Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1896-10-01

which Is In existence In the United
States, but there is now In circulation
In round numbers 81 800, 772,0O0 OF
money that is composed OF gold, OF
silver, Of silver certificates, OF national
bank notes, OF treasury notes, and of
gold certificates. That means that
there Is for every person in the United
States, of actual money, twenty-one
dollars and some cents, / do not re-
member just how many cents, but that
is small part OF the money with
which you do business, and here is one,
as IL seems to me, OF the great factors
in this great financial question which
we are apt to overlook. We have, say,
1900 millions of money; but the bus
mess OF this country could not DE done.
for a minute upon that amount Of.
money, and il is utterly impossible
that there should be enough money
that you can handle and feel TO do the,
business OF any commercial country
This money Is estimated to be about
we per cent. of that which passes for
money performs the functions Of money
and does the work of money in the
United States; in other words, 90 per
cent OF all the business of the United
States is done without. the interchange
Of any money what-so-evSr. You know
how IL is done. 1t is done by your
bank checks by your bank credits and
thousands of other forms with which
men trade with each other either
through bank or clearing house, or
directly on your farms or in your stores.
so YOU really have instead OF 81 800
900, 900 of money you have over 80
200, OO0, 900 OF money IN the United.
States, and you must have IL in order
to successfully do your business. Here
is the great difficulty as it seems to me
of this agitation. The great bulk of
this circulating medium is based on
confidence and what we need in the
United States now is not the free coin
age of silver but the free and unlimited
coinage and use of confidence in each
other. Great applausel There is no
considerable contraction of the actual
money in use, there is not very much
difference between the actual money
in use now and on the first of January,
1893 or the first Of July 1893 4-5.6. OF
course there is little, but not enough
to effect in the slightest degree the
price of any single article, but the con
traction of the currency of the United
States since 1892 has been only in the
twenty-one or twenty-five billions Of
confidence in each other. This town
with its hourishing, prosperous manu-
factures, with its several banks and
its happy people, you can contract
your currency more in two weeks by
want OF confidence than all the actual
money that you have in the town in
year. Applause | warrant that that
is so, and SO in 1893 when confidence
took wings, when after the election OF
Mr.. Cleveland, after the attack that
was made upon that portion OF the
Republican system which looked TO
the purchase of silver, the man ufactur-
ers of the country looked forward and
saw proposed change in our tariff
laws without being able to know exact
ly what that change would be or what
its effect would be; then began the
contraction and from the first of Jan
uary 1898, TO the first OF August, 1893,
there was a greater contraction than
we had ever seen before and your prices
fell more, and the prices of everything
fell more in three months during the
summer of 1893 than they had in twelve
years prior TO that time, and | call
your own memories to attest that fact,
and that shrinkage was simply due at
that time TO the enormous contraction
which had taken place in these credit
substitutes for money. Now such is
the Republican system of money. We
intend TO go forward and use every
effort that we can to secure interna-
tional agreement for the use of silver.
do not despair OF doing SO. In fact,
when the Brussels convention adjourn
ed in 1892 it was with bright hope for
the future. There was friendly spirit
towards the accomplishment of this
great object, and it was not Repub-
lican hand that prevented the recon
vening of the silver conference that
got together that year. Applause
We believe that there may be an agree
ment between the principal nations of
the earth that will remove all difficulty
with respect to the coinage OF silver.
Mr. Bryan says we ought not to wait
for the consent of any other nation on
earth-that we ought to be independent
in that as in everything else and there
is just enough in that to stimulate the
patriotic instincts of the American
heart; but never, never was there
greater perversion of political prin-
ciple, and never more unfair appeal
TO patriotic impulse than he makes
when he speaks of securing the consent
of other nations in the free coinage of
silver. We speak the English Ian.
guage, would he have us abandon it
because they speak it in England?
Laughter and applause Would he
have US attempt TO stay the tide Of the
seas because we are great, growing
people, whose power knows no bounds?
No more can we take the silver of the
world and put it through our minis and
hold it to "a parity with gold. We
could take the silver but the very
moment we would propose to do that II
would sink to its commercial value.
value over which the government of
the United States is as powerless as il
is over the course OF the planets or over
the light OF the sun: and Mr.. Bryan. If
he would appeal to the judgement OF
the people instead of their prejudices
he would be more likely to reach
correct result. Well the first charge
made against the gold standard is that
it is conspirator against the happi-
ness and the prosperity of the American
people. That is one OF the things to
which / Indignantly object. | object
To the self-righteousness OF the organs,
tho A ltUaldS tho 1NiIlmapS and Tho