The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-03
DISPROVE BRYAN'S TALK
FIGURES SHOW FALsTTY OF CHARGE
AGAINST GOLD COUNTRIES.
Savings Bank Deposits in All Impor-
sant GoId-Standard Nations Have
Increased Since 1878.
Henry mcfarland, in Boston Herald.

I1eITy MdcIaridnu, III oOSloU herald.
The assertion of Mr.. Bryan that The
gold standard is a conspiracy against the
human race" reads strangely in the light
of the recent economic history of gold
standard countries. This history shows a
more wonderful advance in the wealth and
comfort of the masses during the twenty
three years from 1878 to 1896 than during
any other period of equal length, or even
much greater length, in the worlds rec
ords. The year 1873 was the year of the
adoption of the gold standard in Germany,
the suspension of free coinage in France,
Belgium, Italy and the other countries of
the Latin Union, and the abandonment of
the silver dollar by the United States.
The gold standard, according to the logic
of Mr.. Bryan, while it has raised the pur-
chasing power of the dollar, ALSO makes
it more difficult to obtain possession of the
dollar" This assertion, so far as it relates
to the laboring masses of the great civilized
countries, can be put to the test in no bet
ter way than by measuring their savings.
over and above their expenditures for the
necessaries of life. Tested by this measure,
Mr.. Bryan's assertion is as void of truth
as his other colossal blunder, that railway
charges have not fallen during the opera
ton of the gold standard.
The figures OF a number of depositors
in the savings banks and of the aggre-
gate of their deposits alike go to show
that never in the history Of the world
have the accommodations of labor been SO
rapid and SO large. No economist of char
acter would stake his reputation upon the
assertion that this wonderful advance was
due exclusively to the suspension of free
coinage and the adoption of the gold stand
ard. 1t is only necessary, in order to re-
flta tho Si1Xros that a. r1ll
standard is a conspiracy against the human
race to prove a negative-that the exist
ence of the gold standard has not prevented
civilization and labor from taking strides in
wealth and comfort never taken under any
other standard in any other age of the
world.
This proposition is conclusively demon
strated by the figures of the savings de-
coSntry IN e They h fmpor inereaa sold m s1aRd foId
and doubled over and over again during
the brief years from 1873 to 1896. A part
of the increase is due to the adoption of
banking methods by those who formerly
hid their wealth away in stockings and
of the use Of banking is a part of the
modern financial system OF which the gold
standard in England, France, Belgium.
Holland and the United States forms the
substantial basis.
SAVINGS DEPOSIT TABLES.
The argument that the growth in bank
ing deposits is the result of a change of
method, rather than an increase in savings,
does not apply SO strongly, moreover, to
the history of the past dozen years as to
those which preceded. A German student
of finance has compiled a general table,
showing the number of depositors and the
value of deposits in the savings banks in
nearly every leading commercial country in
1874, and at a recent date. This table,
quoted by M. Arthur Raffalovich in LIE
Marche F1nancier in 1896, gives the de-
posts in German imperial marks, repre-
senting 23.S cents, as follows: