The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1896-08-29

perhaps of capitalists, hoard n gamer
for the oppression of mankind. Now let
me call your attention to n fact. The
free-coiners assert. when they are told
to tend very much and by natural pro-
ccsses to solve this question. that from
one-half to one-third Of the gold annually
produced in the world goes into the arts.
This statement is probably an exaggera-
ton. It is probable that one-quarter OF
the gold of the world produced annually
goes into the arts, and it has been doing
it for centuries. Consider for q mo-
mept, my fellow citizens, what an enor-
billions, perhaps four billions, of dollars
are lying in the shape of golden orna-
ments, thousands of dollars Of them in
this room tonight. Now I want to ask
you this question, if there Is a gold fam
inc. if the power of gold is SO absolute
and t%yrannical as it is claimed, If its
possession in the shape of coin gives it's
owner such sway over the destiny and
fortune of his fellow man, how is it
that this amount of gold, per-
haps one-third of that which is in exist
yet of going into the melting pot to be
turned into coin?
But we hear n great deal about the de:
monetization of silver, and one would
think to hear our free-coiner friends de
claim that silver had been entirely de
monetized, that by some malign infu'
ence the money function of silver
throughout the world had been entirely
%abrogated. and it is a very catching
assumption, for I will not call it an argu-
ment.
Now, I say. my fellow citizens, that,
properly considering facts, that state.
ment is inaccurate, not to say untrue. ]
assert that silver has never been demon
cited in the sensa in which that charge
%1 aas been m made. - (AdR|R Rsst a. stendard
value rs money, and 1 say this has moi
been done with any dollar of silver coin
that was ever minted at any mint. ZAP
plause.) 1t is true that many nations
who have approached the danger line 'ot
which l spoke a few moments ago, when
one metal drives out another, that many
nations have told the owners of silver
not longer buy it at q certain ratio and
at n certain price. Even that has not
been entirely done. and l repeat my
statement that the assertion that silver
has been ~demonetized is one calculated
to mislead. and is not true in fact.
''The Crime of 49,"
All our woes are dated from 1873. the
period when the free-coiners persuade
their disciples that, to use their stock ex:
preston, silver was demonetized, or that
one-half of the aggregate wealth of the
world was struck down at a blow. Now
let us bring this statement to the crucial,
absolute test of figures, of what records
and statistics say upon this subject, and
any person. The value (and 1 will give
you my authority for this statement in q
moment), the value of all silver coin in
the world in 1878 was $1,S77, 100000
In 1895 it was 81 100, 100000. The
value of all the gold coin in the world in
1873 was So, 045, 100000 the value of all
the gold coin in the world in 1895 was
81, 200, 600, 900. OF this .quantity, of sill.
yer current in the world in 1895, $780,.
0 $1,000 was full legal tender. Now at.
tend to me for a moment while the math.
ematical deduction is made. By this
statement it appears that the quantity
of gold in the world increased. between
1873 and 1895, only $1,20O,0OO,O0 600,
while the increase of silver coin for the
same period was $2,2S3, O00,O 00-more
coined in the twenty-three years since
all the coinage of the world since Noah
left the ark. Applause.) And nearly
double more silver has been coined than
gold since 1873. What becomes, then, Of
the assertion of the equal and equable
production of silver and gold from year
to year since time began, and of the de-
monetization of silver since 1873, in the
and 1895 the coinage of silver was near.
ly twice greater than that of gold? They
talk of the demonstration of silver since
1873 in the face of a silver coinage
throughout the world since that year Of
over $4,000 600, 900, of which $685.:
444,467 was minted by. the United
States! (Applause.) And of gold the
period $685., AGO. 1888. And here, also, is
answered a statement confidently made
and plausibly maintained, and yet enron
eous in fact, that there has in all this
time been an enormous contraction of
the currency all. over the world, yet
these figures conclusively demonstrate
that that statement is not true. Now,
my friends, I have not taken this from
the statistics Of any other speaker or
statistics are gathered with the care
which commands the respect and conf
dence of the civilized world, and on the
Doth of July (only n few days ago. l
t%elegraphed to the director of the mint
regarding information upon these sub
jects, and he answered me:
Hon. G. X. Davis, St. Paul, Mimi:
Inc tOtal value Ol III! Silver cOlHeu III Tic
1917, 100000 and 1895 $4,100,O0O 900.
timated to have been S., O45, OOO, 600 and
1895 about S ,2OO.O 100000. r. %. Pres
ton. director Of the mint" And these
figures I have just given you are the fig
ures which l have just read in the tele-
gram of the director. The greatest bust
ness transactions in the way of finance
-, 4ho fo IN IF tho onrfh 0ro ro1o ,,pop
statements like that, and when what !
have said is discussed the only answer
that will be made to it is probably that
Mr.. Preston and the United States gov
eminent is one general universal gold
bug. Naughter.).
Now let me give you another state.
m meTld i; %hf fs sS!nn issS Ct d tnd 1 isS9 w Of the BE-
follows follow = Cola, $i7S,47s,i24; IS" silver e
silver. S137 ,952, $50; in 1894, gold, $227,.
921, O32; silver, $113, O95, 783. A total in
three years of $1,O39,389,498 With all
deductions for recoinage this output OF
coined money is of immense volume.
Now 1 have thrown out these sugges:
the discussion and call your attention to
another assertion of the free c%oiners: /
alluded to it cursorily a few moments
ago, but l propose to now treat it in
the same manner in which I have treat.
ed the last preceding question. The free
coiners assert that contraction has in,
tiicted all the financial and economic
1873. Now 1 say that they themselves
coolly propose to bring about a contrac.
ton of currency in the United States un.
exampled in the worlds history. I say
that they propose to bring about a con.
traction in the United States unexampled
in the worlds history and fraught with
more evils q are recorded in the an