The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1896-08-20

could get the worlds entire product Gas
we could mott it would take three years 20;
fill the void of 62O,OO0,OO0 Of vanquished
gold. The nations of the world will not
melt down their coined silver to deposit
1t in the United States treasury and receive
| merely a silver certificate.
But the third alternative is one of most
malign portent. 1t is proposed to use the
| interest bearing bonded debt of the United
| States in order that the miner or owner Of
| Of silver may take his bullion to the mint
meanwhile and get evidences of govern
| ment debt two for One-a privilege not
granted to or claimed by any farmer. arti-
| san. manufacturer or producer upon Gods
| heritage. l say 1t Is proposed to so use the
interest bearing bonded debt of the United
| States. Now. what does that mean? 1t
| means an increase of the bonded debt.
People who have got their bonds as invest
ment to derive their living from in the
| way of annual incomes, or any one else,
| are not going to put up their bonds in de-
| post in the treasury to get treasury silver
| certificate.
| And so the chasm could not be filled in
| that way. neither by gold, by silver, or
! by the issue of bonds. So this chasm
could not be filled They admit 1t
will last three years. What will take place
meantime, in the very face of the danger
| of it? We are in the midst of commercial
| distress almost uneXampled in our history.
| A panic such as the world has seldom seen.
| 1t would throw 100000 men out of en-
| ployment 1t would depress and starve
| the wage-earner, and it would deprive him
| Of being the best consumer and purchaser
| that the American farmer has, and by that
| means inflict ruin upon our agricultural
! population (ApplauseD
In that state of things the abyss must be
| filed. No nation could stand such a con-
| traction. The most radical remedy would
| be absolutely necessary to restore it, and
| there would be two Only-One would be
| to get back to the honest, solid standard
| on which all the commercial nations in
| Guiding the United States, stand now, or to
| issue an irredeemable paper money, per-
| fectly limitless or illimitable in its amount
| And when that comes to pass silver will
| vanish in the face of paper as gold will
| vanish in the face of silver (Applause)
! And then you would have another chasm
| another issue Of money The wreck is COM
| plete and the United States stands entirely
on an irredeemable paper money basis.
| precisely the place that we occupied after
| the war. and from which we struggled with
so much passion of honesty and love Of
! national honor to emancipate ourselves. Do
you want that again? Cries of no, no.
But to look a little deeper into this SUBJ
ject, the misery goes further that would
be inflicted. We have been talking here
tofore about lawful money, and 1 mean by
that money issued by the governments Of
| the world, the United States included.
| But did you ever think how little Of the
| business of this world, Of any COM
| munity like st. Paul, is done on what Is
| called lawful money? Statistics would Sem
| to show that 95 per cent of the transac-
| lions between man and man in the United
| States is by way of checks. In cities they
| are balanced against each other In the
clearing house, and a few thousand dollars
| balance money closes the days transac-
ofna ptn do 81
Il mean In towns and villages-the de-
| posting of the checks in the banks and the
| collections by the banks adjust balances In
| the same way.
Now, this is the greatest currency of
| civilization. Numbers are inadequate to
express its infinite superiority in numeri-
| cal relation to the lawful money OF
which we have been talking. This is the
currency that no statutory fat can expand.
| although it can cause 1t to contract. 1t Is
| a currency which will contract instan-
| taneously to its very minimum by the op-
| Grafton of the Democratic and Popuiistic
| theories as announced in their platforms
| What does that mean? 1t means simply
| that the merchants, the manufacturers.
! the employer the man of every kind VINO
| pays out money to his fellow men or 1of
| labor, either for material or Tor LABOR, or
| for farm products, will cease, so far as
he Is concerned, to issue that currency,
| duce a disastrous contraction in that cur
rency.
| The olearings in the United States last
week were $S110OO, OOO-in the clearing
| houses alone, mind you, and not through
the influence or interposition of the banks
where there are no clearing houses Inc
clearances Of the city of st. Paul last week
| were something over $4,OOO,OOO. Does any
| man think that any such amount of money
as that was actually passed from hand 10
| hand in payment in st. Paul last week
| 81, OOO, OOO-or in the nation-$S11, OOOOOo-
| to adjust their business transactions! Ii
was done by this currency of civilization
which no nation can produce, when no
nation can regulate or CONTROL and l say
| that this currency, more important than
silver or gold or national paper, Will be
struck down at blow If the Democratic
| and Populistic platforms be realized.
| But you have heard from our free coinage
| friends here that Other nations have sue
| cessfully coined silver freely and without
| limit And there are many good people
| who believe that France Is doing 1t, ana
| that the Latin Union, so called, is doing IT,
| 1 would like to know why they can not tell
| the entire truth about this thing. Let US
| not deceive each other, and let nobody
| deceive us. The Latin Union was composed
| of France Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and
| Greece. j 1t was formed In 1860 by treaty
between those powers, whereby each agreed
| powers at its mint at the ratio Of 15k to l.
But Germany suspended the coinage OF
silver. She had ceased to coin it, and so,
| in 1873, after those great nations, headed
| by France the most scientifically governed
| country in the world, and the one which
| has the most accurate financial ideas), l
! say those countries, after Germany sus-
| pended the coinage of silver limited their
| silver coinage in 1873, and by 1876 they
| suspended it. France, the strongest none
| tary nation In the world, with her allies
undertook with all her power, to do precisely
what the free coiners Of the United States
are asking this government to undertake.
alone in the light of such conspicuous fail
| ures of other nations.
| Everybody admits--I think the most ram
| pant free coner declaimer would admit,
| that the money unit should remain as near
| ly invariahle as possible. Gold has so re-
| manned. Silver has fallen commercially like
| other articles. This is denied. They say
| silver has not fallen. They assert that gold
| has risen. Now, that is in the way you
| look at It, You can look at 1t through the
| deluding glass Of idealism, and 1t may ap-
pear that way, but 1t is an optical illusion
| Let me put an illustration from nature. The
| waters of Lake Superior, that great inland
| sea which floats so much Of our commerce
| and Is such an element In our prosperity,
| have for many years been falling, until
now they arc lower than they have been at
any time for fifty years, and everything on
L