The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-09
TO HEAR OVERSTREET
BIG CROWD GREETs HIM AT SOUTH
SIDE REPUBLICAN CLUB.
Required Three Policemen to Keep
the Street from Being Blockaded-
A Sound-Money Speech.

$1,000
have prominent speakers present.
large audience was present last night
to hear Mr.. Overstreet His clear views on
the money question and easy manner which
he employs in addressing gathering at
tracted many Democrats who were still in
doubt about the question which is form
ing the leading campaign topic. Long be-
fore Mr.. Overstreet arrived at the club
house 1T became evident that the house
would not accommodate the crowd, and
provision was made for Mr.. Overstreet to
speak from the front porch. When he ar
rived and was introduced there were sew
eral hundred people occupying seats on the
sidewalk and standing up in front of the
clubhouse. They greeted the candidate
with cheer. and were very attentive dur
ing the time he talked AS the speaker
continued the crowd grew so that before
he had concluded the street was almost
blocked. Tt required the efforts of three po-
Hcemen to keep an open way for vehicles
on the side of the street where the speaker
stood.
Mr.. Overstreet kept pretty closely to the
money question, answering several of Mr..
Bryan's arguments and giving an exposi-
ton of the free-coinage fallacy that was
easily and eagerly understood. He was fire.
quently applauded At one time man l1v-
ing on Merrill street, almost opposite the
clubhouse, attempted to get up a cheer for
Bryan. but his effort failed. The attention
of the crowd was riveted upon what Mr..
Overstreet was saying, and would not be
diverted. Mr.. Overstreet spoke partly as
follows:
1--WE might be content to rest this ques-
ton upon the history of the Republican
party, for that party has always stood for
honest money in our currency. We might
be content to approve the position taken
by the leaders of our country, for this
same position was held by Hamilton, JEFF
ferson and Jackson, Lincoln. Grant. Gar
field and Harrison. We might agree to
leave it to the consensus of opinion as
tabished by the best nations of the world,
for the position now held by the Republic
an party on the money question is meas
urably approved by France, Germany, Eng
land, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria
Hungary, while the system of monometal-
Hsm is approved only by China Mexico and
the South and Central American states.
But the facts of history and the expert
ences of this and other nations are sup
ported by the argument of the question,
and we are willing to accept the gauge of
battle and meet the issue squarely.
UNDER THE GOLD STANDARD.
Whatever conditions prevail, the
present monetary standard has not caused.
Whatever the stress there is in business
has occurred since 1892 For nineteen years
prior to that date we operated under the
gold standard. During this time Ma
ton reached its highest degree of prosper
ity. The per capita valuation of all prop
erty increased from $50 in 1880 to 81 036 in
1890, while the per capita debt of the coun-
try decreased from 500. 30 in 1880 to $1S.13 in
+Io ~ tl,o
number of wage earners employed aggre-
gated more than million. and wages in
creased All per cent. In 1890 to 1892 our
export trade increased more than $500 900 900
over our imports, and the deposits in our
savings banks increased more than $50. 000-
600, 80 per cent. of which was estimated to
be from wage earnerS alone Consequent
ly, the gold standard could not have been
the cause of the depression which has
CURED since 1892. 1t was the want of conf
dence occasioned by the threats of the
overthrow of our monetary system, coupled
with the loss in business occasioned by the
failure of sufficient revenue.
Money has two functions-the measure
of value and medium of exchange. AS
measure of value it is useful only in the
establishment Of a standard. AS medium
of exchange it is essential that it have GER
tainty and uniformity of value. By reason
of it's uniform intrinsic value and it's gen.
eral stability, gold is accepted as the most
fixed and certain, any variance will nee
essarily cause a corresponding variance in
of the general acceptance we'll as the
intrinsic value of gold and silver. these
metals are the accepted currency of the
world. But by reason of the fact that sill
yer varies in value and has no stability
suf1cient to make it a standard, it is used
as currency, but measured by gold.
Mr. OVerstreet then proceeded to relate
the the history OF the laws on currency and
the ratios. Continuing he said:
From February. 1878, to June 80, 1885, we
coined 430,790,0 A silver dollars and 1886 1924
ri II fnfd
silver dollars in all. Surely with such coin
age it cannot be claimed that we have
been hostile to silver currency. We coined
hfty-eight times as many silver dollars Qn-
Guiding the trade dollars) in the twenty
three and a half years since the adoption
OF the gold standard as were coined in the
eighty-one years preceding the year of 1873.
This fact shows friendship for the use
of silver in our currency. but these silver
dollars have maintained their face value in
circulation because the government pledges
itself to maintain that value. Without that
commercial value. The claim that the
legal-tender quality establishes this fact is
tender for all purposes, but without the
pledge of the government the legal tender
will not sustain their value
CAN'T INCREASE SILVER'S VALUE.
The speaker then gave the history of
legal-tender notes in this and other coun-
tries, showing that in many instances gov
eminent notes of a full legaI-tender quail
legal-tender quality by itself has never
sustained the value of money. He con-
tinued:
Nobody disputes the fact that the pres
ent commercial ratio of gold and silver is
about 30 to 1, and yet in the face OF this
fact it is urged that this government can,
by its simple, Independent enactment of
law, raise the value of silver 80 per cent.
How often has it been noticed that the in
crease of l or per cent. in the value of
q commodity changes trade. When wheat
is quoted cents higher in one market
easily accessible another. all wheat
within that market is sold at the point
where the highest price obtains. The BUSH
ness world daily demonstrates the prin-
ciple that small per cent. of profit will
always turn the course of a commodity.
If this is true. if we should by law under
take to increase the value of silver 80 per
cent, it would at once attract all the sill
yer of the world. The silver bullion of
the miners and the silver spoons and
pitchers and rings, as well as all the for
eign silver coins would al once be taken
to our minis for coinage. And we would
find that this government would simply be
the warehouse for the silver of the world.
But the coinage of this silver into dollars,
even though those dollars should be de-
clared to be full legal tender, would not be
sufficient to maintain their value at 100
cents on the dollar. Free coinage is always
upon individual account and individual ac-
count means that the dollars when coined
delivered to the owners of the bullion,