St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-17
THAT'S HOW Ex-CONGREssMAN
SIMPSON INTRODUCED HIM
SELF TO ST. PAUL.
ADDRESS. IN MARKET HALL
DEVOTED TO A CONSIDERATION OF
THE FINANCIAL QUESTIONS
OF THE DAY.
FAvoRs FREE SILVER AT 10 TO L.
He Is Not Afraid of Cheap Dol
lar, It's the Dear Dollar He
Fears,

Market hall was far from filled last
night when Jerry Simpson, the Kan
sas statesman, stepped upon the plat
form, accompanied bygJ. c.. Hanley
and Francis Clark, two local repre-
sentatives of the Peoples party. Mr..
Simpsons speech was confined chiefly
to the financial question, being an ar
gument in favor of the free coinage of
silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. He is
an entertaining speaker, who makes
no pretense at oratory, and all who
heard him showed an appreciation of
the merits of his address whether they
agreed with his ideas or not. He told
number Of good stories to illustrate
the points in his argument.
Mr.. Hanley called the meeting to
order. and introduced Mr.. Clark as
chairman. When Mr.. Simpson arose
he was greeted by burst of applause
that lasted some seconds.
Mr.. Simpson began by saying that
he realized how dangerous it would
be for a man to travel about in the
North Star state at the present time
without socks, and he wanted to as
sure all those who might be curious
to know, that he was not without his
on this occasion. He then went on to
say that he never had the advantage
Of an education. He never went to col
lege, nor even carried the dinner to a
fellow who did. He was just plain
Jerry Simpson, living on Kansas
farm, but endowed with a little COM
mon sense. He was not going to sub
viii a
deal Of confidence in statisticians but
most anything could be proved by ~
ures- 1t was said that figures never
lied, but this did not mean that liars
could not figure.
The speaker then went into a dis
cussion of the financial question, de-
claring himself soft-money man, at
least to the extent of favoring the free
coinage Of silver at the ratio of l6 to 1.
Money was a creation of law. It should
be stable in value. Any money that
Huctuates in value SO that a dollar
when a debt is paid is worth more or
less than it was when the debt was
created. is dishonest dollar. The
amount of money in circulation regu-
lated it's purchasing power Carlisle
that the free coinage of silver would
innate the currency and therefore make
the dollar cheaper If this is true
the rule must also work the other
way, and the wiping out of silver made
the dollar dearer, and made it that
much harder for the people to pay.
their debts. -. 8z#s,s .
Inc gold standard fellow maintains
that the gold dollar does not vary in
value. But when the speaker saw all
olner commodities retaining a steady
value with relation to each other and
the value of gold parting company
from them, the inference was that gold
was going up. The argument of in
tflnSlc value in gold was responsible
for untold misery. 1t was a base
fabrlcation to deceive the people. If
man had $1,0O0,000 on an island in
the racine ocean and no one else was
near him. how much intrinsic value
would it have? It's monetary value is
the main thing that gives to gold in
trlns1c value. Restore silver to the
same privilege, and its price will at
once go up to its money value. giving
it an intrinsic value of 16 to / as com
pared with that of gold. He was not
troubled about too much foreign silver
being dumped on this country. The
gard to free trade-too much foreign
goods would be dumped in here-and
he had often thought what a calamity
1t would be to have a carload of socks
dumped on his farm. Oaughter)
Il am not so very anxious about a
cheap dollar declared the speaker
but terribly anxious about a dear
dollar. Any dollar that great ma
ton like this stamps as a dollar re-
ceivable for all debts public and pri-
vate, that dollar is a good dollar as
long as the nation is solvent 1t is
the duty OF government to provide
stable system of finance for its
people, and any government that farms
out this duty to private corporations
courts its own destruction" The
speaker said he was not making war
on banks or bankers The former
were legitimate institutions for the
carrying on of banking business, and
the bankers are as good as other class
es of humanity and no better But
they should have no power as far as
the issuing of the medium of exchange
is concerned.
Mr.. Simpson next went back over the
history of the greenbacks and the
necessity that called it into existence
contrasting the conduct of the gold
holders who refused to aid the govern
ment with that Of the common people
who risked their lives for their country
The persons responsible for this are the
Inscriptions politicians you elect to make
your laws, declared the speaker. But I
believe in the future of the American people,
though we have to pass through this period
OF evolution. But when l go to these great
political parties and ask them what the rem
edy is, | am appalled, at their answers The
reason is that our parties are led by politi-
c el instead OF statesmen: am not a Social
list, L am not dreamer, but 1 am a believer
IN the rights of the common people. If Jeffer-
son were here today he would be the worst
type of calamity bowler, if not an out-and-
out anarchist.
Mr.. Simpson then touched on the land ques-
ton briefly, and, in conclusion, said that just
as surely as the sun rises and sets, ii the gov
eminent Of the United States follows out the
policy that is concentrating power and wealth,
the government must go down like the great