The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-22
to bring forward an argument in favor
of gold instead of harping dishonest

| to bring forward an argument in favor
| of gold instead of hafping dishonest
| dollar
Is it dishonest for us to insist that our
money shall not be curtailed, its purchas-
! ing power increased, the price of labor
lowered, millions thrown into idleness and
business stagnated?
Is it dishonest for us to ask that the
money of our constitution which has been
used Tor 100 years and proven its honesty,
should be again restored to us?
Rather is not any single standard sys-
tenn of finance which seeks TO cast the
entire burden upon gold alone and there
by raise II 10 a premium, a dishonest
system?
Is not any system which prevents
money from circulating freely and to an
extent sufficient for business needs a dis
honest system?
Don't you think that the money of our
fathers which carried us through three
great wars, is good enough for you?
Has the condition of the country i'm
proved any since the characterization of
Have we not suffered enough since 1893,
during which time there is no question
but what we have been on gold basis?
Is our national credit any better than
1t was before?
Did we issue millions of interest-bearing
bonds in the time OF peace before the
adoption of the gold standard? If you
think the curtailing of money by using
gold as a standard is d good thing, then
push it along by cutting our currency
in two again. in which case it will pur-
chase four times as much; but before
doing so you had better travel around
Massachusetts, investigate all industries
and see how many laborers are work
ing full time, how many half time and
how many not at ALL How many factor
les are closed, how many farms are
mortgaged and then glance over your
files and inspect the wheel journals for
the past year and see how many bicycle
establishments have succumbed to your
present system of finance.
You say gold is of less value intrin-
sically than iron is, but owing TO its limit
ed quantity and the fact that the supply
cannot increase suddenly, about twenty
six grains of it has been taken to repre-
sent a dollar" We thank you for trying
to be honest in that respect and if you
had shown the same honesty throughout
you would have closed by saying that the
L. A. w. Bulletin was in favor of BIZ
metallism Now, we are of the opinion
that neither gold nor silver have in Them
selves any intrinsic value. They are in
their native state as valueless as the
solid rocks in which they are found.
They have no value until man has ex-
pended enormous labor and valuable lives
in marketing them, and would have none
then except for the law which declares
their value There has been no time since
500 years before Christ that the value Of
gold has not been determined by law and
by law alone.
The price of both gold and silver fuc-
tuated but little, if any, until they were
tempered with by vicious legislation, and
yet, Notwithstanding the efforts made to
knock out silver as a money metal, its
price, compared with products and labor,
has not changed, as an ounce Of silver
will now purchase as much wheat as
it did when silver was $1.2912 an ounce,
showing to any sensible man that gold
has appreciated and silver, in purchasing
power, has remained the same, and it
could not otherwise when one-half of the
money was withdrawn.
Again you say sit is an important fact
that the war at once furnished employ
rlent for all the Workmen in the country.
Many a man who never saw fifty dollars
before in his life was paid a bounty of
several hundred, and rugged up in a bright
new suit of blue, he proceeded to blow
in his new found wealth.. OF course,
thank God we do not, If many Of your
residents entertain such views, to- even
think for one moment, that those who
barred their breasts to the deadly, bullet.
for the purpose of maintaining our coun-
try intact, were men who never saw
fifty dollars in their lives and were paid
a bounty or were men who proceeded
TO blow in" their new found wealth.
when rugged up in a bright new suit of
blue
In closing we have but to say that we
purpose of influencing wheelmen, as we
leel that every intelligent wheelman will
study the financial question, which is
not bicycle question more than any
OlHef, anu dIteT studying Will cast MS
vote according to his honest conviction,
regardless of anything that may be said
AS an individual you have the right to
think as you please, but you have no
right to use your official position through
the official bulletin of our league in order
to further any political party.
MILES S. JOHNSON.
c. L. ROBERTSON.
H PEMBROKE
c. ". BUTLER Chief Counsel
W. S. EVANS. Sec'y-Treas.