The Globe-republican., 1896-09-03
HENDRICKS SPEECH,
TALK ON MONEY TO MOROCCO
MANUFACTURES
0aad They Arc Not Asking to Have
Leather Remonetixed Tells Why
Clam Shells Were Demon etixed-Civil.
ization and Evolution Advancing.

The Shoe and Leather Reporter pub
fishes the following speech made by the
Hon. Joseph C. Hendrix at the dinner
OF the National Morocco Manufac-
tIrers' association of the United States
at Manhattan Beach early this month:
Mr.. President and Gentlemen-I am
glad to see you, men of small brains
and large capital am glad always to
face successful men in an American
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 de-
monetization Of leather, never asked
| redress for the crime" of the abandon
ment of the use of leather as money.
You do not now ask for its remonetiza-
ion.
Mr.. Stein-Nor for free tannage.
Mr.. Hendrix-No! Therefore, have
great respect for two people, the North
American Indian and the morocco
manufacturer. Along these sand dunes
from Manhattan to Montauk point, the
antiquarian can point to great heaps
Of shells where the old squaws used to
sit and practice the free coinage OF
wampum. After a while smart Yankee
invented turning lathe which trans
formed the clam shells into money too
fast. This led to the demonstration
OF the Long Island clam. Uaughter)
The poor Indian has passed of to the
plains and We hear no more OF the free
coinage of clans.
These are simply evolutionary steps.
You look back to the beginning of your
industry and marvel at the changes.
The world advances. Civilization re-
fines. Commerce requires exact terms
and measures. 1t insists upon certain
ty, fxity in the standard of values. It
must have something upon which it can
depend. It has found out that it must
why 1t has veered to the single stand
ard. 1t has quit stepping from one
standard to the other. It makes it's
election. It votes for gold because Of
Its great value in small compass and
because of the fixity of that value. So
It. is that one great nation after an
other, under tho command of it's best
intelligence, has come to the gold
standard. 1t is because they have found
1t the cheapest, best and most effective
standard by which to measure all val
ues.
What does q standard mean? What
is its primary significance? It comes
from an old Latin word meaning some
thing to turn to. When you are in
doubt you 90 to the standard. l don't
care what line Of business you are in or
what course of life you pursue, a stand
ard governs it somehow or other. You
ride on a railway on a standard guage,
you sit at table of standard height,
and so on through the list. The stand
ard must be the thing it stands for. If
you have a standard of weight, it may
be Of diamonds or precious stones, but
it has got to hive weight-that is the
first thing. II you have a standard
of length, it must have length. And when
you come to the question of the stand
ard Of value. whatever it is made of it
has got to have value.
You can talk about the whole aues-
ton of finance in 100 different lights.
But this is the main poiat-you must
have standard of value. That stand
ard 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 a British
policy which we are seeking to enforce
in this country. Did you ever hear
anything about British policy in con-
nection with the law of gravitation or
British policy of good health against
bad health-good clothes against shod-
dy? There are other countries in the
world besides Great Britain. We do
not have to look to Great Britain to
know what is a good thing. Great
applause) We are old enough and big
enough to know good thing when We
see it. Ours is country that for 60 |
years has been under the gold stand |
ard. You have never known anything |
else. All you have was built upon the |
gold standard. The greatness and de-
velopment of this country have been
attained under that standard. How is
the world lining up on this question? |
China, japan and Mexico are for free |
silver. Great Britain, Germany, France
and the great empires of Europe are for
gold. Where do We belong? There is
only one answer. Can any one fancy
that our great population, made up of
"a, 000, 900 Of the best examples of the
Anglo-Saxon race, mixed with Irish
wit, Scotch cunning. German thrift, is
going to step from the high plane where
We stand to the lower one beneath?
What strange madness has come into
the American people to make it seem
possible that they could do thing of
that kindf (Applause)