Omaha daily bee., 1896-05-17

WdlNH uIOU " u pay lUNtAteN WI ~ lh'AaN
debt.
Now then. since 1873. we have accumulated
between $500. 600. 900 and $500, 100000 OF sill
yer and as much OF gold. The total volume
cf money metal in the United states today
In primary money flor silver is Just as much
primary money yet as gold is about SILL
900. 600. 600. According to my friend. Mr..
Bryan, the marvellous increase in the vol
ume OF money, an increase that has been
away ahead Of the increase In our popu.
lation. ought to have been also followed
by an increase Of prices. but prices have
gone down, while the volume OF money has
steadily gone up. Now, what is the use oil
all his theories; what is the use OF all his
sophistry? Mr.. Bryan tells you that nobody
can tell how much silver would advance
In price in case free and unlimited coinage
is enacted into law, but we must try to
see. Well. well, that is a very nice propo-
sition! That same question was asked oil
the other apostle, MIR. Harvey. and he
thought that silver might advance as high as
rs cents on the dollar. and there is not
one of the leading silver a~gitators OF the
country that pretends to give nywhore an
approximate idea as to what we may de-
pend on IL the government should venture
on this experiment independent of any other
notion on earth.
We know very well that there is a very
precarious condition in commercial a1airs
In the nation. and there are Just as many
men, creditors II you please, anxious to
nave lulS government lNSN'A'N ~ Pc
peri.y, to have this nation do as large a
volume of business, as there are debtors.
There are some who do not see their way
very clearly. They are not sure what policy
ought to be pursued. But Mr.. Bryan is not
in doubt; he plunges right in. He says
try it.
Why, sir, IL a fellow on a locomotive,
which has on a full head Of steam, cries
out chuck in more coal, double the amount
Of steam, keep piling on more coal and see
.i.. ..ttt $1,000 uVhy NJ nryan would
fee, perfectly safe on that locomotive, but
everybody in the cars behind it would he
in as much danger as the man on the track
in front of it. That is precisely the CON
| dition that would confront us with limitless
courage. There would be a bust up. zap
plause.)
LOANS MADE IN GOoD FAITH.
The idea that you could prevent a man
from making any contract he saw fit to
make and having it fulfilled, provided that
1t was not against public policy. Is pre-
posterous. Every loan made by the govern
mcnt was made in good faith. The govern
ment loans We're negotiated in England,
Germany and in France in good faith on
the idea that they would be paid In the
standards prevailing among civilized ma
tons, and not in the standard of Japan,
Mexico and China. That is why | say that
the debtor class of the United States is
more interested in maintaining credits than
in anything else.
Take the poor people here in Omaha or
anywhere in Nebraska. Are they not
more interested in maintaining the little
credits they have got at their grocers, their
butchers and their bakers than even in the
deprecated money that you propose to sup
ply them? They certainly are more inter
eated in preventing you from doing any
such thing than they are in allowing you
to do it. What poor man would want to
be paid in a currency that would not pur-
chase as much for him as it does now?
Mr.. Bryan has stated, of course, that the
tariff had nothing whatever to do with the
lowering of prices.
Well. l will just cite him one instance.
He, in the congress of 1892, l believe, was
instrumental in knocking down the tariff
on wool. He was one of those in congress
who could not see a sheep go by without
giving him a kick. Why, sir, he was so
anxious to relieve the farmer and laborer
from the tax that he had it reduced. Now
what is the result? Only four or five years
ago wool was selling at from 80 to 35 cents
a pound. In 1895 1t was selling for II cents
a pound. 50 he has lowered prices of that
commodity. He has helped the farmer by
lowering it, but l do not believe he will
be able to explain to you that the refusal
of the government to give us free and I'M
limited coinage Is responsible for the de-
cline in the price of wool.
A PROPHET OF ILL OMEN.
Yes, indeed, he says he can prophesy to
a certainty that these same boom times will
return again under a free and unlimited
coinage act and will circulate money all
along the line. Well, as a prophet Of i'll
omen, Mr.. Bryan can take the palm. In
March, 1892, in a speech made in the house
of representatives, he said that the tin in
dustry of America did not amount to any
thing and never would amount to anything,
and yet today there are thirty-four great tin
milling establishments in the United States
and 174 tin plate establishments expanding
something like 1000, 900 for wages and EN-
ploying over 5000 working men. So much
for his knowledge of what would happen and
what may happen in the near future.
Now, my fellow citizens, l can do no bet
ter than to read to you from a standard on
economies that no gentleman will dispute,
one that Mr.. Bryan must recognize as the
highest authority. Mr.. Francis A. Walker, in
the last number of Economics, April, 1896,
says this-although Mr.. Walker deems that
it would be desirable to have the silver in
terests assisted as far as possible, to have
the development Of the mines promoted, yet
he says this: Proposed imitation by act
Of government having for its object the
raising of prices and the scaling down Of
debts, Is a measure subject to the grayest
impeachment on grounds not only of social
justice. but of economic expediency. az well.
1t carries with it the sting of fraud and
leaves behind it retribution swift, sure and
terrible."
The moralist is not more strongly bound
than Is the economist to denounce every
measure having any such design or effect.
The difference between an imitation of the
money supply due to the discovery of new
mines and fields of the precious metals, and
an imitation due to act of government hav-
ing the design and purpose to scale down
debts, Is just as wide as the difference be-
tween the natural death of a miserly rich
man, bringing his estate into the hands of a
generous and public-spirited heir, at which
result all good men may rightly rejoice, and
the murder of the miser for the purpose of
changing the ownership of his property,
which no plea Of public spirit or generosity
In the use Of that property could make to
be considered as any other than an atroclous
and detestable act worthy only Of con-
domination and punishment" prolonged
apDlause.)
MIR. BRYAN'S FIRST FIVE MINUTES.
Man who Owns the Dollar VIII
Prosper.
For the sixth time / ask Mr.. Rosewater to
explain the interest Of the creditor class in
an appreciating standard, He has not done