The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-09-16

this year, and while he did not mem
tlOn the fact that conditions hnvp
changed somewhat In the centuries that
have interviewed, he claimed gold mOno-
mGtullsm lnl ruined the people nnl tho
countries lie said the people OF to-day
cannot forget the dark ages OF 1000 years
duration, nnu how "hard times pressed
The crown OF thornS down on the brow 0t
labor" and how from the NTH 10 tho
fifteenth century, mankind wnB "crucl-
lied on u cross OF cruel oppression" Tho
discovery OF America bylColumbua aud
tho discovery OF silver here, In tho Opin-
Ion OF the speaker, raised the oppressed
people OF Europe to their present cOndl.
ton.
When nbout half through his speech
he Invited an" person IN the audience
to nak questions and II IL dnlmT TO
dOuGhnuts TINT two minutes afterwurd
hc was sorry he spoke for no was con-
fronted with such MI avalanche Of In
tenlgntlons that hO staggered beneath
their weight, They were all sensible
questions, hut none OF them was an
swercd satisfactory.
Il. sH Some Question:.
Ono man asked what SOOd free md
unlimited coinage OF silver would do tho
government? Tho speaker was candid
enough to say It would do It no good
whatever, but that he thought II would
DO tho people good. Another man vcn-
turcd to ask how FREQ silver would open
the mills OF Wheeling ana give the men
work. The speaker admitted that the
capltalltNS were afraid to nut their
money into manufacturing establish
ments, but preferred to Leave II IN the
banks drawing the interest where Il
was safer and more profitable to them.
He then proceeded to give the strongest
kind OF an argument why protection
should prevail. lie said TINT the cheap
labor OF China and lndtn arc now equip
ped and ahle TO manufacture, articles
and undcrscll our home manufacturers.
He cited nn Instance where Il merchant
who dealt In buttons had been called
upon by representative OF n Chinese
ilrn, who offered him certain kind Of
button for tho samG price per grcnt gross
us ne would pay for Il sI-gle gross
made In this country.
an olu gentleman In tho crowd. who
bore the marks OF Intelligence, asked n
Question several times. but Il was cvol.
ed every time II was, II the rnvern.
ment of the United States purchases sii.
yer and coins It, where does ths forty.
seven cents profit go? And whcrn
would II 20. and who would get n. II III,
government would coin Il ft,r? or
course II would NOT have been policy for
lMr' icll 10 admit that under free silver
the mine owner und silver baron would
get It.
More Questions.
Another question propounded was,
why dtd silver bullion continue IN do,
crease In value even when through the
Sherman purchasing act, the govern
ment purchased 1900 900 ounces Of ali.
Yer a month, or nearly 20 per cent OF the
whole silver production OF the country?
The que1tlon brought out the frank
answer That 1t was because there was
an Increased demand for the metal.
hence an Increased production, He
might alao have added that should free
coinage Mt the ratio OF 16 10 prevail the
production would be still further in
creased
And still another man asked why II
was that there arr at present $4,000, 900
coined silver dollars In the trrasuryo
The speaker admitted that he couldn't
answer that question unless Il WINS TINT
there was no demand for 1t by the man
ufacturerS. He said he supposed the
treasury department would he glad TO
get rid OF II and pay eXprcSSItgc on II to
any part OF the country, II any p-rson
would take L.
There were many more questions ask
ed. and all of them received lust sucii
answers. II must he said. however, that
the speaker replied to each question In
the nnSt gentlemanly manner and did
not attempt to ridicale the Gucstioners
rs Is so common with local speakers
who attempt to champion the same
cause.
AT the conclusion OF Mr.. Bells address,
Col. Arnctt introduced Mr.. Samuel d.
Woods, OF Barbour county, candidate
for elcctor at large on the Popocratic
ticket, who delivered short speech,
after which the meeting closed.