The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-17
RIVER AT s A. NJ.
FOR TEMPERATE DISCUSSION.

A subscriber from Claremont, Mimi,
sends to the GIL b a communica-
ton, in which, while objecting to the
terms Of our comment upon the free
silver movement, he uses language
much more Objectionable than any that
has ever been admitted to these COL
umns. We find it generally true, sin
gularly enough, that the people who
are most sensitive to criticism upon
themselves are most violent and least
considerate when it is their turn to
pass structures upon others. The time
for temperate discussion Of all ques-
lions involved, especially between
Democrats of differing views, has GER
tainly arrived. We, therefore, take up
four questions which our correspond
ent says he would like to have an
SWered.
The first is: "If both gold and silver
were good enough for us from 1890 to
1873, why is it not so now?" We an
swer that it is; that we have both
gold and silver in free circulation now;
that the silver is just as full a legal
tender as the gold; and that, whereas
we had only little less than 5000. 900
of silver dollars in circulation in the
whole period from 1892 to 1873, we have
put into circulation since 1873 over APO
100000 additional silver dollars, besides
more than $15OO0O,0O0 of paper treas
ury notes based on silver.
The second question is: eff the gold
standard is best, why does it create so
many millionaires and so many pau
pers?' The answer is that it does not.
What earthly reason has our CORE
spondent for selecting this single in
Huence out Of hundreds at work to
create differences between man and
man and attribute them all to it alone?
This is the old form of argument, which
we are afraid he has learned from the
protectonists. They say that the
country increased in wealth during a.
given period, and that during that
period we also had a protective tariff.
therefore, the cause Of the increase
was the tariff. So with our silver
friends. There has never been any age
In the worlds history, nor any people.
however free their government, who
had amassed great wealth as a whole
where there were not the same
divisions of millionaires and paupers.
That division is as strikingly
marked today in the countries with
the silver standard as in those with
the gold standard The connection
therefore, of cause and effect between
the gold standard and the extremes Of
wealth and poverty, which our CORE
spondent assumes, does not exist
The third question is: eff the gold
standard is the best, why have we had
more than $4,000 strikes since 1873,
which were unknown until silver was
demonetized?" Without questioning
the statistics of our correspondent, we
will remark, as In the case of the last
question, that there is no connection
whatever that we can find between
any monetary system and strikes. The
strike follows the organization of labor.
and is simply the means by which it
attempts to secure an increase or re-
sists decrease of wages. OF course,
before labor was organized there could
be no such thing as a strike at all.
That would be like a war without an
army. Soon after the organization of
labor became general and it felt its
power, strikes grew very numerous.
They are now. we believe and hope.
declining, as employer and employe
learn to respect and do justice to each
other
The fourth question Is not a question
ut all, but the assertion that Bryan
made the best campaigns ever made Ia