The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-09-10

d
those of oratory From the beginning
of the campaign he has been throwing
out socialist fire brands among the pco-
| pie. He plays on the instincts of the
I ignorant. of the misery of the distressed.
| He strives to raise class against class,
to bring empIoye against employer to
stir up debtor against creditor to make
this an action of poor against the rich.
| MAY God prevent this incCndiary'S work.
"All of Mr.. Bryan's spccious pleas and
arguments for silver are based on the
assumption that free coinage of silver
| by the United States alone would Cstab-
| fish and maintain bimetallSm-thc
parity of gold and silver mt the eN
changeable ratio of 16 to |. If that
assumption is incorrect or lll-iounded.
each of his arguments falls to the
loses its force. Not one word has he
uttered in advocacy of Il silver standard.
| Not one word does he dare utter in sup
port of Il silver standard. He will de-
! claim against the evils of gold mono
mctallism and nearly everything he
| says on that subject is nearly applicable
to silver monometallism as well. BIZ
| metalliSm is Il genuine democratic doe
! trnp. but bimCtallSm can not he attained
! by the methods of the Chicago conven-
ton or the methods implied i'll the Chi
cago platform. There is reason to doubt
whether the forces which controlled that
convention even desired to accomplish
bimctallism. The word bipetalism does
not appear in the platform. The convcn-
ton. by an overwhelming vote, regis
tered II position plcdging the government
to maintain the parity of the two metals.
! The disposition of the convention as i'll
Dictated by the platform and resolutions
was towards silver monometallism or
i irrcdeemablc. fiat money. AS well might
the convention trust bimctallism to the
Phillstines as to the revolutionary horde
behind Bryan. 1t is not Il difficult task
to show that under the present conditions
free coinage of silver by the United
| States alone would amount to silver
recommendation. Former experiences in
! that direction have caused the loss of II
| large part of our gold from circulation.
| Part of it has gone abroad. withdrawn
| from investment in our securities and in
| dustrials. and part of it has been boarded
for the day when it shall bring high
premium. Our government can not get
| it back unless by increasing the national
debt or the burden of taxation. Our
500, 900, 600 of gold in the treasury has
to support the circulation not only of
the S346, 100000 of greenbacks, which
was it's original function. but the S62J,-
| 100000 silver currency. which has been
issued since That frail foundation has
been trembling since 1890 with the addi-
tional weight put upon it. Only by
heroic means has the government been
able 20 prop up the immense super
structure. But even the unlimited coin
age of silver under the present condi-
tons would make that foundation dis
appear as if in quicksand. and you and
| | and every one who has property would
find our standard changed from the gold
| to silver standard This would be the
certain result of placing an additional
burden upon the government, but
when, with that end in view.
we consider the disposition of
their gold reserve and the suspension of
free silver coinage in India, which has
! heretofore beer the worlds sink for all
its surplus silver but is so no longer. the
conclusion is inevitable that we would
be reduced to silver basis and to II very
cheap silver basis at that. Such II
change of standards, such II rcadjust-
mcnt of votes. not only in the fear which
they would excite. but in the actual in
! jury and injustice they would produce,
| would be the greatest commercial and
| industrial disaster ever imaginable. 1t
| would cause in the first place. the with
drawal of hundreds of millions of foreign
| capital invested in our industries. Sheer
rs Mr.. Bryan or any of his associates
may upon foreign gold. the bare fact re-
| mains that without it the building of our
| railroads. the opening of our farms. the
opening of our mines. the building of our
industrieS-with all the stimulus to pros
perity which these have given-would
have been delayed many years. For
| cign gold to Mr.. Bryan's dilatcd vision
yellow fever. What is it but capital
which gives work and swagcs to our
| 02izcns. adds to the products of our fac
cries. makes necessities out of the for
mcr luXllricS Of life, increases the com
| forts and cOnvcnipnccS of living. adds
| to our country's wealth and prosperity
until finally we were rich enough and
prosperous enough to send part of our
capital to other less fortunate or ad-
vanccd nations, or perform the same
kind mission. selfish though it he. for
other people? Who would reject it be-
cause it comes. as some of il probably
does. from the countries of Europe?
What better use can the wealth of Eng
| lands aristocracy be put to than the up
building of American industries?
by reason of perfectly natural causes
the prices of wheat and corn and other
agricultural products have declined. but
this decline is attributed by these politi-
cal quacks to the decentralization of sill
yer. and the farmers. along with every
other man, then, finds it hard to make
both ends meet and is told that by re-
monctizing silver wheat will 90 to II dol
lar bIshcl and other farm products
will rise proportionatcly If that were
true rising prices would affect the com
modticS II farmer buys the interest he
pays on his debts. the farm implements
he buys. on which depends getting his
crop to market, and he would be no bet
ter off.
'IIOwcvcr much the prices of agricu-
tural products have declined. they have
not declined more rapidly than the neccs-
stiles which the farmer buys, rot so rap
idly as the freight rates which promote
the market for his products. The report
of the national board of trade shows
that the average charge for carrying n
ton of freight one mile on most roads
of the United States has fallen from
$1,000 in 1860 to S7.56 in 1893. You
will thus see that in 1860 it cost $50 to
transfer one ton, and only $50 in 1893
'Our silver friends claim the gold dol
lar has gone up TO So while silver has
neither gone up nor down. | answer
that in 1873 the government rate of in
tercst was q per cent. the rate in any Of
the western cities was from 10 TO 20 per
cent per month and money was hard to
get at that. BY this same Atlantic ca