The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-06-03

per cent below the bimetallic decade,
and 23 per cent worse than the war per-
iod. 1t looks as if the country must
have been swept by a cyclone or the
wrath of God! 1t fully verifies the pre-
diction of Senator Wade, of Ohio, who
said that an early return to specie pay
ments would be as bad as fire" Sena-
tor John Sherman said it would be am
"act of folly without example for evil i'm
modern times" The trial of the expert
ment crually verified these dismal fore
bodings.
During the decade of 1880 to 1890 we
had the gold standard but it was favor
ably affected by the reconciliation of
silver in 1878, which continued to add
two million dollars Of silver per month
through the entire period. And to the
wealth of this decade was added the
value Of the ''state, national and Indian
lands" They had not been valued be-
fore. With these favorable items in it's
favor the gold standard men cannot say
their system did not have o fair trial.
The increase Of wealth during this au-
spicious trial Of the gold standard from
1881 to 1890, was 49 per cent. 1t was II
per cent worse than the bimetallic dec
ade from 1850 to 1850; and 10 per cent
worse than the war period. Verify John
q. Carlisle was right in 1878, when he
said: Mankind will be fortunate in
deed if the annual production of gold and
silver coin shall keep pace with the an
nGal increase of population, commerce
and industry. According to my view of
the subject, the conspiracy which seems
TO have been formed here and in Europe
to destroy by legislation and otherwise
from three-sevenths to one-half of the
IN MAJ 10 t1o
gigantic crime of this or any other age.
The cOnSummation of such a scheme
would ultimately entail more misery up-
on the human race than all the wars,
famines and pestilence that ever oc-
cured in the history of the world. The
absolute and instantaneous destruction
OF half the entire movable property of
the world, including houses, ships, rail-
roads and other appliances for carrying
on commerce, while it would be felt more
senslbly at the moment, would not pro-
duce anything like the prolonged dis
tress and disorganization of society that
must invariably result from the per-
manent annihilation of one-half of the
metallic money of the world"
Let us now note few incidental items:
Silver was demonetized in 1873. With
the advent Of the gold standard came the
American tramp, destitute and miser-
able parasite on society not heard OF be-
fore in this country And the troubles
between capital and labor began to at
tract attention. Strikes and lock-outs
became more prevalent as time passed
on. And these evils which hopeful peo-
pie thought would be temporary have
become chronic.
We are now far along in the decade
from 1890 to 1900, on purely gold basis.
Money panics and the fear ofgthem are
as common as the rising and the setting
OF the sun. Labor is restive and poorly
employed. Tramps swarm in city and
country like locusts in Egypt. Prices
are falling except IN few favored CEN
terS, and seem to have no bottom except
rec5ding one. Troops have often been
needed to keep labor quiet while mems
stomachs were shrinking to the size of
their insufficient rations, and women and
children were crying for bread and dying
for the lack Of it. Business is dead, and
New York clearing house reports show
smaller figures in the 90's than in 1869
though our population is doubled. These
are the fruits Of the gold standard in this
country. They are precisely the same
apples Of Sodom'' as are borne in Eng
land by the same Upas tree We have
already duplicating their squalor It is
the newest least tried and least satisfac-
tory, as far as tried, of all known sys-
TENS of finance.
Yet H. P. B., of Boston, says: "The
gold standard is the indispensable basis
of our national stability" And of course
he knows, because:
Down to Boston
According to their showing,
What they don't know
Is hardly worth the knowing"
And Of course, all who know differently
are ''lunatics, charalatans or anarchists"
The fact is. some Of those goldites have
praised themselves till they think
there's no light in nature when they
wink" One must have patience when
he deals with bigotry or lunacy.
John Davis
junction Citv Konsac