The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1896-10-10


age laws. and they passed what is known as
the law OF 1873, by which they reduced the
iesal tender value OF silver, by which they
made gold the standard.
II was righteous and proper law.
ana one that was intended to put the COM
mercial interests of this country on a par
lily with the other great civilized nations
OF the world. 1t was a law which was
passed after weeks and months OF de-
liberation, and the man who tells YOU II
was Il crime, or passed surreptitiously Is
either knave or a fool We got through
the panic or 1873 and we resumed January
1, 1879. upon gold basis.
but the silver mine owners had taken
alarm at the overproduction OF silver, and
TO protect themselves they raised the cry
that silver was dcmonetized and In an
evil moment. In 1878, there was passed what
was known as tine Bland bill, by which
the government was authorized to pur-
chase and coin s2.o00,000 of silver month.
Not content with this. IN 1880. they passed
what was known as the Sherman law, by
which the government was to purchns sc
100000 ounces OF silver a month, and TO
coin dollars or issue silver certificates for
the same. They loaded up the country
with this useless currency, for nobody took
the silver dollars they are in the vaults
at Washington to-day; but they so load
ed up the country that In 1893 we had a
great panic. This panic forced the re-
pea, of the Sherman law and left us upon a
gold basis.
The panic OF 1899 was caused by our at
tempt TO bolster up silver. We had rur-
chased too much, issued too many certili-
Gates. and. like many individuals. who
put out too many notes. our creditors be-
came frightened and questioned our credit.
and the result was the panic OF 1898. We
had change of administration, and my
democratic friends. or rather the populistic
ring of that party. concluded they would
make new tarim law. and they made
one which would not produce enough rev.
enue to run the government. The result
was that we had n deficiency; ard when
the gold reserve began 10 so down, these
gentlemen refused 10 pass u law that would
aid i'm the sale of bonds.
THE populist thought then he saw the
hour TO destroy the credit of the govern
ment and force his scheme. and had II not
been for the noble stand of that honest
man, Grover Cleveland. they would have
ruined the credit of this country. ! never
was II great admirer Of his, but pay my
tribute TO him since the day when he said
the credit and honor of this country should
he upheld. The moment Mr.. Cleveland
made his bond sale in that fateful Febru-
airy. 1895, business began TO improve. You
men who work in the shops and in he
stores know 1t.
1.-The spring and summer and fan OF 1895
saw a fairly good business and It was in
creasing all the time. What stopped IT,?
Why, in the winter of 1856 this same rev.
enue bill failed TO produce enough rev.
euue: the treasury Was getting empty and
the same populst senator's, in pursuance
of the conspiracy that they had made TO
ruin this country or force the free courage
OF silver, refused any remedial legislation,
and the whole world took alarm. and the
result was panic commenced, which has
Increased and 1t will increase and grow
untn this country settles once for all that
st. currency shall be honest.
"The Bryan crowd will tell you that we
cannot prosper on gold basis In fact.
the bulk OF all their campaign Is made up
of assertions without proof. and It is al
ways hard to prove negative. but in this
case we have the best proof in the worlu
of the falsity OF their statement. In 1873.
they tell you, silver was domonet!Eed.
You all know that on the first day OF Janu-
AIRY. 1879, this country resumed specie pay
ments upon gold basis. We have the
census reports OF 1850 and 1850 ard there
fore IL Is easy for us to compare The
progress OF the country in this period of
ten years when we had this standard of
value which they tell you is SO destructive
to business.
81 have examined these statistics and
you also know from your own observation
that there never was country prospered
as did these United States OF America upon
this gold basis from lSSO to 1880. In the
whole history OF the Anglo-Saxon race,
looking down through centuries. | defy any
man to show me period when the race
made such advances as IL did during that
time. when the workmen had so much
work and received such pay for 1t in good.
honest money, when the trader prospered.
when the ships sailed the seas and brought
home a profit, as in the period from 1850
to 1890, when We were doing business on a
gold standard.
Take the railway business, which Is
more familiar, perhaps. to some of us than
anything else. and which Is one of the
greatest Industries OF the country. In 1880
The earnings of the railways of the United
States were s6l5. 900. 900, in 1890 they had in
creased 10 1864 100000. In 1880 46l 900 men
were employed in this business. and In
$3.50 100000. Now. my friends. don't let the
populists get you away from this fact. that
all this increase was upon gold standard.
and 1t was only stopped by an attempt of
he silver people to debase our standard.
and II on November this populistic snake
hat Is killing our credit is crushed we
nay look for a development in the next
ZEN years that will even surpass the devel-
,pment of the ten years I have just been
speaking of. Give US an honest standard
md good credit and we will outstrip the
world.
II trust I have shown conclusively to
FOUR minds that the result of Mr.. Bryan's
Dut that IL will drive our gold out OF cir
,ulation, that II will contract our curren-
" and produce panic. that the present
hard times are not caused by the gold
tandard, that our greatest developments
n the past have been when we were on
hat standard. and we can only hope for
'uture developments by continuing II.
This. however. Is not the populist Idea.
THE talk about raising the price OF sill
,er was gotten up when the populists
hought they had some chance In the east.
md did not care to disturb capital and in
rested interest Long since they have
;iven this up and now they talk about the
arge sums due the bondholders and cred
tors and that we must have cheaper
lollar with which to pay these debts. Who
ire the great creditors OF this countryf
Not the eastern bondholder that Bryan In
,is wild trip over the country abuses.
THE great creditor Is the waGe-earner. |
rhe country owes him more each month. |
MANIFOLD, than Is due to all the bondhuld-
RS Take the railways of this country. |
or an example: each year nearly 100000, |
90 Is paid out to their employees In wages
Z you adopt the scheme OF the populist and
lebase your currency you take from these |
men more than s100.0O0.0O0. For % years |
,ou have tolcd and worked In order TO |
ret your wages advanced to where they
ire now. and In one day. n this scheme |
,ucceeds November 3. you reduce your |
wages anywhere from rs to 80 percen