St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-16
LABOR's LIFE AT STAKE
RENCY PICTURED IN FORCE
Full WORDS.
UNIVERSAL PANIC WOULD FOLLOW.
Actual Slavery the Only Thing
Worse for Labor Than Free
Coinage of Silver.


torium tonight. before an audience that
filled the great hall to the uttermost. The
address was delivered under the auspices of
the laboring men of Chicago, and they were
there in full force, nearly three-quarters Of
the crowd being workingmen. Many local
Democrats were anxious to obtain an inter-
view with Mr.. Carlisle on the political situa-
ton in Kentucky, but he firmly declined to
talk politics in any way. He said that he had
come to Chicago to make an address on the
currency question, and that nothing could
induce him to talk politics. His address,
which was greeted with much applause and
which gave great satisfaction to his hearers,
was as follows
II am here this evening in response to a
communication received several months ago
from number OF gentlemen connected with
various labor organizations Of this city, in
viting me to address them and their fellow
workingmen upon the currency and financial,
questions, which were then and are still
agitating the minds of our people in all parts
of the country. When that communication
reached me it was not in my power to desg-
nate time when my official duties would
permit me to come here, but l promised to
hold the matter under consideration and
come whenever 1t might be possible to do
so; and / now congratulate myself upon my
good fortune in having at last found op-
portunity to meet this great assemblage of
ence what consider one Of the most impor-
tant economic questions that can possibly
engage the attention of wage earners in this
or any other country.
Whether the general business of the peo-
pie shall be transacted with good money or
bad money, whether the wages of labor shall
be paid in a sound and stable currency with
full purchasing power in the markets where
they are exchanged for the necessares of
life, or in deprecated and fuctuating cur
rency, having no fixed value and therefore
bearing no permanent relation to the current
prices of commodities, are questions which
AFFECT the comfort and happiness of every
nome, and the peace and prosperity of every
| community. While all are deeply interested in
| the settlement of these questions, it is unfor-
| tunately the case that all will not be equally
| aHected by an erroneous decision upon them.
1t is the poor man and the man of moderate
means, the man who has not been fortunate
| enough to accumulate property or money, but
who depends upon his wages or upon the
| products of his own labor for the means of
supporting himself and his family, that al
! ways feels the first and most disastrous ef-
| fects of business or Industrial depression no
matter whether it results from deprecated
| causes.
Whether we shall or shall not have a
long period of financial. commercial and in
dustrfal disturbance in this country, and
| whether labor shall be deprived of perma-
| nent employment or be partially employed
| and inadequately paid are questions direct
| ly and necessarily involved in the demand
! now seriously made by many of our fellow
| citizens that the United States, without the
|
| world, and in opposition to the established
| policy of every other great civilized and COM
! mercial nation, shall authorize the free and
| unlimited coinage of full legal tender silver
at the ratio of 16 to 1, Notwithstanding the
| true market ratio between the two metals
| is about 81 to 1; or, in other words. that the
16 ounces of silver are equal in value to
ounce Of gold, when it is indisputable
fact everywhere recognized that in all the
markets OF the world, in silver standard
| countries as well as in gold standard coun-
| tries, 16 ounces of silver are worth only
about one-half much as 1 ounce Of gold
and will purchase only about one-half as
much of the necessaries of life. The naked
| proposition is that the United States shall
sive benefit of the individuals and corpora
tions owning the bullion, all the silver that
may be presented at the mints into dollars
containing cont Sly grains of pure silver, or
trinsically about 81 or 50 cents, deliver the
coins to the depostors of the bullion. and
| to receive these coins at valuation of 100
| cents each in the payment Of debts due them
for property sold, for labor and service Of
all kinds. To say nothing Of the gross par
tiality and manifest injustice Of such a poll
icy, its immediate effect would be to con-
tract our currency to the extent of about
| $620 900, 900 by stopping the use Of gold as
money and putting premium upon the coins
OF that metal equal. or about equal, to the
difference between the intrinsic. value of the
gold dollar and the intrinsic value of the sill
dollar. Gold coins would at once be-
come commodity and would be bought and
| sold by spectators in the market Just as
they were during the war when we had
deprecated paper currency. The sudden with
drawal of $500, 900 from the volume of
produce financial and Industrial disturb
ance far more disastrous to the interests Of
labor than has ever been experienced in our
history, and no man who has particle OF
sympathy for workingmen and women and
their dependent families can contemplate the
possibility of such calamity without feel
inc hot fc hid dIrAry rxybn fhnr he rNfn1
a public or a private station to employ
every honorable means at his command to
avert it.
''While the sudden expulsion of $500. .OOO. 900
in gold from our stock of money would itself
be sufficient to create financial disturbance
unparalleled in the history Of this or any
aggravated by the fact that the purchasing
power Of all the remainder of currency
would be suddenly reduced about one-haf;
we should have only about two-thirds as
much currency we have now and at the
same time it would be so deprecated In value
that it would require about twice as much as
we have now to transact the business Of
the country, provided there should be any
business to transact The attempt to main
tain what is called the double standard Of
value, that is, the attempt to keep the legal
tender coins of the two metals gold and
silver @ IN nus use - as d money at the same time
peatedly been made by kings and parliaments
in every civilized country in the world and
it has failed again and again in every one
of them; and it requires no gift of prophecy
to foresee that it must continue to fail so
long as self-interest constitutes controlling
factor in the business affairs Of men.
THE LESSON OF HISTORY.
"The act of 1892, which was our first COIN
, age law, acting on the conclusion that the
, true commercial ratio at that time was Is
to 1; that is, that IL ounces of silver were
equal in value to one ounce Of gold auth
orized the coinage of the two metals at
that ratio. At the ratio thus established
the silver dollar contained 371K grains of
AT,a civ and fho cold fof4l 4laI
of fine gold; but 1t was soon discovered that
a mistake had been made and that 371A
grains of fine silver were not in fact equal
in value to 24% grains of fine gold. and the
consequence was that, although the differ
, ence between the value of a silver dollar
and the value, of gold dollar was only about
one cent and one-eighth Of cent silver
drove gold out of use and out of the country,
and from that time we had silver monomet-
t allism until after the passage of the acts
of 1884 and 1887.
Gold having left the country, congress,
in 1884, during the administration of Andrew
Jackson, determined to restore it to circula-
Y. tion and in order to accomplish that result,