The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1896-10-02
THE BLUE PILL CURE.
DEMOCRATIC DocToRlNo OF A DIS
sASED PATIENT.

But One Remedy For All National Ills and
Ailments-Now Prescribing New and
Deadly Drug-The Political Ouack Is al
Likely to Kill as to Cure.
There was certain quack doctor in
the late war of whom it is said that he
knew how neither to diagnose q pa
TENTS case correctly nor to prescribe
the necessary remedy for the proper
treatment of the same. When he sup
posed patient to be afflicted with q
fever, he gave him blue pills; when he
supposed another to have the smallpox,
he gave him blue pills, or if he found
another suffering with the toothache his
great cure all was blue pills. In word,
whatever might be the disease, he had
but one remedy for it-viz, blue pills.
BY this unskilled method of giving the
wrong medicine instead of curing his
patients he often killed many of them,
and thus became unpopular and was
compelled to go out of the business.
So it is with our free traders who fur
nish us parallel case with that of the
quack doctor, in which they are the
quacks and our country is the patient.
They have but one remedy for all coun-
tries and for all diseases Of the country.
1t is immaterial to them whether o
country is large or small; whether its
climate is wet or dry, warm, cold or
temperate; whether its pursuits are ag-
ricultural, manufacturing, commercial,
mining, grazing or whatever they may
be; they have but one remedy-viz, free
trade.
Soon after the last presidential elec-
ton, when it was learned that all three
branches of our national government
had gone Democratic, the fear of free
trade originated our present panic,
which is continued by the reality of the
same economic system. The quacks first
said it was caused by the Sherman law.
So the Republicans helped the Demo-
Gratis to repeal this compromise law, but
the quacks found that times got no bet
ter. They next said it was the McKin.
ley bill, so they gave US the Wilson free
trade bill instead and find that times
are still worse. Thus they have been
treating their patient for more than
three years with no improvement what
ever. 1t has been waiting patiently for
the quacks' time to expire so as to again
employ its old reliable physicians (the
Republicans) who always kept it in a
healthful and fourishing condition.
But the major part of the quacks, see.
ing that they are about to lose their pa
tient by unsuccessful treatment on blue
pill free trade, now propose to add to
this obnoxious prescription the poison
GUS drug of silver initiation. They hope
thereby to obtain the treatment of the
case for four years longer, but, unfortu-
nately for the prescribers, their patient
tried this last ingredient from 1792 to
1878, period of 81 years, and in that
time experienced three severe panics
whose respective dates are as follows:
1817-24, 1832-42, 1857-61, during
which three periods we had both free
trade and free silver. Now, if free sill
yer is remedy for panics and
preventive of their occurrence, why
did we have three of them under the
free and unlimited coinage of silver?
Again, if free silver is preventive
of the occurrence of panics, why did
we have the severest one that ever af-
fiicted our great nation under the COM
promise bill known as the Sherman
law, which authorized the secretary of
the treasury to purchase $500, 900
ounces of silver each month, which was
long step toward free silver?
The fact is that it was free trade that
caused all these panics, and the cause
must be removed before a cure can be
brought about The free and unlimited
coinage of silver would be boon to the
rich bankers and to the millionaires,
for they could purchase silver bullion
in the markets of the world at the rate
of about 53 cents for every 371 ID grains
(the amount of silver in dollar), have
it coined into silver dollars and thus
clear about SAT on the 800, or realize
profit of about AZ per cent on their
investment. At the same time the pur-
chasing power of the silver dollar would
diminish and thus make the condition
of the poor laboring man still harder
than free trade already made it.
So it is very evident, indeed, that the
free trade infationists know but little
about diagnosing their patients case
and much less about prescribing the
proper remedy to bring about its speedy
convalescence. HOWARD KIMMEL.
Tiffin, O.