The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1896-09-17
ind it hard to find the 100 per cent.

find it hard to find the 100 per cent.
advance.
He says IN substance, if we coin
all the silver in the world we will get
a corner on it. That is as sensible as
was the purpose of the old salt who
was asked what he'd buy if he was
immensely rich:
All the 'baccy in the world" was
the immediate reply.
What else if you had money 10
spare?" persisted the questioner.
More 'baccy" was the response.
1T seems - me that Mr.. Bryan's
scheme to get all the silver in the
world and then look for more cannot
be for the good of us farmers. Hard
mp we certainly are, but we must be
certain a change will be for the better
try it.
Granting that the price of silver
would come mp to the value of gold,
wherein are we benefited. Would
there be not the same dear money"
Mr., Bryan now talks of and to which
he attributes the prevailing low
prices Can the United States alone
not only check the downward tenden-
cy of silver. but restore it to a parity
with gold? think not 1t does not
stand to reason. Mr. Bryan will find
it hard to convince people that it can
be done. He is putting his unsup-
ported opinion against the experience
of the world Although he is a bright
speech maker | cannot take his word
against the usage and experience of
the world
Il have been studying. history a
little and [ find that in every instance
in which there were two grades of cur.
rency established i'll a country the loss
valuable drove ont the more valuable.
In our own country [ find that silver
drove ont gold when We began as a
nation because the ratio was not the
just one and gold was more valuable
than silver. When the ratio was re
versed gold drove out silver. When
greenbacks came both silver and gold
were driven ont.
The government then took hold of
silver on its own account. not free
coinage, and kept it at a parity by
limiting It's coinage and controlling its
circulation. But under the law of
1890 more silver was being coined
than 1t was thought the government
could maintain at parity with gold
In 1880 the government received Ill
most 81 per cent of its custom duties
in gold. The remainder was paid in
silver, certificates, treasury notes and
greenbacks. In 1891, only 40l per
cent was paid in gold In 1892 less
than Is per cent. was paid in gold In
1893 less than / per cent. The gold
reserve was being eaten away by with
drawals and its source of supply was
stopped, solely because the issuance
of silver certificates and coming Of
silver Yves feared to be in excess of
what the country could carry. Here
[ find proof close to the present that
the poorer metal will drive ont the
better
president Cleveland stopped this
business by calling an extra session
of congress which repealed the Sher-
man law. But the fear Of silver
basis had resulted in reducing our
gold reserve. We were in the condi-
ton of a bank which could not pay its
obligations We farmers in Mantle
voc county know what that means as
we had two failures Of banks and we
know what our losses were. But
Cleveland was equal to the occasion.
He sold bonds and filled up the treas
ury with gold and STOPPED THE RUN.
The condition of the treasury was
brought about by too much silver and
the fear we would go on silveebasis.
Cleveland stopped that and kept our
money good. though TO do so he had
to sell bonds. He had to do it quick
~ or all would be lost and perhaps
did not make as good q bargain as he
could have done if he had time. But
HI SAVED THE BANK or in other words
the treasury and kept our money
good. Bryan blames him for this and
SO does the Chicago platform. because
had he not done it we would be on q
silver basis and would be forced to
free coinage Bnt | think Cleveland
did just right and so think my neigh
bOrs. We don't believe in letting
banks break down, if it can he pre-
vented evHn by borrowing money.
Il will give you some more of my
h0mespun views next week"