People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1896-09-17

now. and does 20 now, In all international
business transactions at its cOmmodity
price, and II needs no convention or agree.
nent to compel or induce men 10 accept IL
al such price.
Would not the object be 10 agree upon a
money value for silver In excess OF its COM
monty value and decree its acceptance In
commercial transactions at such excess OF
value! PROFESSIONALLY so! Because ID
would be the very sport OF childishness for
grave and serious men TO get together and
solemnly declare they would accent ST.
yer IN payment OF debts or exchange OF
goods at Its commodity value, when they
are already doing so, and had all the time
been doing so. and when no law forbade
10 the contrary. This agreement, then. III
made. must be one TO settle upon a money
value FOR silver In excess Of lis value as a
commodity In the market. When that Is
uone, wouldn't such excess Of value. / ask
YOU: De Impaired 10 II solely by the fat OF
law! IL not. / ask you what would give il
that excess Of value? You must admit that
something would, else Il would be futile TO
nold convention and publish a decree.
; N1w, l ASK you, what would II be7 Ger
fanny such convention and decree could
give 10 silver no greater value as a mere
commodity than II had before. Men would
want no more silver spoons or sugar bowls
or VINE trays after than before Neither
would they prize them more highly than
oeiore. Neither would they be more use
tul or ornamental than before
Money Value Can he Decreed by Law.
What, then, would justify a convention
VI law giNers IN decreeing that men should
accept silver as money al a value higher
than II bore as commodity before? |
give you your only answer The only ana
you can make yourselves and the very ona
you DO make. IL Is that silver would have
nigher commodity value than before. be-
cause OF the demand for II for money pur-
poses as well. Then, you can give value
10 silver by law by decreelng its use for
money purposes where II had not hereto-
lore been used for such purposes and by
the same token you can take value away
from silver by decreeing that Il shall not
De used for money purposes. You can COM
pei a rise In Its commodity price by en-
larging the list OF uses 10 which II NAV be
put and you can enforce a reduction OF its
commodity price by prohibiting its use for
some OF the purposes TO which ID Is adapted.
The argument is impregnable, unassail-
able, II not, there Is no occasion for an
international agreement, and its fat on
value would be as important as the blowing
OF me winds But you say that an inter-
national agreement would be more effectu-
az 10 secure and maintain the remouetlza-
uon OF silver than would the effort OF a
single nation. That may be true, but n
True. .rue, ! answer that the effort Of a great.
IL.
greatest producer and exporter OF raw ma
terlal and the necessaries Of life OF any
OF the nations OF the earth, can give Its
enort great effect toward compelling a fuIl
acceptance OF our demands, II il can rot DO
so wholly. Wv
Mr.. Edward Wilder. treasurer OF ,hs
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad
company. IN a recent communication 10
The Kansas City Times, endeavors 10 nut
the advocates OF silver coinage in the atti-
tude OF ascribing the low price on that
Inetdl ana the prevailing hard conditions
Of, the time TO the decentralization act OF
isiS. Mr.. Wilder does not fully understand
lne views OF the silver people, and does
not correctly quote their utterances We
speak OF the crime Of 70 because IL was
OF Domestic concern, because il was espe-
elaily an affair of this country and be-
which gave promise Of great DEVELOPMENT
ana usefulness. But what affected the sit
uauon as much, II not more, was the series
OF crimes OF the same character committed
ABOUT the same time by the countries OF
Europe as well. The assault against sil-
along the whole line and the resulting
effect has been felt along the whole line.
MIR. Wilder's Objections Answered.
Mr.. Wilder, in the same Communication
admitting that there is no law for the 70.
uempuon OF silver In gold, or legal pro-
vision OF any kind 10 AFFECT ms inter
caangeaDlllty, endeavors 10 break the force
OF the claim that its legal tender char
ae iS suhlces 10 maintain its parity with
gola by saying that the maintenance OF
sueh parity is due solely TO the practice OF
the treasury department In exchanging the
one coin for the other This claim res,s.
upon theory and suppositiOn alone. the OtherS
upon actual fact, tOwit: the laws OF ig7S
anu ~, which declare the legal tender
practice OF the Treasury department should
De changed, and instead OF dis
bursting gold when demanded silver alone
should be disbursed, or dlsbursed I'm equal
proportions with gold what would be Inc
eHect! Would the holder Of this silver pro-
ceed az once or at any time to dispose OF
his lW-cent legal tender dollar at less than
us facey Would he sell II at 30 cents? or
trade II for 80 cents worth Of goods. or with
IL pay only 80 cents Of the dollars lndebt-
edness he might owe? II he should do so
would the person to whom he had disposed
OF II DO likewise, and sell II for 50 cents
when ne might cancel a dollars worth
OF Indebtedness with It? No to all OF these
fact
Every man In whose hand a dollar OF
this money might come would be Interested
In maintaining II at its face value of 100
cents. Should any OF them come 10 the
creditors OF ours, would they sacrifice one
half OF their money value when they could
relnyest In this country at 100 cents on the
dollar, or buy 100 cents worth OF goods or
discharge 100 cents worth Of indebtedness
which he might have contracted here? No
In answer to all Of these questions No
The interests Of every creditor OF the
American people, either as individuals or
In their collective capacity would compel
them to help 10 uphold the money function
Of these desplsed coins at their nominal
value.
unfortunately this country IS a creditor
and not a debtor nation, and this fact is a
most potent weapon In the hands OF the
American people to compel the money mas
tiers OF the world to restore TO them their
ancient privileges and laws. II the remon-
etizatlon OF silver by this country would be
TO the disadvantage Of the common people,
the wage-earners. the ordinary professional
and Industrial classes OF the countries OF
Europe we might upon the grounds OF a
common humanity meet them half way and
agree to carry part Of the burden ourselves
rather than Impose the whole OF II upon
them.
But Is such the case? No. The holders
OF our securities are not Of the classes
named. The holders Of such securities are
the great bankers and wealth abyorbers.
the money barons OF England, Germany
the Netherlands and France, a class which,
for the purpose Of making the power OF
their possessions more effective In their
hands, limited and circumscribed the means
by which that power could be combatted
and held In check. To that class we owe
nothing, absolutely nothing except what Is
nominated In the bond. Let America, as
did Portla 10 Shylock. adiudge the pay
ment fully. promptly and exactly OF that
bond, but no drop OF blood or extra weight