The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1896-08-25
JOHN CLARK RlDpATA.
Our Great Historian Gives Out His Plat
form as "a Candidate For Congress.

form as "a Candidate For Congress.
We want our currency system put
back precisely where it was under the
statute and constitution for tho first g.
years of our existence as q nation. ON
statutory bimetallic system of currency
was taken from us III 1878 by process
which do not caro- to characterize il
fitting terms. Now wo propose to have
it back again. The restoration Of oul
Iilver money to tho place it held before
is tho peoples cause, and tho people in
this contest are going to triumph. They
are going to triumph in the open light
of day under the clear CLEAN of light
and truth.
The silver dollar was from of old the
unit of money and account in the Unit
cd States. That dollar to this hour has
never been altered by tho fraction of a
grain in the quantity of pure metal COM
hposing it. Every other coin, whether of
gold or silver, has been altered time and
again, but the silver unit never. The
silver dollar was the dollar of the lay,
and the contract. 1t is to this day the
dollar of the law and the contract. TO
the silver unit all the rest, both gold
and silver, have been conformed from
our first statute of 1899 to that i'll starred
date when the conspiracy against our
old constitutional order first declared
itself. The gold eagle of the original
statute and of all subsequent statutes
was not made to be ten dollars but to
be of the value of ten dollars. The half
eagle was not made to be five dollars,
but to be of the value of five dollars.
The quarter eagle was of the value
of two and a half dollars, and the
double eagle was Of the value of
twenty dollars. Even the gold dollar
of 1S4G, marvellous to relate, was not
dollar, but was made to be of the
value of dollar. The subsidiary coins
were all fractions of the dollar, and
the dollar was Of silver only. Not u
single dictionary or encyclopedia in
the English language before the year
1878 over defined "dollar" in any terms
other than of silver. In that year the
administrators of the estate of Noah
Webster, deceased, cut the plates of our
standard lexicon and inserted now
definition that had become necessary in
order to throw penumbra of rationale
ty around the international gold con-
spiraoy
The way to obviate the further disas-
trous effects of this international gold
conspiracy is to stop it. We want the
system of bimotallism restored in this
country. Bimetallism means the option
of the debtor to pay in either of two
statutory coins, according to his own
convenience and according to the con-
tract. This option freely granted, the
commercial parity of the two money
metals will be speedily reached, nor can
such parity ever be seriously disturbed
again as long as the unimpeded option
of The debtor to pay in one metal or the |
other shall be conceded by law and the
terms of the contract. The present COM
morcial disparity Of the two metals has
been produced by the pernicious legisla-
tion which began 23 years ago, and
which has rot yet satisfied itself with |
the monstrous results that have famed |
therefrom.
What do wo propose to accomplish by
free coinage? We propose to do just this
thing-yiz, to break the corner on gold
and reduce the exaggerated purchasing |
power Of that metal to its normal stand
ard. BE assured there will be no further |
talk Of so cent dollar when the com
mercial parity of the two money metals
shall be reached. Every we'll informed |
person must know that the present dis
parity of the two uncoincd metals is but |
the index of the extent to which gold |
has been bulled in the markets of the |
world. 1t is not an index of tho extent
to which raw silver has declined in its
power in the markets of the
world, for raw silver has not declined !
i'll its purchasing power as compared |
with the average of other commodities |
in any civilized market place of the |
whole globe. No man shall say tho con-
trary and speak the truth. This great |
question is hot upon us. 1t can be kept |
back no longer. 1t is tremendous
question, that ought to be de-
,ided in the court of right, reason and of |
fact. My Judgment is that the American
people, in spite of all opposition, arc 60
ing to reclaim the right of transacting
heir business, and in particular of pay
ng their debts according to standard
anti worth 100 cents to the dollar
neither more nor less-and that they
will not accept the intolerable pro-
,ramme which declares in fact. if not in
words, that they shall henceforth trans
lct their business, and in particular dis
,harge their debts with cornered gold
lollar worth almost two for one.-John
Clark Ridpath.