Crittenden press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1879-1907, 1895-06-06
personal.

Of gold which is alone the redemption
money Of the people. lie says, in round
numbers, that there are about two thousand
million of dollars in circulation of all de-
scription-g silver, greenbsck, paper,
Treasury notes, gold certificates and silver
certificates, nickle and copper-that this
two thousand million dollars is the standard
by which the values Of this country are
measured. ! say that IL not true, or if il is
true these advocates of sound currency are
to-day upon an absolute fiat money basis |
Whenever you put up a standard OF meas
urement by which 10 determine values, if il |
consists of anything except the final money !
in which all debts are 10 be redeemed, it is |
n fraudulent system, a rotten system, n fiat
system, with nothing on earth behind il to
make IL good. What sort Of position is
party that claims TO be par excellence the
advocate Of sound financial system and
then tells you it is measuring all values on
fiat money basis II there is but $685.
600, 900 Of redemption money in the coun-
try, il there Is but one million Of final re-
demption money, aye, IL there is but one
Code blessed dollar in all this land of ours
of final redemption money then that single
dollar constitutes the standard by which all
values in this land are measured. You can
not get away from 1t.
But that il not all. He tells the people
that Jefferson stopped the coinage Of sill
yer in this country. That is again n mis-
leading statement. 1t was under the Ad-
ministraton Of Jefferson that the coinage
Of the silver dollar was stopped, but if the
great Secretary Of the Treasury wanted to
be candid with the people who were listen
ing and who had so often honored him and
who, up to this very hour, so confidently
trusted him-if he wanted to be fair, why
did he not 20 on and tell them why JEFF
ferson stopped the coinage of the silver
dollar II was because we could not keep
il at home. Ii was at a premium over gold,
it WAS at n premium over sound money,
because of the eKtrs amount of pure silver
il had in il The minute you issued n sill
yer dollar from your mint it commanded
n premium Of from 10 per cent. 1t was
gobbled up, shipped abroad, recoined in the
minis Of Paris, another coin worth dollar
issued in its stead, and the surplus silver
pocketed Ms profit. The free coinage OF
the silver dollar was stopped by Mr.. Jeffer.
son not because it was not n good dollar
but because il was So good n dollar that We
could not keep it ut home for our use. II,
admits, and in this he is fair, that one o.
the causes Of the shrinkage Of values for tn,
last twenty odd years was the demonetiza
tion Of silver, but says il was not the only
cause. That is true; il was not the onlN
cause Improvements and progress mad,
in labor-saving machines, improved facil
titles for transportation and the interchang,
Of the products Of the earth, they are cause
that assisted In the reduction Of prices, anC
the Secretary Of the Treasury is too fair .
man 10 deny. and nowhere in the speeche
he has made have | found where he did
deny OF where he even intimated denia
Of the charge that the demons situation o
silver not only WAS one ofthe cause but Wa
he chici primary cause, Of this conhscstiol
Of property.
Think Of it, my countrymen, what wa
the effect produced upon you and me whel
that silver metal was stricken down. One
half Of the value Of your property in roun,
numbers was destroyed. Nor was that al
T The architects of this great financial Grim
Mid more. They not only destroyed one
: half the value Of your property, but the
? DESTROYED absolutely one-half of you
ability 10 pay your debts and one. half o
, your ability to earn slivelihood for yoursel
and family. ThIRb 9i6. what has been done
Enre.RtM pays US one for our Cord. 81
wura,, vui beef, our pork, our tobacco an,
our cotton. She paid as two dollars II
those years where she now pays US but one
But We still continue 10 pay, 20 this blesseC
hour. every year Ms il rolls by, to Europ,
two hundred millions Of gold as interest OF
the debt we owe them. No abatement OF
payments Of money to Europe, but Europ,
pays ne only one dollar for our surplu.
products where before she paid us two
There is the difference between the condi.
tion You were in and the condition you are
in. DO you vast Ia get back 10 the posi-
ton you held before2 Then get Europe 10
abste one-hali of the interest we pay her
or else get Europe to double the payment
she makes to us.
The output of gold throughout the
world for the year lss4 was less than 500.
100000. One hundred aud eighty million
dollars is the whole product Of gold Of
the world for the last year, and that is less
than the number Of gold dollars that we
send to Europe every year TO pay the inter-
est on the debt we owe her England owes
nobody to-day. She owes her debt TO her
own people. The balance Of the world
owes England ten thousand million Of dol.
lars. England says pay me in gold, in the
dearest money, and she would send up the
premium, not TO hundred per cent, but to
thousand per cent, grind labor into the
dust, bring poverty upon the masses and
starvation and misery SO that you give me
the pound Of flesh that is my due, the
pound nearest the heart. Give me my
money" says Shylock, "snd give it to me
in gold" The United States owes the bal
snce Of the world at the lowest estimste
.inks shnY,a.,,1 ,.,s1lf,, e