The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-12

effect OF SuCn substances upon nlfn-
self. To apply to the chemist would
be to cast a slur upon the sovereign
citizen with the stomach ache BY vir-
tue of his citizenship and sovereignty
physics and sociology and psychology,
and every other fact, science, theory
and thing under the canopy Of heaven.
This is a perfectly fair illustration
The theory of money and credit is one
of the most abstruse sciences in exist.
ence. Money has been developed prac-
tically by the conduct of human So
ciety through centuries. Its laws are
exceedingly difficult to grasp, and the
effect Of interference with them is as
dangerous to the body polite as the
swallowing of unlabeled drugs to the
body physical. 1t is no more shame to
a man to confess ignorance on this
point than it Is for him, If he is not
student, to be unable to state the
laws of falling bodies or the mechan-
ical equivalent of heat 1t is as wrong
for him, If he be not familiar with his
subject, to refuse to consult the opin-
ions of others, or to act upon his own
motion, as 1t would be for a man who
had never made the slightest study of
anatomy or medicine to start out as a
equipment than a box of carving
knives and a satchel full of deadly
drugs, of whose potency and very name
he was profoundly ignorant BY all
means let the people settle their own
questions; but let them settle them as
they do the affairs of their daily lives,
by deferring to experience and scien-
tific study. Nowhere is the old adage
LET the shoemaker stick to his last"
more applicable than in legislation
Defiance of it has been the parent of
innumerable evils and crimes, from
which we now suffer.
We come, finally, to Mr.. Bryan's
masterpiece, his fifteen puzzle that he
presents to every audience, great or
small, that assemblies to listen to him.
We will quote him exactly, giving the
conundrum which he says will drive
| the enemy from the battlefield every
time that it energies from the popgun.
Here it is: IF the gold standard is
good why not keep it; and if it is bad,
why should we keep it for a single
moment?" This is his rejoinder to the
proposition for international bimetal-
lism. Sometimes the most effective
wav of answering q question is tO q sk
another, particularly if you can make it
precisely parallel We PROFOUND this
one to such Of Mr.. Bryan's followers
as do not believe in unnecessary war:
eff arbitration is a bad thing, why
should the American people have any,
thing to do with it? If it is a good
thing, why should not the American
people establish it by legislation tomor-
row, without waiting for the consent of
any other nation on earth?" We sub
nit that this is a perfect analogy and
a perfectly fair question to put side
by side with Mr.. Bryan's. The obvious
answer, of course, is that arbitration
is matter depending upon the consent
of two parties. The American people
cannot arbitrate if the other fellows in
sist upon fighting, and send a lot of
ironclads and an army over here to
blow us out of existence. No laudation
of the greatness and magnificence Of
the American republic, and no praise
of it's institutions, however true. can
do away with the fact that we cannot
establish arbitration without the con-
sent of the second party to the dispute.
1t is an international matter.
Now this it not any more true than
that the monetary standard of the
world is an international matter We
can no more change it without the CO.
operation of the other great nations
of the world than we can cause the
island of Great Britain to sink into
the sea by blowing seven blasts upon
a rams horn. The magnitude of inter-
national commerce. the participation
therein by all the great civilized coun-
tries of the world, and the fact that
values are now and will forever con-
tinue to be fixed in a world wide mar
hel, lorpluS the ulctaIlOn Oh tndt mar
ket's unit by any single power. Mr.
Bryan simply ignores the fact that
there are a great many kinds of en-
gagements to which the consent of one
party is not sufficient The danger of
arguments like his is that they are
addressed to vanity; that they f1atter
the self-importance of the individual,
and that they appeal to that element
of reckless defiance of law, moral, ply
steal and economic, in pursuit of self
interest and despotic power, which has
been the ruin of men and nations
since the world began
BUSINESS VERSUS POLITICS.