New-York tribune., 1896-10-19
MORAL Issues INVOLVED
DIR NEWTON SAYS FREE SILVER WooAD
MEAN DISHONESTY.
HE DECLARES THAT IT WILL TAKD YEARS ~
RECOVER FROM THE DECENTRALIZATION
Of THIS CAMPAIGN.


OF THIS CAMPAIGN.
The Rev DR. r. Heber Newton preached on NON
cs. Money" in the Church of All Souls at Madison
ave and Sixty-sixth-s;.. yesterday from t'e W., w
"Provide things homes, in the sight OF all men -
Romans xii L. DR.. Newton is the first Episcopai
clergyman in this citv speak from MS pup' u" 'e
issues of this campaign. ia ,,o
THE paramount issue before the people saiu 'i'e
preacher lis the money question The gravity oi
the issue lies in the fact that the issue Is al hea''
largely moral and humanitarian. 1t Is incohcei'-
able that half of this people are CONSCIOUSLY CIV
Intentionally seeking TO commit rascahtS' IL.
Nation has not given itself over INTO the h'I"' "
the devil The inviolabilty of contract is the luhda
mental virtue in industrial civilization. 10 Sc
cure il has been the task of generations ana cen
tures in our civilization. To insure IL, every p"'
gain was surrounded in ancient times with 'he 'os'
solemn formulas. Simply to buy piece oil efou"u
q man had to take the most sacred oaths perform
the most impressive sacrifices and go through
religious rite which was invested with every aceeS
sorry to appeal to the imagination and the con-
science Now. all this surrounding OF formulas ana
rites has been done away with Our bargains are
concluded without going to the church ana ihVoh-
ing the aid Of the priest. Men do right without
these oumbrous safeguards. A word is as eooo as
q bond This is because the conscience has been
educated to recognize the involabity OF contracts
Whatever threatens to weaken this sacred sense
Of involabty in contract deals staggering do"
10 civilization.
The time through which contracts run is neces-
sarlv specuatve and carries risk with II. The
one fundamental security against this fisk Is 'hat
the contract made to-day shall be good Tomorrow
I'm the terms In which it is made to-day The
essential essence Of business far as the time ele-
ment is concerned, is the veracity and honor OF the
men who enter into the contract
ITO change the basis OF contracts. 10 introduce
new values. to make a dollar next month worth only
half the value of dollar to-day is to imperii every
contract which runs over into next month; is 10
jeopardze myriads of millions of dollars. and TO
endanger the one fundamental guarantee of our
Industrial order-conhdence. 1t would be 10 entail
the greatest injustice the greatest wrong upon al
whose contracts had been made on the assura'ce
that dollar next month would be worth what
dollar Is worth to-day. This would be an liIHorah-
~ easily to be exaggerated in an Industrial ana
commercial society. Such measure would be sure
10 invite the most subtle and persuasive teHlptd-
tions TO wrong doing 1t would require more grace
than the average man has yet received 10 WIN
stand such temptation if he were IN debt. II
borrow ton of coal in long measure receiving --4o
pounds and then offer to pay you IN shpp, @ honety
with 1000 pounds, your es'lmatG OF my h Course
which 1t is proposed thai the Nation shan M , tane,
legmzing every such petit Tceny , eo hy 'ns ns AN the
blessed privilege of cheating one another Out Ii D'o U
Indebtedness We are 70 force & tht
!" The rawest financial theories are very apt to
seem profoundly wise to the man whose debts are
scaled down 30 per cent by them. Ever debtor is
insido,slv tempted by his selfish interest. Debt
nearly always demoraliZos THIS is the danger 70
which we are EXPOSED nOv-the oo2o ana tnaW OF
wrong-in which the bonds of society are reiaXlns;
and chaos seems for the moment settling down
upon beautiful order. - ,,.. ro
'If all creditors Shylocks and all deotors are
conscious rascals then the days or the Nalio ar.
numbered No material wealth. no magnitude or
nopulation no perfection of political machinery VIII
save A people who DO not believe in one another $
nurposed honesty and intentioned justice. 49,
the great wrong which are being tempted
and thus save ourselves from the appahhG caIfh-
itv which must follow in its train -,
.If silver ia to continue the equivalent OF solu
there can be no possible advantage in paying one y
dehts with silver. If the silver dollar is worth az
much as the gold dollar. no debtor Is reheved py
the free coinage of silver. By as much as II Is
worth less than the gold dollar, and Is Therefore
easier 10 get by so much il il worth less 10 me
creditor and he is paid less in receiving H. III 'h's
Is not cheating. what is X? ,.
distinguished literary man. IN whose roheS,t!
I have the profoundest faith. writes from !nc
West that the word is passing around among !hc
wage-workers that. since employers are coercnls
their employees il is open TO every wage worker
10 wear a Mckinley button and attend Mchinley
meetings and then vote for Bryan. he reports that
The word passes around that since Plu'ocratS are
using n gigantic corruption fund 10 huy up NV'c,,S
: omen TO WaGe-worker 10 take all III"
money he can get from the Republican mana
gers and then vote for Mr. Bryan. To SUCH depths
OF degeneration is the manhood OF thls country
beinr tempted under the bitterness or class leel-
ing Under The smart OF the sense of wrong under
the bncloudjnC of the mind by sophlSucal trEu-.
mentations Whatever the issue o; the contest. II
win take us not a few years TO recover from the
Generalization already produced