The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1896-09-17

1t would be an INVASION or the homes OF
the provident." and tend directly to "de-
stroy the stimulus to endeavor and the
compensation of honest toll" Every one
of the shareholders Of these associations
is entitled to be repaid in money of the
same value which he deposited by weekly
| payments or otherwise in these compa
les. No one of them should be made
homeless because Il political party de-
mands a change in the money standard of
our country, as an experiment.. or as a
| concession to seltishness or greed.
The magnitude of the disaster which
would overtake these and cognate inter-
ests becomes the more Strikingly apparent
when considered in the aggregate. Stated
broadly, the savings banks, life insurance
and assessment companies and building
and loan associations of the country
hold in trust $15,3O9. III 1881. The de-
basement of the currency to a silver basis,
as proposed by the Chicago platform,
would wipe out at II blow approximate
ly $1.9G3, 5O4, $50 of this aggregate. Ac-
cOrding to the report of the department
Of agriculture, the total value of the main
cereal crops in this country in 1894 was
$99o. ABS, 1O7. SO that the total sum be-
longing to the people, and held in trust
in these institutions, which would be
obliterated by the triumph of free and I'M
limited silver coinage, would be seven and
One-half times the total value of the an
nual cereal crop of the United States. The
total value of the manufactured products
of the country for the census year of 1881
was $9,372,53 ,293. The establishment
of a silver basis of value, as now proposed,
would entail a loss Of these three inter-
ests alone equal to 80 per cent. of this
enormous output of all the manufacturing
industries Of the Union. and would affect
directly nearly one-third of it's whole pop
u~lation.
Pensions Also in Danger.
One hundred and forty millions of dol
lars per annum are due to pensioners of
the late war. That sun represents blood
spilled and sufferings endured in order TO
preserve this nation from disintegratiOn.
In many cases the sums so paid in PEN
sions are exceedingly small; in few, if
any, are they excessive. The spirit that
would deplete these to the extent of a
farthing is the same that would organize
sedition. destroy the peace and security
of the country, punish rather than reward
our veteran soldiers. and is unworthy OF
the cOuntenance. by thought or vote, of
any patriotic citizen of whatever political
faith. No party, until that which met in
convention at Chicago, has ventured to In
suit the honored survivors of our struggle
for the national life by proposing to scale
their pensions horizontally and to pay
them hereafter in deprecated dollars
worth only SO cents.
The amounts due. in addition to the
interests already named. to depositOrs ana
trust companies in national, State and prl-
vatc banks. to holders of fire and accident
insurance policies. to holders of industrial
insurance, where the money deposited or
the premiums have been paid in gold or
its equivalent. are SO enormous, together
with the SUM due and to become due, for
State, municipal, county or other corpor-
ate debts, that if paid in deprecated sill
Yer or its equivalent it would not only
entail upon our fellow-countrymen a loss
in money which has not been equaled in Il
similar experience since the world began,
but it would at the same time bring a dis
grace to our country such as has never
befallen any Xher nation which had the
ability to pay it's honest debts. In our
condition and considering our magnifi-
cent capacity for raising revenue such
wholesale reputation is without necessity
or excuse No political expediency or par
ty eXigency, however pressing, could justi-
fy so mOnstrOus an act.
All these deposits and debts must, under
the platform of the Republican party, be
the world knows and measured by the
same standard in which the debts have
been contracted or the deposits or pay
ments have been made.
Facts Officially Established.
Still dealing sparingly with figures, of
which there is an enormous mass to sus-
tain the position of the advocates of the
gold standard of value, l cite one more
fact. which is officially established, pre-
missed by the truism that there is no bet
ter test Of the growth of a country's pros
perity than its increase in the per capita
holdings of it's population. In the decade
1%-,o~ 1SSn ND 1S0n l..,, ,.h;nh MO
had our existing gold standard, and were
under the conditions that supervened
from the act of 1873. the per capita own
ings Of this country increased from $50
to S1,O36. In those ten years the aggre-
gate increase of the wealth of our coun-
try was sol ,395 10000, being so per
cent. in excess of the increase of any pre-
vious ten years since 1850, and at the
amazing rate of over two thousand million
dollars a year. The trainers of the Chi
cagO platform, in the face of this fact.
and of the enormous increase over Great
Britain, during this same gold standard
decade. of our %country's foreign trade and
its production of iron, coal and other
great symbols of national strength and
progress, assert that our monetary stan
dard is mot only un-American, but anti
American" and that it has brought us
Into financial servitude to London" 1t
Is impossible to imagine an assertion more
reckless and ndefensible.
The proposition for free and unlimited sill.
yer coinage, carried to its logical conclusion,
and but one Is possible, means, as before in.
timated. legislative warrant for the repudi-
alton of an all-existing Indebtedness, public
and private, to the extent of nearly so per
cent. of the face of all such indebtedness.
1t demands an unlimited volume of fiat cur
rency, irredeemable, and. therefore. without
any standard value in the markets Of the
world. Every consideration of public inter
est and public honor demands that this prop
osltion should be rejected by the American
people.
Cannot Sanction SpoIiation.
This country cannot afford to give its
sanction to wholesale spoliation. 1t must
hold fast to its Integrity. 1t must still en-.
courage thrift in all proper ways. 1t must
not only educate its children to honor and
respect the flag. but 1t should inculcate fdel
ity to the obligations of personal and nation.
al honor as well. Roth these great nrinci