The Irish standard., 1896-03-14
W: ARE PLUNGED IN DEBT

|
! 4 large audience assembled in the base
ment of the New York Life building to
listen to an address by Hon. s. M Owen
before the Gold and Silver Club, He
opened his speech with the remark chat
nearly every phase Of the financial :ques-
ton had become threadbare and .trite.
He feared that he could not say any
thing new to the club, but throwing aside
all other phases; he waded into the Sub
ject, "Debt4and It's; RELATIONSHIP the Gold
Stanard'' In substance he said: -
1.-THE people of this country and genera
ton are not sufficiently familiar WITH the
question of debt, the principles which
control it and the manner in which It
has bene created. They Know that debt
exists and that it is'Widespread. They
do not know that: those good times we
enjoyed a decade ago were due to- the
fact that we werer~bOrrowing money.
They do not know what is the cause
Of debt today. Some people trust iii. "a
change of. administration to alter all
things, but until silver is reinstated no
change of administration can cure the
crying evils. I'LL
Financial ills are all. laid at the,sfent
'of@the system that has : been tolerated
,siuce the demonstration Of silver: By
that system a comparatively few men
have bene enabled, to gather into their
control over half Of all the wealth in: this
country. One. twentieth of. i per cent of
the population owns one half oil the
wealth II all the wealth of the country
were divided equally it would amount per
capita to $1,000. While under the ACTUAL
condition. Of affairs If the wealth that be-
longs to the great majority. Of the peo-
pie, excluding that favored one TWEEN
tieth of per cent, were. divided among
that majority, there would be a per. capita
Of but, 5000 It's necessary for the many
to borrow from the few. The wealth.
producers are robbed.
And this robbery has been going on
ever since that gigantic contest of 1861
1865. Fictitious values favored an alb
sorption OF land by few: BY; those few,
we. were, and are. robbed with malice
aforethought. The population of our
country has increased and our aggregate
mas our real estate mortgage Indebtedness
Increased. =: r.:
The prices Of farm products have de-
c!inel and The PRICE OF gold has In
creased because OF this single gold stand
ard. :. Debt has. not gone down. lit takes
mere accent wheat, scent potatoes ant
20~cent barley to: get a gold dollar; but
this gold dollar buys just, as: much debt
as before. This go!d'dollar will buy much
debt, but will buy no more railroad trans
portation, no more interest, and no more
Of those articles which are controlled M.
monopdEes. There is the difficulty. There
is the kernel OF the question. i; 80.
THE one Functions Of precious metalsis
the measurement of1values. When they
are changed in qrantity other things are
changed inversely. Less metal makes 1t
more precious, and raises :ts.price; and
| more produce is required to obtain given
amount. When silver was demonetizei!
one-half of the staGxlaad OF values was:
| taken away. Tie gold bugs became ricl.
as the price of their metal went up. Sill
yer continued TO- be coined, but only, to
fool and cajole the people y. ~
THE government. and: the government
alonet can refnstaAe silver. Legislation
places the fat on the silver. While gold
lis Gods money. let us have a peop!e's
money. Let the people determine y hat
metal or metals shall be the standard, of
values, and not the money power alone.
Governn1shtsis Numbering its constiti1-
t.onal duty to establish values, AMI is
We have improved in everythingoexcep
in a money system In that respect Hwe
are worse than barbarians.'
IF we continue to work under this
system, we are NOT an Intelligent and pro-
gressive people. i There IS no prosperity
| and happiness unless we return. to the
lfsystem ,tpf1er which the world has ALWAYS