The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-07-02

| readers It's abSurdlty might be excused.
! but no intelligent, candid writer viii
claim that il IS Anything more than cow
ardly begging the question Ii is sim
ply the cold assumption of wouId-be
fact which is not a fact No attempt
at argument in favor OF a gold stan
dard is made save upon this assump-
/ tion, and every time the sentence is
written it Is 7 separate and distinct
/ falscilocd. Y is useless 10 refute IL be-
fore the chattering magpies who take ii
up and reIeat il at the command OF the
gold barons. but there is luckily. a
large ma iority of people in this country
who are blessed with u fair degree %
honesty and common sense, and it is 10
thar class that the truth may be stated
with the hope that il will be recognized.
1t seems almost useless TO repeat that
the commercial value Of silver is exact
" at a par with all other values save
that of gold. The fifty-cent canard
cannot be assumed upon any other
ground than that gold is the one soil
tary substance which has doubled In
value since the characterization OF sill
yer. No argument is needed 10 prove
this, other than the simple truth Of his
tory. When silver was demonetized il
commanded a premium Of per cent
over gold. This is history which is
either true or false. Who viii deny il:
Ii. at the end of a period of over eighty
years OF bimetallje standard. silver
commanded premium over gold where
is the sense or justice or honesty in
the claim that it would not do the same
thing again under like conditions?
When in all that period did silver drop
to a commodity CT a money value OF
90 cents, or anything approaching that
figure? What conditions exist now that
did not exist then? Admitting that
England is TO fix the standard for this
country, did she not adopt the gold
standard in 1916? If we maintained
the parity during all those years, adj
justing our balances with Great Brit
ain regularly where is the sense in say
ing We could not do il again?
Another fact: Values either have or
have not declined since '73 as measured
by gold. Have they? Silver bullion
either has or has not maintained its
commodity value with everything ex-
cept gold or il has not. Has il? Do
these plain facts OF history prove that
silver, remOnetiZed. would not imme-
diately rise 10 the level Of gold? And
that there would not be a quick adj
vance in the price OF everything else?
This has been admitted more than
once by the less cautious of the gOldbuS
it Is true. but their
common sense has betrayed them into
the admission. Others have raised the
cry of imitation as the necessary con-
sequence of remOneizing silver. Is
its imitation to raise the price of farm
products to a margin above the cost
of production? Is its initiation to adj
vance wages TO the point that gives the
laborer u competence rather than a
bare existence: Would the whole peO-
pie rather see higher rices. better wages !
aud all industries fOurishing than to
have n continuance of the present de- I
lightful regime of sound money" We I
say the whole people-Or % per cent of /
them-mind you. OF course the gold |
baron would depreSs values still further
# he could Had he the power he
would demonetize half the gold of the
world, and then nine-tenths of it, That
S his game. If. by legislation, he can
urn the thumb-ScTews another revolu-
ion he will do it. The way to stop
t is through the recommendation Of sill
Ter, and the time TO do it viii be at
he next meeting of congress. The
people viii take all the chances Of
,ternal ruin by the fifty-cent dollar.