Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-09-01

me Gull your attention 10 one TACT. II
free-coiners assert, when they are TOLL
that the increased output of gold Is golnl
to tend very much and by natural pro
cesses to solve this question. that from
one-half to one-third of the gold annual.
produced in the world goes into the arts
This Statement Is probably an exaggera
ton, 1t Is probable that One-quarter o
the gold of the world produced annuaii.
goes INTO the arts, and it has been doini
it for centuries. Consider for n .mo
meDt my fellow citizens, what All ehor
nous sum-, enormous aggregate--thre,
billions perhaps four billions. of dollar
are lying in the shape of golden orna
ments, thousands of dollars of them il
this room tonight. Now I want to asl
you this question, if there is q gold fam
inc, If the power of gold is, so abspltt.
and tyranpical as 1t Is. eiaimedj if r.
possession in the shape Of coin gives it.
owner such sway over the destiny ant
fortune of his fellow man, how is i
that this enormous amount of gold, per
haps one-third of that which is in exist
ence, has not shown the least symptom
yet Of grirg intb tire Melting pct to be
tOfned into coin?
But we hear a great deal about the de
monetization of silver, and one woulC
think to hear our free-coiner friends de
claim that silver had been entirely de
monetised, that by ,so,ne maiign infu
ence The mdbey fiihc{ion OF silver
throughout the world had been entirely
abrogated, and it is a very catching
phrase. 1t has been very catching
assumption; for will not call II an atgu.
ment.
Now, say, my fellow citizens, that
properly considering facts, that state
ment Is inaccurate, not to say untrue.
assert that silver has never been demon
etized in the sense in which that charge
has been made. (Applapse,). Dempne
tizatioh fiearis to .divest of standard
Value as money, and say this has not
been done with any dollar of silver coin
that was ever minted at any mint. Cap
plause.) 1t is true that many nations
which l spoke few moments ago, when
enc, metal drives out ahother, that iiiany
nations have told the owners of silver
which lay concealed in the earth we will
not longer buy il at certain ratio and
at certain price. Even that has no,
been entirely done. and l repeat my
statement that the assertion that silvet
has been demonetized is one calculated
to mislead. and is not true in fact.
''The Crime of 49,"
All our woes are dated from 1873, the
period when the free-coiners persuade
their diseirles that, to i.se their stock ex-
preston, silver was demonetized, or that
one-half of the aggregate wealth of the
world was struck down at blow. Now
let us bring this statement to the crucial
absolute test of figures, of what records
and statistics say upon this subject and
not trtsr TO the vague defamation OF
any person. The value land l will give
you my authority for this statement in q
moment), the value of all silver coin in
the world in 1873 was $1,S77, 100000
In 1898 il was "a, 100, 100000. The
value of oil the gold coin In the world in
1873 was S3,O45, 200, 900; the value of all
the gold coin in the world in 1896 was
81, 200, 100000. OF this quantity of sill
YER current in the world in 1895, So, 49,
100000 was full legal tender. Now at
tend to me for moment while the math-
ematical deduction is made. By this
statement it appears that the quantity
of gold in the world increased. between
while the increase of silver coin for the
same period was $2,2S3, 600, 0O0-more
coined in the twenty-three years since
1873 than remained up to that time of
all the coinage of the world since Noah
left the ark. (Applause.) And nearly
double more silver has been coined than
gold since 1873. What becomes, then, of
the assertion of the equal and equable
production of silver and gold from year
to year since time began, and of the de-
monetization of silver since 1873, in the
face of this showing that, between 1873
and 1895 the coinage of silver was near
ly twice greater than that of gold? They
talk Of the decentralization of silver since
1873 in the face of silver coinage
throughout the world since that year of
over $1,000, 100000, of which 1888,
A - \
States! (ApplauseD And of gold the
United States minted during the same
period 1887, 460,633. And here, also, is
answered n statement confidently made
and plausibly maintained, and yet erron-
eous in fact, that there has in all this
time been an enormous contraction of
the currency all over the world, yet
these figures conclusively demonstrate
that that statement is not true. Now,
the statistics of any other speaker or
from any other book. l know where the
statistics are gathered with the care
which commands the respect and conf
dence of the civilized world, and on the
10Th of July (only few days ago. l
telegraphed to the director of the mint
regarding information upon these SUBJ
jects, and he answered me:
Hon. G. X. Davis, st. Paul, Mimi
world in 1873 / estimate to have been
81 ,S17 100000 and 1898 81, 5000, 900.
The worlds stock of gold in 1873 is es-
timated to have been $3,045, 600 600 and
1895 about $4,000, 100000. r. Il. Pres
ton, director of the mint" And these
figures l have just given you are the fig
ures which i have just read in the tele-
gram of the director. The greatest BUSH
ness transactions in the way of finance
on the face Of the earth are made upon
statements like that, and when what I
have said is discussed the only answer
that will be made to it is probably that
eminent is one, general universal gold
bug. Uaughter.)
Now let me give You another state
ment. The coinage of the nations of the
world in 1892, 1893 and 1894 was as
follows: Gold. SIT, Ala, 124; silver,
silver, Si37, 952, 800; In 1904, gold SS27.
921 ,032; silver, $113, 095, 1888. A total in
three years of $1,039, $3.50 ,49S. With all
deductions for recoinage this output of
coined money is of immense volume.
Now / have thrown out these sugges-
tons and will pass from that branch of
the discussion and call your attention to
another assertion of the free coiners:
alluded to it cursorily a few moments
ago, but l propose to now treat it in
the same manner in which have treat.
ed the last preceding question. The free
coiners assert that contraction has in
hicted all the financial and economics
miseries that mankind has endured since
1873. Now / say that they themselves
coolly propose to bring about a contrac-
ton of currency in the United States un-
exampled in the worlds history. / say