The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-08-10

Were DemonetiEed--Civilix and Evo-
luton Advancing Toward Single Stand
ard In Everything-FaithI In Americas
[ Inteiiigencs.
The Shoe and Leather Reporter pub.
fishes the following speech made by the
Hon. Joseph c. Hendrix at the dinner
Of the National Morocco Manufacturers
association Of the United States at Man
haitian Beach early this month
Mr.. PRESIDENT AND GENTLENEN-I
am glad to see you, "men of small
brains and large capital" am glad al
ways to face successful men in an Amer
lean industry. You represent trade
which years ago furnished material for
the money instrument. There was
leather money once and plenty Of it.
You have never set up any cry because
of the characterization Of leather, never
asked redress for the crime" of the
abandonment Of the use of leather as
money. You do not now ask for its re-
monetiZation.
Mr.. Stein-Nor for free tannage.
Mr.. Hendrix-Noi Therefore, have
great respect for two people, the North
American Indian and the morocco man
ufacturer. Along these sand dunes from
Manhattan to Montauk point, the anti
quarian can point to great heaps Of
shells where the old squaws used to sit
and practice the free coinage of wam-
pun. After awhile smart Yankee in
vented turning lathe which trans
formed the clam shells into money too
fast. This led to the demonstration Of
the Long Island clam. Laughter. The
poor Indian has passed off to the plains
and we hear no more of the free coinage
of CLANS.
These are simply evolutionary steps.
You look back to the beginnings OF
your industry and marvel at the changes.
The world advances. Civilization re-
fines. Commerce requires exact terms
and measures. IL insists upon certainty,
fxity in the standard Of values. Ii must
have something upon which it can de-
pend. 1t has found out that it must de-
pend upon some one thing That is why
it has veered to the single standard. 1t
has quit stepping from one standard to
the other. 1t makes its election. 1t votes
for gold because of its great value in
small compass and because OF the fixity
of that value. So il Is that one great
nation after another, under the com
mand of its best intelligence, has come
| to the gold standard. IL is because they
have found it the cheapest, best and
most effective standard by which to
| measure all values.
What does q standard mean? What is
| its primary significance? 1t comes from
an old Latin word meaning something
to turn to. When you are in doubt you
20 to the standard. / don't care what
| line of business you are in or what
course of life You pursue, a standard
governs il somehow or other You ride
on a railway on standard gauge, you
sit at "a table of standard height, and
so on through the list. The standard
must be the thing 1t stands for. If you
have a standard of weight, 1t may be OF
diamonds or precious stones, but 1t has
got to have weight-that is the first
thing. If you have standard OF length,
it must have length. And when you
come to the question of the standard OF
value. whatever it is made Of 1t has
got to have value
You can talk about the whole ques-
ton of finance in 100 different lights
But this is the main point-you must
have a standard Of value That standard
must have value. We choose for the
standard the metal which fiuctuates the
least in value. That is the whole story
of the gold standard. [Cheers.
Our friends out in Chicago claim
that the gold standard is British pol
lev which we are seeking to enforce in
this country. Did you ever hear any
thing about British policy in connection
with the law of gravitation or British
policy Of good health against bad health
good clothes against shoddy? There
are other countries in the world besides
Great Britain. We do not have to look
TO Great Britain to know what is good
thina [Great applause. We are old
enoufh and big enough to know )good
thing when we see it. Ours is Country
that for so years has been under the
gold standard. You have never known
anything else All you have was built
upon the gold standard. The greatness
and development Of this country have
been attained under that standard. How
is the world lining up OH this question:
China Japan and Mexico are for free
silver. Great Britain, Germany, France
and the great empires of Europe are fol
gold. Where do we belong? There ii
only one ans wer. Can any one fancy
that our great population, made up OF
20. 600, 900 of the best examples of the
Anglo Saxon race, mixed with Irisf
wit, Scotch cunning, German thrift
il going to step from the high plane
where we stand to the lower one be
neath2 What strange madness has come
into the American people to make Il
seem possible that they could do thine
of that kindY Applause.
We can live on silver basis afte'
we get there. Our great rivers will fol
low their courses to the sea. Gods SUI
will kiss the earth The crops vii
eprinp forth Children will be born ant
grow up. Enterprises will go forward
But are we going to take the leap in tn
dark and try an experiment fraugh
with such risk and panic? A grea
French economist once said that whei
he was 20, he thought he understood
something about finance. When he wa
60. he felt he did not know rs mucl
about IL as he did at 40, and at 10 h
began TO doubt whether he knew any
thing about it ut all, and scarcely dare'
20 open his mouth. Mr.. Gladstone pom