Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-10-16
IHuRsToH COUNTY PEOPLES PARTY TICKET.
John B. Aliens Campaign Work.

The many people in this commun-
ity who know John B. Allen as the
goody-goody blushing youth of times
past, were as much shocked as sur =
prised to find him developed into a
full-blown, hardened, INSCRIPTIONS
advocate of man with the personnel
of P. C. Sullivan, the McGraw candi-
date for executive of this State. His
object seemed to be solely to advance
the interests of this one candidate, for
no reference was made to the many
unobjectionable men on the ticket;
men who it would not be q sacrifice
to the principles once held by our
whilom Senator to endorse. 1t
seemed indeed strange that the IA
miliar figure of one so we'll known,
the voice of one so often heard in sup
port OF laudable endeavors of our peo-
pie, could be presented with 50 vivid
distinctness with the other character
istics of candor and fairness, not to
say modesty, so completely elimin.
ated. If that is what politics does
for the American youth, it should be
Stunned as the deadly breath of the
upas. In support of the corporation
trickster he could find no words OF
praise too extravagant to bestow, and
he thus undid his own work by shoot
ing beyond the mark aimed at. In
his zeal he did not scruple to mis-
represent Mr.. Rogers, and he quoted
garbled extracts from that gentle
mans work on finance The Irrepres.
sible Conflict" to subject him to ridi-
cule.
Mr.. Aliens discussion of the tinan-
cial situation was admirable, regarded
as the work OF skillful lawyer, as.
signed a task that is distasteful to
his feelings. He reviewed the coinage
system of our country from 1892 to
1896, and by skillful blending OF fact
and fiction, succeeded in making a
very plausible argument for the gold
standard. He attributed all the evils
OF the present prolonged business stag.
nation to a want OF confidence that
had been created by agitation of the
silver question, and predicted a still
further turn of the screws by the mon
eyed power if they were not allowed to
assume the reins OF government. Nc
Kinley and protection and the gold
standard, on the contrary, would be a
panacea for all our woes. 1t is inter-
esting, in this connection, to quote
what the gentleman thought Of silver
five years ago, when, on Jan. IL, 1891,
he uttered, in Congress, these words:
Rob silver of its money function con-
vert it into a mere commodity and 1t be-
comes practically worthless and with
this elimination of its monetary quality
in order to preserve this equilibrium
one-half of the value of the worlds assets
must be extracted and transferred to and
swallowed up in the remaining metal, in
order to double its monetary power.
Such crime is so gross, so stupendous,
SO cruel and ruinous, that its contempia-
ton excites universal revulsion and mi
yersal resistance. And when you mar
shat its perpetrators and and its victims,
the disparity is SO great as to render its
successful commission impossible.
1t is useles to contend that silver has
been by natural or legitimate processes
even partially demonetiZed. 1t cOnnot be
successfully commended its product has
increased unduly with the growth of pop
ulatiOn, the expansion of the worlds
business, or the distribution of wealth,
nor do concede that taking reasonable
measure of time and Judging its relative
product with that of gold. having regard
to the stock of each on hand and the his
tory of the discoveries of each, its quaint
ty is unreasonably in excess of its sister
metal,
can confidently submit that not sin
gle reason can be advanced for striking
down, or discriminating against silver
that would not be equally applicable to
gold if it had received like arbitrary and
unlawful treatment in the last twenty-five
years at the hands OF the governments
and combinations of capitalists and
owners of credits. To derange the parity
of the metals is not only to reduce the
one beneath the established standard
but to advance the other above it, and
place each in condition of fluctuation
to become, to that extent, a commodity
to be speculated in, the victim of the
bulls and bears in the markets.
Mr.. Allen repeated the falsehood,
that silver had not been demonetized
by stealth, which has been branded as
such by the leading members Of both
branches of Congress. Their specific