The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-03
POLITICAL TERMS.

When Secretary Carlisle made his speech
in Memphis for the maintenance of the
gold standard, he called it a defense of
''sound money" and when Bryan of Ne
braska answered him in an argument for
the free coinage of silver at the present
ratio, he called it plea for "honest
money" When Senator Sherman gave his
views upon the financial question before
the Republican Convention in Ohio, he de-
clared for 'bimetallism," and when SEN
ator Hill of New York in an interview
commented on the speech, he said he did
not know what Sherman meant by the
word. Now comes the New York World
with summary of the views of the mem
bers of the present Congress On the subject,
and divides them into three classes: free
coinage men, bimetallists and gold men.
1t is evident from all this that in the COM
ing campaign financial terms are going to
be freely juggled with for political uses
and that no man will be able to compre-
bend party declarations simply because he
understands the meaning words have in
the dicti onary.
If we are to accept the terms as used in
the cases cited, 'sound money" will mean
gold, "honest money" will mean silver,
and bimetallism will mean Joint use OF
both sound money and honest money, pro-
vided Europe will agree. This use of the
terms does violence to common-sense and
financial science, but we will probably
have to accustom ourselves not only to
hear it but to talk it. 1t is not the first
time that politics has put this tax upon
our intellects. We have grown familiar
with hearing total abstinence called "tem-
perance," we have heard purity of election
laws called 'force bills" we have re-
peatedly seen the narrowest partisans mas
querade as "non-partisans," and it would
require diligent search to find any kind of
political folly, imbecility and backsliding
IN statecraft that has not at some time and
some place managed to go through a cam
paign under the name of reform
1t is not altogether a misfortune to the
American people that their politics is so
prone to this sort of confusion. By the in
cessant misuse of terms they are trained
not to rely too much upon words, but too
analyze them and look beneath them for
the idea which they have been so cum
ningly used to conceal. No intelligent
voter in this country casts his ballot for a
11ONSlASnlJ d nOu-paTL1Sdn
movement or reform movement"
simply because he is in favor of those
things in their literal significance, for he
has been trained to judge them by some
thing bigger than dictionary. This
training will be of much use in the next
two years. A few politicians may believe
they can deceive the people by the vague
use of such terms as sound money, honest
money and bimetallism, but they will find
themselves mistaken. By the time the
campaign comes on those phrases will
have ceased to have any effect on the
popular mind and the voters will demand
to know of every candidate whether he
favors the free coinage of silver at the
present ratio of this country without in
ternational agreement, whether he favors
it subject to international agreement, or
whether he is opposed to it altogether and
desires the continuance of the existing
standard.