The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-16
ROBERT G. EVANS SCOUTS THE
EFFICACY OF FREE SILVER
COINAGE.
OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN.
MINNEAPOLIS ORATOR LEADS THE
MARCH AT ST. ANTHONY
PARK.
NO STANDARD OF ANARoHIsM
Should he FIaunted I'm the Name
of Political Argument I'm This
Country.

Hon. Robert G.. Evans practically
opened the campaign at st. Anthony
park last evening in an hour and a
half address upon the live issues of
the day, in which the question of a
proper national currency played an
important part. The meeting was held
in the opera house and there were
many present.
In opening, Mr. Evans touched upon
the generalities of the campaign. He
agreed with many men that corporate
power was in many cases a curse, and
that it should be restricted, but he in
sisted that corporations, combined
with wealth and enterprise had done
more for the advancement of the coun-
try than any other power when right
ly used The speaker did not believe
that raising the standard of anarchy
arraigning one class against another
and one section against another, would
solve the problems of the day
LAS patriots we should give this fallacy the
rebuke that 1t deserves said the speaker.
Labor and capital should be friends. What
Is for the true interest of one, ought to be
for the other That which is for the advance
ment Of capital, is equally so, and often more
to the advancement of labor. We see around
us the great results OF industry, and II we
patriots, and not as anarchists, we will
solve the questions which are now disturbing
the nation.
I'VE have had hard times, and are now in
the midst of an of industrial depression
We as nation are not used to it, man
who has thrived upon luxuries all his life
feels more keenly privation and want. We
are wont to say that America is the most
prosperous nation earth, that our wages
are higher, and that there are more happy
and prosperous homes in proportion to the
non LOT I'm ha n
this wave of adversely which has struck us
makes pause and deliberate. We are not
naturally serfs and slaves, but we are held
under the bonds Of adversely. The people are
ripe for any suggestion which means re-
newing of the sunshine Of prosperity.
$50 in this hour of our trouble they come
to you with the sedative delusion that the
free and unlimited coinage of silver will
bring back the feeting prosperity, start up our
factories and lift the once happy homes out
Of debt. Well, if that is so, let us have the
free and unlimited coinage. But it seems to
me that before we take the medicine that
these doctors are about to give us, that we
ought to see it administered to some other fell
low, to see how it works. 1t is too much like
taking a patent nostrum which we see ad-
vertised in the newspapers as 'cure-al
We have had for the past quarter of a century
system Of finance which has been recognized
by the best nations on the face of the earth.
1t may not be the best that can be had, but
the results which obtain from it, prove its
success in the past. The world has not turned
The plan Of free coinage which we are asked
TO adopt is an old one which has never proven
a success in the second-rate countries in which
1t has been tried. 1t does not take from
our patriotism to walk with England, or
France or Germany, any more than 1t will IL
we walk with China, Japan, Mexico or any
other second-rate Central American republic.
In my way Of reasoning, cannot make up
my mind that the world has taken a step
backward in this great struggle Of the brother
hood of man, which does exist in spite Of
ipo0 10 fhn nfroa 70 aa1fn 10 fhn C,rf
ferings of others. Was the world better off
under the unrestricted coinage act? We had
it from 1892 until 1873. Was the nation bet
ter off then than 1t has been since? If so,
then free coinage is all right. I declare there
has never been grander epoch of progress
than there has been since 1873. Sometimes
In our despair over long continued suffering.
we are ready to take the first medicine that
is offered. only to find out that we have made
a mistake. l remember when I was a boy,
standing behind my fathers counter and sell
ing caps, shoes and hats, and then of going
into the factory. / remember what wages we
used to receive, and also remember how those
wages steadily climbed up after 1873. until
the era Of prosperity and progress became
the greatest in the history of the country.
"They tell us we must have more money
to circulate. l believe we have now plenty
for every one under the American flag. The
only trouble is that it is boarded up-hidden
out of sight. because people are afraid these
times to bring 1t out. II prosperity depends
upon the amount of money in circulation.
now, for statistics show that there is now
more money in circulation per capita than
there has ever been before. I contend that
prosperity does not alone depend upon the
amount of money in circulation.
I'VE must not be guided in this great strug-
gle by what some one tells us will be- but
by what history tells has been. A great
writer has well said L have no lamp to
guide me but that Of experience
"You must face this fact in connection with
the choice you are asked to make: that If
free silver does not cure, it will kill. BY
what are you authorized to say it will cure?
Has any frst-rate country ever tried 1t
under the same conditions that we are asked
to try 1t? Has it ever been known to bring
cial ratios?
This ratio of Is to 1 is deceptive. 1t re-
minds me of a great chasm over which a man
steps. The bottom Of the chasm can not be
seen. but the top is perhaps foot wide BY
placing foot on either side man can walk
along Its top astraddle, but there must come
time when he can no longer straddle, and
must drop through