The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-08-21
THE WORLD CRAzES
Pads Which Have Upset Chrlstendom
In the Past.
The Money Craze Again Looks Up Serenely
Only to Be Releanted 20 Oblivion
Like Its Precursors.


history Of the world which almost make
one lose respect for his kind and faith
In human nature The crazes which
have taken possession OF whole conn
munlties, nay. even almost whole ma
tions are hard 10 account for on any
theory Of common sense.
One OF the most noted OF such crazes
Ia known as the Crusades. These con-
sisted OF different expeditions from
Europe to the holy land, the account
OF which, as handed down in history
Is almost incredible. Thousands OF
poor people. rabble and children, as
well as knights and soldiers, undertook
these journles. OF course they perished
BY the hundreds. only comparative
few ever living to reach the borders
Of Palestine.
A great business speculation which
took place in our own colonial times,
known as tn South Sea Bubble" was
another instance OF such crazes; when
the world seemed to go topsy-turvy,
and thousands Of people lost their rea-
soning faculties, only to find them
again after being landed on the shores
Of utter bankruptcy In England they
have just had an experience some
what similar to the South Sea Bubble.
in the African mining specuiations, In
which thousands OF poor people have
been reduced TO abJect poverty. and
many well-to-do people have become
poor for the balance Of their lives.
The foundation and moving force Of
these speculative crazes is avarice--
the desire to be suddenly wealthy. with
little or no exertion. This desire Is
common to all mankind. to a certain
extent, but experience and common
sense teach US that things don't hap
pen that way. In the instances cited.
however, certain conditions prevailed
which made a foundation to work up
on. and the movement once started
under skillful management, the weak
side OF human nature was soon COM
pIeteIy undermined, and the people fell
easy victims to the craze. which thus
became epidemic.
Now 1t appears that the coming presi-
dental election is developing a craze
as marked. and which may result as
disastrously as any Of those named.
The Demopopocratic, Free Silver and
general Socialistic movement Is GER
tainly one Of the most unaccountable.
unreasonable and senseless crazes
which ever occurred at any time or in
any country. We have been in the
habit Of hattering ourselves that the
United States of America Is the top
notch nation OF the world; that her
citizens are as intelligent. patriotic and
honest as can be found in the uni
verse, and that they are in favor OF
good laws. good government. good
money, and good times. based on
solid foundation. Instead or which We
hnd at least good-sized minority OF
them boldly and vociferously advocat-
ing untried, socialistic and revolutions
airy methods of government, with the
demand for the unlimited coinage of
silver at twice it's commercial value
the main issue Of the campaign.
The greenback fiat craze had its day
few years ago. and was supposed TO
be dead. Any intelligent ten year ola
boy ought to know that the idea is en-
tirely false, but behold. it rises up
again with new life and new vigor.
The fact that 10 or 16 ounces Of silver
were at one time worth as much as one
ounce of gold has nothing to do with
the question; but it is useless to here
argue the case, it has already been
argued and discussed time and again,
and argument seems to do no good
with man afflicted with craze.
The Spartans. we are told, used iron
for money, but they never attempted
to coin a small piece of iron and say
it should absolutely be made to pass
for any specified sum. They simply
used the metal at its commercial value.
They were honest, if their circulating
medium was inconvenient. but what
shall we say of the men who want a
certain piece of silver to circulate for
a certain sum of money whether it is
worth that much or not?