Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1896-09-04

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all of the silver and paper money which
are now included in the currency of the
country. 1t will maintain their parity.
1t will preserve their equality in the fu-
ture as II has always done in the past.
1t will not consent to put this country on
q silver basis, which would inevitably
of 16 to 1. 1t will oppose the expulsion
of gold from our circulation.
Farmers and Laborers Suffer.
If there is any one thing which should
be free from speculation and fluctuation
1t is the money of country. 1t ought
never to be the subject of mere partisan
contention. When we part with our la
Dor, our products or our property We
should receive in return money which ia
as stable and unchanging in value as the
ingenuity of honest men can make it. De-
basement of the currency means destruc-
tion of values. No one suffers SO much
from cheap money as the farmers and la
Lorers. They are the first to feel its bad
effects and the last to recover from them.
This has been the uniform experience of
all countries, and here as elsewhere, the
poor and not the rich are the greater
sufferers from every attempt to debase
our money. 1t would fall with alarming
severity upon investments already made:
upon insurance companies and their pol
depositors; upon building and loan asso-
cations and their members; upon the saw
ings of thrift; upon pensioners and their
families, and upon wage carners and the
purchasing power of their wages.
Irredcemablc Paper Money.
The silver question is not the only issue
affecting our money in the pending CON
coinage of silver, it's strongest champions
demand that our paper money shall be
issued directly by the Government of the
United States. This is the Chicago Dem
ocratic declaration. The st. Louis peo-
ple's declaration is that "Our national
ernment only, without the intervention of
banks of issue, be full legal tender for
the payment of all debts. public and pri-
vate, and be distributed "direct to the
people. and through lawful disbursements
of the Government"
Thus. in addition to the free coinage of
the worlds silver. we are asked to enter
upon an era of unlimited irredeemable
paper currency. The question which was
fought out from 1865 to 1879 is thus to
be reopcncd and all its cheap money ex-
eriments of every conceivable form foist-
ed upon us. This indicates a most start
ling reactionary policy, strangely. at va,
finance: but the declaration shows the
spirit and purpose of those who by COM
bined action are cOntcnding for the con-
troll of the Government. Not satisfied
With the debasemcnt of our coin which
would inevitably follow the free coinage
of silver at 16 to 1, they would still fur
ther degrade our currency and threaten
The public honor by the unlimited issue of
an irredeemablc paper currency. A gray-
er menace to our financial standing and
credit could hardly be conceived and ev-
"ry patriotic citizen should be aroused to
promptly meet and eifectually defeat it.
1t is cause for painful regret and So
i icltude that an effort is being made by
those high in the counsels of the allied
parties to divide the people of this coun-
try into classes and create distinctions
among us which. in fact, do not exist and
are repugnant to our form of government.
These appeals to passion and prejudice
n free people, and should be met with
stern rebuke by those they are sought to
influence and believe they will be. Ev-
cry attempt to array class against class,
the classes against the Masses" section
against section. labor against capital, "the
interest in the United States is in the
highest degree reprehensible. 1t is OPP
posed to the national instinct and interest
and should be resisted by every citizen.
We are not a nation of classes, but of
sturdy. free, Independent and honorable
uGolhSluS tue uculuSOSue, uuU
never captivating to dishonor. This ever
recurring effort endangers popular gov
ernment and is menace to our liberties.
1t is not new campaign device or party
appeal. 1t is as old as government among
men. but was never more untimely and
unfortunate than now. Washington
warned us against it and Webster said
in the Senate, in words which l feel are
singularly appropriate at this time: II ad-
monish the people against the object of
outcries like these. l admonish every
Industrious laborer of this country to be
on his guard against such delusion. tell
him the attempt is to play off his passion
against his interest and to prevail on him.
i'll the name of liberty. to destroy all the
fruits of.liberty."
Importance of Protection.
Another issue of supreme Importance
as that of protection. The peril of free
silver is menace to be feared. We
are already experiencing the effect of par
tial free trade. The one must be averted,
" is welded to the doctrine of protec-
tion and was never more earnest in its
support and advocacy than now. If ar
gument were needed to strengthen it's de-
votion to .'thc American system" or in
crease the hold of that system upon the
party and people, it is found in the lesson
and experience of the last three years.
eS"sA@S as eAASAA " AssaAS A.vSo NAeSS
before was to many of them only report,
history or tradition. They have had a
trial Of both systems and know what each
has done for them.
Washington in his farewell address,
Sept. II, 1896, hundred years ago. said:
"As very important source of strength
and security cherish public credit. One
method of preserving it is to use it as
sparingly as possible, avoiding the accu-
mutation of debt not only by stunning oc-
cnsions of expense but by vigorous exer-
tions in time of peace to discharge the
debts which unavoidable wars may have
occasioned, not unsenerously throwing
upon posterity the burden which we our
selves ought to bear"
To facilitate the enforcement of the
mnxims which he announced he declared:
"It is essential that you should practi-
cally bear in mind that toward the pay
mert of debts there must be revenue; that
to have revenue there must be taxes; that
. no taxes can be devised which are not
. more or less inconvenient or unpleasant;
that the intrinsic embarrassment insep.
arabic from the selection of proper OBJ.
1ects (which is always a choice Of diff.
culties) ought to be a decisive motive for