The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1896-06-23
THE SEMI WEEKLY OHIO DEMOCRAT TUESDAY JUNE 23 1896
alppArH,s PLAIN TALK,
Indiana's Historian noundiy Denounces u,
Greatest Falsehood of the Age.

Indiana's Historian HoundIy Denounces the
Grentest Falsehood of the Age.
The following was written by the
eminent historian John Clark Ridpath
in response to an inquiry by Frank Ho-
ran, chairman of the Democratic central
committee of the Fifth Indiana district
as to whether Mr. Ridpath would run
| for congress on u Democratic ticket.
He had always been Republicans:
''There is just one great question be-
Ire the American people, and that is
whether they will be compelled by the
international gold conspiracy, having
it's bifurcations in London and New
York, to transact their business and in
particular to pay their debts with cor
ncred dollar worth two for one, fraud
ulontly substituted for the dollar of the
law and the contract, or whether they
(tho people, will reclaim their right
to transact their business and pay their
debts according to the terms of the con-
tract and according to justice.
''It is said by the emissaries of the
gold propaganda that they who advo-
cato the restoration of our coinage and
money to the exact condition which it
held prior to the act Of 1878 arc dishon-
est; that they wish to coin 90 conts
worth of silver into dollar and COM
pei creditors to accept that in lieu of an
honest dollar. Than this there never
was a greater sophism and falsohood.
What the people desire and what they
intend to do is to coin 100 cents worth
l<.f ,.1 l,,k ., ~
37114 grains, Of silver--into dollar,
and by that act to break the corner on
gold and reduce the exaggerated pur-
chasing power Of that metal to its nor.
NAL standard
'If any man dare say that SIX
grains of pure silver are not u dollars
worth, let him be challenged with the
question whether that amount of un-
coined silver will not purchase as much
Of the average of % Of tho great staples
of tho American market, including real
estate and labor, as tho same silver
would purchase 25 years ago. Let him
answer that truly or forever afterward
hold his peace. AS a matter of fact the
uncoined silver in the American dollar
will buy moro of the average of our
great staples than the same would buy
in 1875.
"What thenr The limited supply Of
gold in tho world has been corncrcd by
those who own it. They are fow-very
few-and tho people are millions. The
price of the cornered gold has advanced
moro and more, until it has become
worth almost two for one. All the while
coined gold has concealed the fallacy
that is in it. The gold eagle still pro-
claims itself $40, although it has ad-
vanccd in purchasing power until it Is
nearly $50. Under this obscure and
fraudulent process all productive indus
tries have been crushed to the earth.
They who labor in the fields and shops
have been virtually ruined.
"The claim that gold coin is the
Sound money, the honest money, of
the world, and that silver money-rcal,
primary silver money, of our old statu-
tory ratio-is dishonest and unsound
money is the most false, as it is the
most adroit, proposition ever put forth
by interested parties to dcfraud the peo-
pie of great nation.