People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1896-07-09
LDRETIRE GREENBACKS
IfThey Could, Destroy the Le-
gal Tender of the Silver Dol
lar and Contract the Cir
cuIating Medium One
Billion Dollars.

OllUlCdl ISSUES llhC pOCUc' dlO JUL
and not made. They grow and
can not be manufactured to order.
The great political leader is not the
paltry and sor1id boss who packs
primaries and controls delegates and
threatens to bolt conventions unless
he can have his selfish way, the man
who discerns The wishes and purposes
Of the people and cO-OperateS with
them.
This was the secret OF LincOln's
c0nSummate power. He discovered
the thought of the people and gave it
expression. He found out what the
people wanted done and did it. He
sometimes seemed dilatOry, but it
was because he waited to ascertain the
conviction of the people. lie lis
tened, took counsel and received Sug-
gestiOns, ana then acted. He was
leader because he followed public
opinion.
The managers have at last begun
to realize that the effort to conduct
this campaign upon ready-made plat
form with the tariff as the principal
plank, will be futile. Protection will
be the policy of the nation for an in
definite period. So far at least as the
Republicans are concerned, free trade
is no more an issue than slavery or
state sovereignty.
The election Of Mckinley and Re-
publican congress, every one knows
means a tariff for both revenue and
protection; but what does it mean on
the money question? The hope that
the inquiry might be SubOrdinated, or
suppressed, or tangled up with the
tariff, has diappeared. Evidently our
financial system will be the vital and
engrOsSing topic of debate from this
time forth, and the declaration of the
convention is of supreme Importance.
Both parties have juggled and equiv
coated in the past, Promises made to
the ear have been broken in the hope.
1t has been like desperate case in
court, in which motions for cOntinu-
dnCe, change of venue and to take tes-
tim0ny in distant lands have been
filed in order to avoid trial.
The people appear to be in earnest
at last. They have been thinking.
They have had abundant leisure for
meditation since 1892. The advocates
OF gold, Of silver aud of bimetallism
are arrayed in line Of battle, and if
the Republicans do not present the
issues on the quarrel, some other par.
ty will.
The supporters Of the single gold
standard, if they ever have the DOW
er, will retire the greenbacks and de-
strOy the legal tender quality of the
silver dollar, thus contracting our
circulating medium more than a
thousand million of dollars.
The silver advocates would open
our minis to the world for coinage of
that metal upon the same terms with
gold at the ratio established before
1873.
The bimetallists believe in the use
OF silver with full legal tender powers
to the largest extent compatible with
equality With gold, and legal tender
paper redeemable in gold.
All want Sound money" The as.
sumption that any rational, man
wants anything else is an insolent
lmputatiOn upon patriotism and CON-
mon sense Any dollar, whether Of
gold, silver or paper, that will nav
'one hundred cents worth of debt is a
sound dollar. No one desires coun-
'teffeit money, or clipped coin or de-
based currency.
10 1878 when the Bland.AlliSon bill
for the reCoinage of the silver dollar
was passed over the veto of President
Hayes there was the same impudent
cutlery as now. The supporters were
denounced as enemies of the public
credit, and pillOried in the metropol.
itan press as madmen, knaveS or fools.
1t was said that 10 millions of silver
might possibly be maintained at par,
but mere than this would result in
individual ruin, the expulsion of gold,
bankruptcy. Instead of IS millions
under that act and the act of 1890.
more than 600 millions were added to
the circulating medium in silver coin
and silver certificates, and none o
the phOphecies Of evil came to pass
On the contrary, the period from 1873
to 1892 under protection and bimet-
allism was marked by constant and
unprecedented prosperity. The last
message of President Harrison dwelt
largely upon the resources and deyel-
Opment of the country, and disclosed
a condition that has had few parallels
in the history of civilization.