter
national convention and agree upon
some basis whereby gold and silver can
both be used as the money of final set
tlement among the people of the entire
world. l am very clear i'll my idea
that until some such arrangement shall
be made, it would be simply suicide for
this nation to adopt a system of the free
coinage of silver upon the old ratio a
| ratio which all the civilized nations OF
the world have long since discarded. l
do not believe that any one government
can fix the value of any two metals,
and name ratio which will be &C
cepted by the people of the world, or of
the country itself, SO that the two met
ais would be used side by side. Con-
| sequently if our nation alone should at
tempt any such action, it would sim
ply place our country upon silver
basis, and the attempt
Would End In Monometallism.
If we are compelled to decide between
gold monometallism and silver mono
metallism, then l am decidedly in favor
of adopting the standard used by the
civilized nations of the world. do
not believe that silver has ever been de-
mouetized anywhere in the world. ]
believe that the law Of 1873, which Mr..
Harvey's book denounces as 'crime'
was honestly conceived, openly advo.
Gated and passed by the American con-
gress after full deliberation and because
the people at that time who held seats in
the American congress believed
that such a law ought to be
enacted do not believe in the teach.
ings of this book, that this nation is Oh
the verge of financial ruin, or tina,
starvation is staring our people in the
face. l believe if our nation shoulc
adopt the course advocated in thi!
book, we would seriously injure the en-
tire wage earners of the United States
believe we would destroy the conf
dence of the busines men of the wOrl(
in our integrity as nation, and tina
we would
| Precipitste Such Financial Panic
as our country has never before seen
/ shall deny most emphaticully that th'
great majority of the people of thi
country are in debt, and shall insis
that three-fourths of the American
people are today creditors and not de bt
ors, and that consequently the svsten
which Mr.. Harvey advocates woult
work great injury to the vast majorit.
of American citizens.
will state still further that if thi
book, about which we are going to de
bate, is true, then am all wrong l
seems to me devoid of business sens
from beginning to end, and shall
enter upon the work Of attempting t.
prove that and hope to be able to do i
in language that shall be so plain an,
explicit that my fellow citizens will b
satisfied that have accomplished m,
task. Understand me in few words
I believe that the American natior
should have just as good money as any
nation uses on the face of the earth;
believe that every dollar paid to q poo
man for his daily toll should be wortl
as much as the dollars paid to men VIII
are rich. I would have the none,
which measures values the
Most Stable That Can He Devised,
and would insist that buyers and sell
ers, lenders and debtors shall, as nea
rs possible, be required to use the sam
measure of values, and shall insist tina
reputation in all forms is disgracefu
and dishonorable in the case of nations