The San Francisco call., 1896-08-28

not manage 1t. My prophecy mas become
verify. They have left him. They abandoned
him and now. as that caution was meant to
indicate that we needed to look out after our
Congress as well as our President, this caution
is intended to show you at this time that we
need to look after our President if we would
avoid the calamity of having this country put
upon the Mexican basis of money.
The silver question-what Is it? Do you
want silver because you want more money, a
larger circulating medium? / have not heard
any body say so. Mr.. Bryan is net urging it
upon that basis? If anybody was to seek to
give that as q reason for wanting free silver no
would be very soon confounded by the state
ment that free silver would put more gold out
of circulation than the mints of the United
States could possibly bring in in years of sill :
yer and that instead of having more money we
would have less. [Applausel With our six
hundred and odd millions of gold driven out
of circulation we will reduce the per capita
money of this country eight and nine dollars.
So it is not for more money. We have an
abundant supply of circulating medium-gold,
silver, National bank notes, greenbacks, treas
ury notes, fractional silver.
We have something like S23 per capita of
our population. What is it then that creates
this demand for silver? 1t is openly avowed.
1t is not more dollars but cheaper dollars that
are wanted.
1t ia lower standard of value that they are
demanding. They say gold has gone up until
it has ceased to be proper standard of value,
and they want silver. But how do they want
IL? Now, my friends there is great deal OF
talk about bimetallism and the double STAN
dard ana great deal of confusion in the use
of those terms. Bimetallism is the use of the
two metals as money where they are both
used. BIZ double standard they mean that
we shall have gold dollar and a silver dollar,
which shall be unit of value, by which all
property and all wages and everything is to be
measured.
Now our fathers thought that when they
used these two metals in coinage they must
determine the intrinsic relative value of the
two, so that Q comparison of the markets Of
the world would show just what relation one
ounce of silver bore to one ounce of gold; how
many ounces of silver it took to be equal to
one ounce of gold in the markets of the world
where gold and silver were used-and they
carefully went about ascertaining that.
Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton
gave their great powers to the determination
of that question, and they collected the mar
ket reports and they studied with all their
power that question, and when they had
found what appeared to be the general and
average relative value OF these two metals
they fixed upon q ratio between them.
Now, what was the object of all that? Why
did they lump it all? Because they fully un-
derstood that unless these dollars were of the
same inherent intrinsic value that both of
them could not be standards of value and both
could not circulate. IApplause.] Why, every
boy knows that it is essential that the length
of his stills pelow the tread shall be the same.
[Laughter.l 1t is an old law proclaimed years
ago in England by Gresham, that the cheaper
dollar drives the better out [Applause.l 1t
trafa in "a
commercial nation in the world, ana anybody
of half sense could see why 1t is so.
As things are now the silver dollars that we
have are supported by the Government, and
the Government that supports this silver
bullion has issued these dollars on its own
account-not for the mine-owner-and it has
pledged its sacred honor 1t would make every
one of these silver dollars as good as gold
dollar. [Great applause.l And that is power
ful support. Our Populistic friends propose
that the man who digs silver out of the mines
may bring it to the mint and have it stamped
and handed back to him as dollar, the Coy
ernment having no respon sibility about 1t.
These men would reject with contempt the
proposition that free coinage was to come with
a pledge on behalf of the Government to main
the parity of two dollars.
But this feeling is well adapted to touch the
prevailing American bumptiousness and well
adapted to touch that prejudice against Eng
land which many have, but can we do this
thing ourselves? Is it a question whether we
will do it or ask somebody's consent whether
we may or ask the cooperation of somebody?
Not at all. I tell ycu what this Government
can do alone. It can fix its money unit. 1t
can declare by law what shall be the relative
value of an ounce of gold and an ounce of
silver, but it cannot make that last declara-
tion good. [Applause.l 1t is unquestionably
fully within the power OF this Government to
bring this country to a silver basis by coming
silver dollars and making them legal tender.
They can d. that.
one of those dollars in discharge of any debt
owing to you for q dollar, Notwithstanding g
you may have loaned gold dollars, but it cam
not say and enforce its decree-if it should
call out the regular army, our navy and mus
ter our great modern ships and the militia and
put William ]. Bryan in command OF them-it
cannot enforce the decree that. one ounce
of gold is the equivalent of sixteen ounces Of
silver. [Great applause and cheers.l Not only
that. not France and England and Germany
can do that unless the markets respond. Zap
plause.1 We can of ourselves, of our own wis
dom, declare the unit of valre. We can coin
silver freely, but we cannot make sixteen
ounces of silver equal to one ounce of gold un-
less it is. [Applause.l And it is not unless the
merchants take it at that rate.
What is the next suggestion? 1t is, my
friends, in the case OF free silver what is the
fnancisl and moral equivalent of a declara-
ton that 50-cent pieces are dollars. They
might just as well pass a law that fifty cents is
dollar. That would not make it so, would it?
But it would be legal dollar, but it would not
buy dollars worth of anything. What is the
effect of that? The merchant would take care
OF himself. A man keeps store down here
on Broadway and that law is going into opera
ton tonight. He summons all his clerks and
buys 25 cents worth of pencils and before he
opens his store in the morning he has marked
up his goods to the new scale. He can do all
that, but there are great numbers of people,
numberless people who enlist our interests and
some of whom enkindle our sympathies who
cannot use the pencil.
Take the work of man. He cannot go to
the payroll with pencil and mark it up. He
has got to consult somebody. He has to enter
into an argument. He has got to get some
other mans consent before he can mark up
his wages. Then there is the pensioner, those
that are receiving pensions from the Govern
ment for gallant deeds done in the war and
others from the loss of beloved ones. He can
not take his pension certificates and when it
reads So make it read $16. He must wait for