The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-17

a
is so apt TO confuse man about as by con-
founding the two expressions of value and
price. Let him once get away with the con-
fusion of those two terms and you can
never stop him. When, therefore, he says
TO the farmer, the debasement of the cola
age or RECOMMENDATION of silver or the
change of standards Will Increase your
prices he tells the truth. When he goes
on in the next moment and speaks of hay-
ing Increased the value of the product that
is not true. But l do not think he knows
the difference between the terms himself
Uaughter.) SO 1t Is about the remonetiZa-
ton of silver. You never hear this ques-
ton of the RECOMMENDATION of silver being
discussed as being conspiracy to apply
new standard to debts already contracted.
III you listen to Mr.. Bryan's speeches and
read the Popuist newspapers you will be-
lieve that all that is contemplated is a
change in the standard, that is to say, the
reconciliation of silver. | am one of those
who believe that any metal is good enough
for standard Of value
All that is necessary for standard is
that you take some one metal, some one
commodity bv which you can measure the
value of all other commodities. Silver is as
good as gold for that purpose, so far as do
nestle transactions are concerned. When
we speak of a standard of value or stand
ard of height or measure, we necessarily
speak of unit. We must speak of one
There cannot be two You can no more
have double standard than you can have
double single. The very essence of d
standard is a comparison of all things with
some one thing. 1t does not affect the value
of the metal or the value of a commodity
to measure other commodities by it; that is
to say, to compare the value of other com
modities by the value of that one commod-
ity. Suppose, for instance, / take the chair
man of this meeting and we Will decide that
the height of this chairman shall be the
standard of height in the city of Minneap-
oils and that we shall speak of everybody
as being above or below the standard height,
according as he was equal in stature to the
chairman, or taller or shorter than he
Everybody would understand that; it would
not add an inch to the height, it will not
take an inch away from his height If we
measure every man in the United States by
his height 1t would not add anything to Mr..
LAWYERS height or take anything away
from 1t.
But suppose I take Mr. LAWYERS ive-year-
old son and declare that we were measuring
the height Of everybody in Minneapolis and
st. Paul by Mr.. LAWYERS height; that he
was enjoying a gradual growth, making him
little taller than all the people in the
United States put together; that he was, so
to speak, an approaching standard, and at
the rate we were going on there would not
and that he was gradually going to spread
himself all over the Union.
And somebody, In order to realize this
single standard of height, should insist that
we take his ive-year-old son and use him
as a double standard, an interchangeable
standard of say three or four to one. And
then If that were done and we declared a
man was at standard height, could anybody
tell what that meant? Could anybody tell
whether that meant he was as tall as the
chairman or as tall as his fve-year-Od son?
Instead Of enlightening people as to the
height of a person 1t would plunge nan
into greater confusion than aver as to his
size, when we discussed 1t in that light.
Now, my friends, / recur lgain 10 this
Confusion of Terms
between value and price. Mr.. Bryan claims
that he can increase the price of conr,odt-
ties by this change In the standard He is
telling the truth. When he says trait he
can increase the measure of value he says
that which is not true, he says that which is
impossible. No power on earth, by leg sla-
ton or by governmental decree, can add
one dollar in value to that table, dnd bear
in mind, as l said before, we ere hot de-
batting now with Mr.. Bryan the question
whether gold or silver should be the stand
ard of value. That is apparently I'M
important question. The battle that is GO
Ing on In this country to-day IS not as to
the standard shall not be changed for the
purpose Of defrauding any man.
Why, there would be no harm in proyid-
ing that on and after this date silver dol
lars should be coined and issued and al
lowed to take their chances providing that
all existing contracts were settled in the
coin which current at the time the
contracts were made. There is the gravest
harm, there is crime, there is dishon-
esty involved in declaring that you can set
tie in debased coin debt which has been
contracted in an honest coin. You will see
that by the mere change in the standard
but little harm could be done. If. for in
stance, the legislature here of the State of
Minnesota should decree that on and after
this date the yard measure should consist
of eighteen inches, why nobody would be
hurt by that. When you come to buy your
cloth for a suit of clothes you would buy
just twice as many yards as you would buy
to-day and you would pay the same amount
for 1t. If the legislature decreed that the
yard measure should consist of seventy-tw
inches for all future contracts nobody
would be hurt, because when you come to
buy suit of clothes you would buy just
half as many yards as you buy to-day, and
you would pay just about the same. But
If the legislature should provide after you
had agreed and paid for ten yards of cloth
of thirty-six inches each that the yard
and that existing contracts should be set
tied In the new measure. then you would
be defrauded out of half the cloth for which
you paid. (Applause.)
And this is just precisely that form of
cheat which is contemplated in the attempt
to change the standard of value, so that
debts contracted in dollars worth 100 cents
might be paid in dollars worth SO cents.
Now, my friends, it Is well that / should
remind you here that every person In the
world Is dependent on every other person
for the prosperity of his trade. No nation
can be Independent Of any other nation,
even in its monetary affairs or even in its
military establishments. Suppose there
should be massed on the other side Of the
Canadian border five hundred thousand men
with their guns pointed toward this land.
and forts were being built and signs of mill
tary activity were visible everywhere.
would we remain with an army of thirty
thousand men? Wouldn't we from the very
menace implied by the existence of hostile
army beyond our border organize an army
equal to that on our side and prepare to de-
fend our territory from any menace that
might be implied in a large military estab-
lishment on the Canadian side? Would any
man be considered a patriot going around
the United States and declaring we must
disband our army, that we must be indie
pendent of any foreign government? Could
France disband her army while Germany
maintains hers? Could any one government
be oblivious to the acts of another govern
ment which is a rival or competitor either
In military affairs or In commerce? Eng
lands claim to all her influence and power
which she Yields throughout the world to-
day came simply from the fact that in 169e
she established
The Best Coinage system
the world has ever known. She has estab
lished the soundest money and she has
maintained it. Now, there We're gentlemen
like Mr. Bryan travelling around through
England in 1886. She was not commercial