Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1896-10-08
Ex-sEcRETARY scHuRZ
Shows Clearly That Free silver Would
Ruin Industry.


quences would be if Mr.. BRYAN were
elected president. with a congress to
match. Mr.. Bryan would. q course, be
anxicsIs TO have his free-coinage law
enacted, but that could not be-, even if
be called an extra session of congress
until some time in April or Nav. five or
six months after the day of election.
But as soon as on the 4th of Novem Der
the result of the election was announced
everybo Is would know that the parity
of gold and silver would not be main
tanned
1t having been made certain by Mr..
Bryan's election that the parity of gold
and silver would not be maintained,
there would be rush upon the treasury
for The gold IN it by the persons hold
ing greenbacks entitled to redemption.
ard the gold reserve would be exhausted
in a twinkling. Gold will instantly
disappear from circulation, to be hoard
ed or exported. Why will it disappear?
Because every sensible person when
making payment will prefer to make
il in the less valuable dollar and hold
the more valuable gold dollar back for
fore quickly rise to premium, and we
shall be on the silver basis long before
free-coinage law can be enacted. Our
daily transactions in buying and SELL
ing, in paying and receiving wages,
viii no longer be carried on upon the
basis of the gold dollar worth 100 cents,
but of the silver dollar worth so cents
or thereabout. for the government will
no longer hold up the silver dollar to
the value of the gold dollar. That is
what the silver basis means. You can
study in Mexico how itworks.
The quantity of gold vanishing from
circulation will amount to about $780,
oooooo the disappearance Of which
will make a tremendous hole in the
volume of our currency. But says the
silver man, there will be free silver
coinage to fill the gap promptly with
coined silver or silver certificates. Oh,
no, my fellow sufferers. The disappear
ance Of gold viii happen promptly after
the election of Mr.. Bryan, and there
will not possibly be any free coinage of
silver for at least six months, and it
will require great many more months
to fill gapof S60O.o0o.ooo.
What viii happen meanwhile? The
st. Louis Globe-Democrat reports Mr..
Bryan to have said some time ago; 81
think it-meaning the victory Of the
free-coinage movement-will cause
panic. But the country is in a depior-
able condition, and it will take extreme
measures to restore il to condition of
prosperity" Whereupon the ST. Louis
paper pointedly remarks: Evidently
Mr.. Bryan has heard of the doctor no
always threw his patient into fits before
administering any curative medicine"
just so.
How, then, would Mr.. Bryan's ''fit"
VIC. <? The sudden disappearance of
our gold from circulation would pro-
duce the most stringent contraction of
the currency on record. Business men
who own money and at the same time
have money due them viii be forced to
collect that money by every means at
their disposal. Nobody will be inclined
traordinary security. The banks will
naturally consider it their duty to keep
themselves strong, and therefore to call
in loans and to restrict their discounts
and advances to business men with the
utmost caution. Business establish
ments, manufactures, mercantile
houses, unable to get the money for
meeting their obligations, viii by the
hundreds succumb to their embarrass-
ments and tumble down like a row of
bricks. Others will cautiously restrict
BILE limit, and wage-earners by the thou
sands will lose their employment and be
turned into the street.
How can | foretell these things with
so much assurance? Because they have
already cast their shadows before. Do
you remember the crisis of 1898. when
the silver basis was in sight? And now
again the mere apprehension of possi-
bility of Mr.. Bryans election and of the
consequent slipping of our country upon
the silver basis has already caused nm
told millions of our securities to be
thrown upon the market in Europe as
well as here.
Scores of business orders are already
recalled, large number of manufactur
ing establishments have already stopped
or restricted their operations, enter
prise is already discouraged and nearly
paralyzed, many works of public utili-
" by industrial or railroad companies
have already been ordered off, thou
sands of workingmen are already
thrown out of employment, gold is al
ready being hoarder. capital is already
being sent out of the country to be in
vested in Europe for safety.
And why all this? Not, as the silver
men foolishly pretend, because the ex-
listing gold standard has made money
scarce, for capital is lying idle in heaps,
scores upon scores of millions, fairly
yearning for safe employment. No.
Ask those concerned why all this hap
pens. and with one voice they will tell
you it is because they apprehend serious
danger to every dollar ventured out