The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-03
MIR. EHRICH's GREAT SPEECH.
Was Compelled to Quit After n Few
nute but Full Speech Is Given.

Minutes, but Full Speech Is Given.
Chairman Fellows introduced Mr.. Louis
r. Enrich, of Colorado, who had an ad-
dress Of considerable length. which had
been carefully prepared before delivery.
Mr.. Ehrich's voice appeared not to be equal
to the effort of addressing SO vast an au-
dience in an hours speech; therefore, after
having spoken for a short time, he with
drew with an apology and allowed others
to follow him.. Although the condition of
his voice is such that he could not COM
plete his address. it is given in full below:
I have come to this convention against
the advice and entreaty of many friends.
They tell me that public opinion is much
inflamed in my STATE. 1t is true. Yet in
its intelligence and IN its manhood the
State of Colorado has not descended to a
level where it Will not tolerate ana respect
ion. 1 IN not afraid. There is only one
thing in this wide universe which l fear;
and that is to have my conscience WINS
pering to me: Thou art q coward the
quality which in the last twenty years has,
above all others, been lacking in these
United States. and to the lack OF which
our present troubles are directly traceable,
is moral courage. AS indicative of the
birth of a more courageous public spirit;
as revealing to the Nation a body of men
who SO clearly put patriotic duty above
political self-interest, who so evidently
rank fealty to their country higher than
allegiance to their party, this convention
to linking loyal Americans-wiu stand
out as the most promising and most in
spring gathering since the civil war
The principal issue on which the political
battle centers is the financial issue. We
are confronted with the strangest OF CON
excluding the United States, sixteen ma
tions of the world have limited the com
age of silver. They comprise, the most in
telligent nations on this earth, both mon
arches and republics. They hold within
their borders millions of men who till the
soil, and who, like our own farmers, must
pnmnpfp with the price OF their DfOQucIS,
in the markets of the world, They include
among their citizens millions OF men VINO
stand in the relation of debtor and credl-
tor. They enjoy the experience of
centuries of civilization. They are not
students of financial science are the rec
ognized world leaders. The International
economic conditions are the same for them
as for us. And yet not in a single one or
all these nations has there arisen a tree
and unlimited silver party. Men have
proposed international bimetalllsm, put on
the whole continent of Europe the thought
has not entered into a single soul OF pup
licly advocating that one of these nations
should, alone and independently open us
minis to the unrestricted coinage or Sill
yer. Is it not strange, passing strange,
that this new light in financial science
should have escaped all the brains of Eu,
rope. should nave eluded all the trained
thinkers of the more mature CIVILIZATION OF
the Eastern section OF our oWn couhtry
yer camps of the West, on the plains OF
Missouri and in the valley of the Platte!
Must there HOI nave pCSIi oOhiC PONN
influences which injected this menaclnS
question into American political life?
Before grappling with the SILVER quJf-
and l say it not that it can have the
slightest public interest, excepting as
represent a Western type, and as 1t makes
clear the standpoint from which nave
investigated this question. l am not a
banker. ] own large interests IN a s1lN@r
gage. on the contrary: Ten years ago,
impressed with the wonderful natural re-
and relying on the financial sanity OF my
feliow-citiZenS. | invested my enIlre CAPT.
tinued silver agitation has made my. prop.
critics unstable. I have seen the tide OF
debt rising slowly at first. but ever more
rapidly, and threatening in tins to en-
the debtor more keenly, than my
self urging se this af Nation TGS into the Widest and
most eckless financial experiment since
the lays of the South Sea bubble-not by
of a Populist receiver and compromising
public and private debts on a basis of 80
cents on the dollarmbut rather IN helping
that we can again beget full confidence in
the safety and in the stability Of our mon
etary system, so that capital will feel safe
to emerge, and that, by the energetic
many-million-fold interchange of human
effort, there will come again a market for
property and securities which will enable
the debtor to repay the creditor to the ut
termost farthing with an honest. 1o0-cent
dollar.
BIRTH OF THE SILVER QUESTION.
How. then, was the silver question born
in the United States? What were the pc
culiar influences which brought it into life?
Let us go back to the year 1867. Repre-
sentatives of all the leading nations were
assembled in Paris in monetary conference.
This question was submitted: Is the coin
cidence of monetary types "attainable on
the basis and condition of adopting the ex-
elusive gold standard, leaving each State
the liberty to keep it's silver standard tenn
The vote in favor of this propo-
was unanimous. If the demonetiza-
ten of silver was a great conspiracy, sure
ly the conspirators We're acting in a man.
~singularly open and uncopcealed. Here
was a worldwide notice, six years before
1873. that the principal nations of the world,
including. the United states, We're unahl5
mously in favor of the exclusive gold
standard.
Early the next year, Jan. G., 1868. Senator
Sherman introduced q bill in the Senate on
international Coinage" in which were
&C ntaine provisions for the dis ;ontinu-
ance of the silver dollar, for the limitation
silver rs legal tender TO payments of ten
dollars, and for the adoption of the eXclu-
sive gold standard. 1t was a very short bill.
this bill June 8, 1868. Senator Morgan, of
New York. presented the minority report,
in which objection was urged to changing
the number of grains in the gold dollar:
and an argument presented for the use of
silver with Asi6tic countries. The majori-
ty report. presented by Senator Sherman.
contains two sentences which throw the
most piercing s~earchlight On American
public sentiment of that time. He says:
United States is the great gold pro-
ducing country of the world, now produce
ing more than all other nations combined,
and with a capacity for future production
almost without limit. > The sim
gle standard of gold is an Ameri-
can idea. yielded reluctantly by
France and other countries, where
silver is the chief standard of val
ue." OF these reports five thousand copies
we're printed for the use If the Senate. and,
as Senator Stewards proportion was sew
enty-eight copies, ii is p~resumable that he
must have learned what the words gold
sta ndard' meant,
on Auril %, 1870, the now famous bill.
which provided for the characterization of
silver, was transmitted to the Senate by
Boutwell,, Secretary of the Treasury.
/ cannot devote the time. nor will / insult
xolr intelligel nee. in showing that there
absolutely no concealment in the pas
sage Of this dem meditation act Of 1917. The
clear facts are that this bill was two years
and ten months before Congress; that 1t
was debated during five sessions; that the
cover 14S pages CT thu CCngression-
al Record; that reports of monetary ex-
perts distinctly referring to the silver de-
that in 1873 we had practically
been on a gold standard since
1S37-that in that year there were
Americans in middle life who had never
even seen a silver dollar-and that, as the
Comptroller of the Currency expressed it
in his report of 1876. the coinage act of
1878 simply registered in the form Of a