The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-08-28
! GREAT SPEECH.
Judge Aldredge, at Atlanta, Be-
fore Convention of Amer
lean Bankers.

Wit and Humor, With Sound Logic. Kept
the Convention In an UprOar-Case Stated
So Plainly That All Can Understand 1t.
Five Principal Free Coinage Arguments
Answered In Turn-Chinch Bugs and
Bollworms Versus 16 to 1 Cranks-What
Makes Interest Low?-Important Prices
That Have Risen Since 1878.
Perhaps the sound money speech in greatest
demand in all parts Of the country, and the oe-
mand for which is most constantly growing, is
that of Judge George N. Aldredge of Dallas,
Tex, delivered Oct. 16, 1895, at the convention
of the American Bankers association at At
lanta, Ga. We are certain that all of our read
ers will relish the wit and humor which upsHt
the dignity of the bankers. They will also find
&c very instructive reading, We reprint it in
full below:
The proposition that this government should
coin silver for the world, in unlimited amounS,
at double it's market value, is so repugnant 10
the common sense of mankind that 1t ought 10
be unnecessary to discuss it, and would be but
for the fact that portion of our people have
been misled by appeals to their prejudice and
by the specious reasoning of sophists. If our
government were asked to declare that two
quarts equaled a gallon or to revise the multi
plication table and enact that 10 times 10
eoualed 2OO all men would see the folly, but
when asked to believe that $40 worth of silver,
by being touched by the government stamp
instantly becomes worth $50, many people
honestly believe this miracle may be accom-
plished and many others affect to believe 1t
for practical purposes.
In all ages of the world there have been de-
lusions in reference to money, and in spite of
uniform disastrous results many are ever
ready to listen to the teachings of any charla-
tan who claims that he has discovered a short
or route to wealth. They refuse to apply to
money that hard common sense which they
exercise in dealing with the everyday affairs
of life. The ignorant have always had super
stition about silver. Among the negroes of the
south nothing would kill witch but silver
bullet.
That our ancestors 100 years ago fixed a unit
of value in gold or silver and fixed ratio be-
tween them is immaterial to us. Their exam
pie in so doing is not more binding on us than
their methods of business, their means Of
transportation, or the implements with which
they sowed and reaped 1t would be a sad
commentary upon our intelligence if we had
learned nothing in 100 years. We do know
that in fixing O ratio they attributed no magic
TO the government stamp, but sought diligent-
~ to ascertain the market value of the two
metals in the leading nations of the world and
oonformed, as they thought, strictly to this
market ratio. By pursuing the method adopt
ed by them we would now fix the ratio at
about 80 to l. The consistent man is not the
one who stands in one place always, regardless
Of the changing conditions around him, but it
is he who with intelligence and circumspec
ton, adapts himself to the changed condition
Of affairs.
Gold Versus Silver Standard Countries
For nearly 20 years every enlightened nation
IN the world has been on gold standard basis.
They are all representative governments, and
their laws are made by their people and for
their people. The government which first es-
tablished the gold standard is more obedient
to the will of it's people than ours is. When an
important administration measure is defeated
by the representativ of the English people,
the government is Immediately placed in the
hands of the opposition. The gold standard
nations are those that have reclaimed the
world from barbarism and have given it all it's
learning and invention, where schools and
churches abound, where the dignity of man is
maintained and labor properly rewarded, and
they control the commerce of the world.
These nations after testing gold and silver
for hundreds of years, voluntarily adopted the
gold standard. No nation today has the silver
standard from choice. 1t is only because they
are weak and helpless to remedy the evil that
day the United States the foremost nation in
all the earth in solvency and resources, i'll in
teligence and energy, is seriously invited to
abandon the standard of civilization and COM
merce and to consort with half civilized, half
clad people, who are weak and ignorant who
have little or no commerce, where bull fights
abound and schools do not, where human labor
is in sharp competition with the meek and
lowly jackass where a breechclout is preferred
to full suit and where the bulk OF the people
know no more about standard of value than
mule about the nebular hypothesis. Surely
we would do well to take look at the COM
pany before we sit down to the feast.
Free Coinage Arguments.
The invitation is that this country, after
having adjusted its enormous business for 20
years to gold standard, shall suddenly read
just all business and all values to what is
termed a double standard of gold and silver
The arguments advanced in behalf Of such a
change are:
First.-A double standard resting upon gold
and silver would give more correct measure
Of value and one less liable to huctuation than
a single gold standard
Second.-Gold has appreciated in value and
all property measured by it has declined in
value.
Third.-The supply of gold is inadequate to
make it safe standard, and the scarcity Of it
will tend to the depression of prices.
Fourth.-The free, unlimited coinage of sill
yer at the ratio of l6 to will create unlimited
demand for silver and restore it to par
Fifth.-Free and unlimited coinage of silver
at l6 to will increase the prices of property.
Mythical Double Standard"
With reference to the first proposition: A
standard of value is some exact measure which
enters into and becomes part of every con-
tract, and to which all obligations are refer
able. If our government could, by legal enact
ment, fix the value of gold and silver in the
markets of the world and could keep them adj
3usted to fixed ratio, double standard
would be practicable. But it cannot fix or
maintain value. The buyers of the world, the
merchants, do that When Abraham purchased
his lot in Ephrons cemetery, he weighed out
20 Ephron silver "current money with the
merchant" And the merchants of the world
have been saying what shall be "current
money" from that day to this.
Governments are as powerless to suspend the
law Of value as they are to suspend the law of
gravitation. Such being the case, can con-
ceive of two standards, one of gold and the
other Of silver, and contracts might be made
referable to either standard, but the indeter-
inmate double standard, resting ON two met
ais not linked together by any binding obi
CATION, but both acting under go as you please
rules, is to me absolutely incomprehensible.
We cannot bind them together as we do two
metals in the pendulum of clock or in the