The morning times., 1896-10-17


! ON either side OF the question.
SlLyERlTES WERL'lNQUIsITIyE.
4 .Asto the debate. When Mr. HutchiDswas
! speaking all persons in tie hall gave him
/ respec .ful attention. When Mr.. Davis was
| speaking he was interrupted from time 10
time by the most absurd and irrelevant IN
| terrogations, nearly nine-tenths OF which
| had nothing 10 do to the stated question
for debate. The whole audience, at least
| the conservative part Of 1t, saw that there
! was either n deliberate or an unfortunately
accidental attempt to embarass Mr.. Davis.
! THAT gentleman, however, did not lose his
| temper.
Whatever there was Of n personal nature
! in the debate was introduced by MT.
! Hu.chins by. his reference to Mr.. Davis
attitude at the Chicago convention in '92
| and his recent alignment with the Indian
/ apolis platform.
When MIR. Davis got up to make his last
/, speech, whica was. IN most respects. the
most important, crow DIS of people who had
! all the arguments when Mr.. hutchins CON
cluded, began to leave the hall, and that
noisy contingent above referred to amused
| itself shouting for Bryan and singing cam
| paIgn songs.
II VIII be conceded by all who were at
the meeting. goldite or slverite, that Mr..
| Hutchins Vas given particularly respect
fnl hearing. That was not true as to the
| hearing accorded Mr. Davis.
Senator Faulkner announced the subject
for discussion, and the terms of the de-
| bate substantially as they have already
been published. Mr.. Hutchins, who opened
the debate, said at the outset that he hoped
| the debate would not be mere shouting
match. Notwithstanding his objection to
/, manuscript he Would read the most I'm
| portant part of his address. He believed
| that free coinage was the salvation of
vvnit
States. The people had free coinage for
| eighty-one years, the dollar OF 1792 being
| the unit, until 1873, when Hooper and
| Sherman dcceitfully, clandesunely, and
| criminaily, made the gold dollar the singh e
unit. From the latter date the burden
| of debt had become almost intolerable to
| the people.
not dead. There are. however, signs OF
| activity In the great Cities which does not
| add to the general welfare.
American intelligence Oh ght to find out
the cause, and the patriotism OF the coun-
try ought To correct 1t. The Republicans
offer the tariff, but the fact is that fol
| nearly quarter OF Il century Legislation
has been against the poor in favor OF the
| rich.
The contest Is now on. This audience
showed II. BY poor people he meant the
plain, common people. We may not sue
ceed this time IA Voice: ''0h, yes, We
wili), but the question will never be set
tied until 1t is settled right, as slavery was
settled.
FOR THE FARMERS.
Mr.. Hutchins paid attention to the farm
| ers, who, he said. in thirty years had
| dropped relatively from one-half the wealth
of the country in 1860 to loss OF half
| uf their visible wealth in 1880, owning
IN 1880 only fifteen billion dollars, four
| billions OF which was mortgaged. The
owner clIss of farmers had become tenant
farmers. Talking about the farm mort
gage statistics, ne denounced the New
| York World vigorously for alleged mis-
| statements
His next argument was to show that in
| late years Massachusetts, Pennsylvania.
| New York and Rhode Island had gained
| UNNECESSARILY in wealth as against Western
| and Southern States In the last ten years
| the aggregate decrease of wealth OF Illinois
was $50 100000. Then he argued that as
| large percentages OF people in New York,
| Philadelphia, Boston. etc, lived in rented
homes, the wealth from the West went
| into the hands OF few in those cities
and elsewhere in the East.
He also compared the wealth Of the few
families againsttte large number of families
of the nation to show the class VS.. mass
conclusions.
of the wealth, and the other e3 per gent
went to those who could pay for favorable
legislation, such as the Standard Oil,
bread trust, coal trust. etc.
| A voice: Tell us about the silver
trust" (Great applause.) -.
The speaker sad he would. The oil trust,
by cents u gallon raise, had made
| $50 100000 in one year.
| He then went into the greenback issue,
| whereby the Rothschilds ct al. made in
the first instance 81 100000, 900. Then
the public credit strengthening act was
| passed as the first step in the conspiracy
| against silver. The knockout of silver
was the last act. Tie speaker having
| called it 'clandestinc act went on to
would vote to send Sherma an TO State prison
| for the balance of his life.
a voice: Didn't, Senator Stewart know
| all about it,"
| Tine speaker replied that Senator Sher-
m an fooled the innocent Stewart.
Then he took up the law OF 1878, its re-
peal, and the repeal of the act Of 1890,
| and discussed them III the same connection.
In his last ten minutes the speaker read
| list OF twenty-five questions for Mr..
Davis as fast as he could, the answers to
| which would take about twenty minutes
| each to give.
| PRESENTED MR.. DAVIS.
Senator Faulkner then presented Henry
Z. Davis as a distinguished son OF the city
| of Washington. Mr.. Davis was received
with unlimited applause and yellow chrys-
anthemums. He said that the question
| for discussion was whether gold and sill
yer should be coined free at the ratio of
| 16 to 1, and independently of the rest of
\ the world
Mr.. Hutchins had said we are distressed
| and victims of legislation. Mr. Hutchins
| is bound to say then that the coinage of
silver at 16 to l must cure old ills, or
there is nothing in his argument.
There has been but one answer, and that
is, that free coinage will make money
abundant and cheap The silverites allege
that.
Mr. Davis discussed the meaning of the
word money. Money was what would be
| received everywhere in exchange for prod
| ucts and labor. There was no magic in
| the word coinage. 1t was the government
stamp only. II could not make the money
| of commerce.
He never stood on free silver platform
| in his life, he would say in passing.
Nometal ought to be considered standard
that did not have the ability to retain Its
| comparative value at all times.
Is bimetallism possible? Yes, On one
condition, its acceptance by the commercial
| world. Money must have n commercial
value or it cannot stand. Bimetallism is
impossible because history shows that
money has always been regarded as an
"interposed comm odity." Again it S
impossible because of tue Gresham law,
| which is not a new law in commerce. That
law is that the underyalued metal viii
| resume its function as Commodity. THIS
had happened to gold and silver twice at
leastbefore 1873. Any contravention ofthe
laws of trade and nature and argumentfrom
it is a sheer waste of time. The credit