The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-04

times as much property to ret The money
TO pay your debts. Would they be able IL
convince you that was an honest dollar
no, my friends, and yet that would be al
non aoiiar according TO the definition OF
| the man VINO thinks that the matchmaking
| pot itseif Is the only test of money.
a NEBRASKA ILLUSTRATION.
| Il remember there was a discussion out
in Nebraska between an advocate of the
| gold standard and an advocate of bimetal-
ism, and the gold standard man said gold
is the only good money If you put your
dollars IN gold and put a thousand dollars
| IN paper in the house and the house burns
down. your paper is destroyed, your silver
| IS melted and only worth one-half, the gold
| is melted and it is worth as much as it was
before, and therefore gold is worth more
His opponent said: That would be true
| under the present law, but everybody does
house does not burn down. Suppose you
| put 1t IN a boat, the boat turns over. the
gold ana silver go to the bottom and are
| lost the paper floats and therefore paper
| is the only good money There is just as
! much sense in the last proposition as there
was in the first proposition. lApplause2
Il want to call your attention to this;
| that the very people who tell you that sill
yer is not good money because when you
! are the very people who are advocating
the national bank currency which, when
people are SO afraid that your money will
lose one-half when you melt it then how
on earth can they be in favor of the paper
BANK, which loses eVerything in time of
fire? (Applause,) And, my friends this loss
that comes by fire is due to hostile legisla-
ton: If we have free coinage of silver as
we have free coinage of gold the melting
of your coin will not cause you loss. They
tell you that you want to Iegislate for the
poor men They want to give him good
dollar. want you to remember that when
under the present law the rich mans gold
melts he can take it back and have it re-
coined without loss but when the poor
man silver melts in his house he has cot
TO su1er the difference between the bullion
Va i ana the coinage value tAppiause)
Why not open your minis If you want to
treat all alike and say that If mans sill
Yer melts he shall have it recoined without
loss. But there are people who actually be-
HeVe that if you have the free coinage of
silver there would be great profit in going
around ana buying up the silver at 80 cents
on the dollar and having it coined into a
hundred cents and making the difference.
L nave known people to calculate on how
much they could make clear under such a
system. And then 1 found that these peo-
PIE who We're so sure than they could make
pig profit in that way people who never
lose an opportunity to make a big profit,
yet when they find out how much profit
they can make, they tell you they are OPP
posed TO free coinage anyhow. (Applause.)
Now. | want to give you illustration
L want to give you a story that YOU can
tell whenever you can find a man who is
taking about the profit to be made in buy
ing SILVER at 90 cents and converting it
l think. as a certain cure to the man who
talks about that profit. Ignatius DonnelIy
tSAio Ing oACIy- Two men were discussing
the silver question in a car, and while they
We're talking others came up and asked
questions; Finally one said to the adj
vocate Of bimetallism: You think it is
right for the government to make a law
That will enable some men to buy my silver
Tor 90 cents and have it coined into 100
cents and make the diference% The advo-
cate OF blmetaliism said to those who were
present: Under tree coinage at 16 to l.
no person in the world who has an ounce
or has 412.5 grains of standard silver can
take that silver to the minis and have it
inf -fJy- TlcVI0
being the case, is there anybody here who
would sell that much silver for less than
to make the profit?' There was silence for |
moment and then some one said. I
would he went TO see where the voice |
a sallow-faced young man who was sitting |
by his mother, and the mother said: Don't |
pay any attention to the boy, he is an idiot; |
[ am just taking him to the asylum CAD,
plauSe and laughter)
Il put the question to you Ifsyou could |
take your silver to the mint and have it |
converted into money at the rate of st29 |
per ounce would you sell that silver to |
(Cries of MOI And yet. my friends you
VIII hnd many people who are opposed to
free coinage who talk about the, prodz of
purchasing cheap silver and having it
coined at great profit. Now there are
others with whom YOU come liz contact
the amount of profit there is in coming
silver under bimetallism, l say next to him
comes the man who is afraid there will be
a flood of silver. There is nothing that ex-
cites my sympathy more than to find a man
who never had too much money in his
life, who has not enough to pay his debts, |
who does not know where next winters
coal is to come from, who stands and trern-
flood of money and il will overwhelm him.
applause and laughter) And then soon
pect of a flood Of money you have been
told as a matter of fact going to
nave drought of money instead of a flood.
One man was telling how, if we had the
free coinage of silver, all the gold
would go out Of circulation and then It
would take fifteen years, with our minis
running at full capacity, to coin enough
silver to take the place of the gold, AMI
az r. nc eet tban eoiS do,iep IL ne
don't know how you can crowd more alb
surdity in the same number of words
millions of it? Why my friends we have
TO six hundred millions of it in circulation
But, moro than that. We do
not believe that the free coinage of
silver would drive gold out OF circu
If silver that drives gold into circulation, |
hose have been boarded in order to get
he rise in the value of dollars. Gap
olause.) Stop the rise in the value of
money and let the rise commence in the
,alue of property, and the men who are
re wanting to spend it before money comes
Town and get property before property
omeS down Great applause.) / believe
hat free coinage Will put money into cir
.ulation, instead of taking money out of
REGULATION.
But let me now call your attention to
hat other danger about having to wait
fifteen years.
WILL BUILD MORE MINIS.
II had this question brought before me in
Southern State in joint debate about a '
ear ago. My opponent said to me: Don't !
ou know that if we have free coinage of :
liver and it driver gold out of circulation Y
lat it will take fifteen years to coin
nough silver to take the place of gold? +
THAT would you do?' There 1 was away {
f from home among strangers. Naugh- y
~ did not have time to think. 1 had =
answer at once, and so L Just blurted e
1T that I would make more minis. He U
ad never thought of the possibility of Il
aking more minis. Men have been cal .
Hating upon fifteen years of suffering. r
Thy my friends, it seems to me that the s
nalleSt child would say that rather than l;
lffer fifteen years we would make more
ints and coin more money if the people b
eeded it. (ApDlause.) But there is an y
her part of that proposition. The man | Q
no made this statement wound 7
? by saying that during these il
arce that silver dollar would be harder II
get and a higher-priced dollar, measured
property, than gold dollar is now.
hat is the worst of all absurdities. Just |
link of it. Why, gentlemen, you know | g.
silver would drive gold out it would be | @,
ecause silver was cheaper than gold. =,
" if you could Imagine such a contin- q
,ncy, if you could think for one moment | g
at silver would be dearer than gold, that y