The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-10-02
No. Of Miles of
RUIN, RIOT, REPUTATION.
Solid Silver Gets In TangIe At
tempting a Denial.

To the Editor of the Globe
In an editorial of the G o b Q OF Sept. 81
under the caption Making National Demo-
Gratis" you say: ''By no possibility can they
be induced to support the cause of free silver
ruin, riot and Reputation" Now, Mr. Edi-
tor, is not this a reckless use of the words
ruin, riot and repudiation2 l give you credit
for not believing what you would have others
believe You know very well that the cleo
uon OF Mr.. Bryan will not result in ruin,
riot, nor reputation" II we should paw our
foreign debt in depdeciated silver dollars it
would be practically reputation of a portion
OF our Indebtedness provided the dollars were
not at par with gold but as our coins, both
gold and silver, are received at their bullion
value. should we take tender in silver dol
lars and their bullion value was worth less than
100 cents 1T will require more of them to fully
meet our obligations. In this case there can
De no reputation, no ruin. What obligations
viii be repudiated among ourselves? Has
not congress the right "to coin money and
regulate the value thereof" II congress has
the right to say how many grains of gold
shall constitute the dollar has it not a per
feet right to say how many grains of silver
shall pass as its equal? If so, will not both
dollars nave the same purchasing and debt
paying power? I do not wish to be understood
as affirming that the value of the gold and
silver dollars will not fuctuate. Both are
commodities, and their values will be regu-
lated by the supply and demand. It will be
remembered that at the beginning of the war
between the sections the government did not
have money to prosecute it and could not Dor
row 1t from any nation on the face of the
earth, so it was compelled to issue paper
money. The supreme court decided that
under the constitution paper money could not
De considered coined money. We were at the
end of our rope and we could not proceed
except IN one way, viz, reorganize that au-
gust tribunal by adding two more judges
me law was passed and Mr.. Lincoln an
pointed Justices Bradley and Strong who
were known to favor paper money under the
circumstances. Soon after the United States
currency was thrown upon the market few
COTneroQ M fho
organized the gold board and to give 1t the
appearance Of responsibility elected a Pres
pyJerlan preacher as It's president. The gold
dollar began to go up in value. 1t made no
diHerence whether our armies were victorious
or defeated gold continued to rise until al
one time, 1t took $3.50 of United States gov
eminent money to purchase a single gold
dollar. This rise in gold made millions for
these men, and by dscrediting the govern
ment to maintain itself it was required to
pay two or three times the worth Of ANYTHING
they purchased. The cost of that war was in
round numbers 81 600 000, 000 whereas had If
not been for the pirates of the gold board
a nan tnat sum, or less, would have been suf-
ncient. The men who fattened upon the ne
ceSslties OF the government were enemies
only second to those who bore arms against
II, ana am enough OF an anarchist to say
that each and all of them should have expiated
their crimes at the end of a rope. Let me
refer again to the term reputation The
nickel has not one cents worth Of metal in
IL, yet 1t passes along side by side with the
silver 5-cent piece, simply because congress
has SO provided If one man owes another
81 and pays him twenty nickels. worth less
than twenty cents, does he repudiate TO the
extent of a little more than so cents. No
Mr.. Editor, there Is no reputation in store
for US. And now what about ruin and riot?
II no reputation, there can be no ruin and
II we are to have riots who will instieate
them? Certainly not Mr. Bryan. for he ia
and always has been peaceable law-abid-
Ing man. His bitterest enemy cannot accuse
him OF ever cutting throat or sc,lttljnp a
SHIP" neither has he been In the habit of
carrying around with him the deadly bomb
nor the dangerous dagger. If we are to have
riots, may 1t not be possible that Herr Most
the most outspoken anarchist and one of the
leading men In the crusade against silver
may originate them? No. there will be no
riots, and IL BRYAN is elected and I hone
and believe he will be- the only change no.
tfeeable will be prosperity will take the place
OF stasnation. Mills will be opened. our idle
men Will have employment at good wages
and MANY families now on the verge OF stary-
alton Will be provided for.
AS a business proposition why adont the
gold standard. which cannot be maintained
except we can borrow foreign gold when
we can coin the silver God has so richly
lav1shed upon US and use that to start the
wheels of industry all over the 1andq A
Mont. offers to paw in gold 81 10 an ounce for
900 worth of silver the day after the free
coipage bill is siened and SAYS that $40 0oO.-
900 can be raised In Montana for like invest
ment, a million a month for twenty months
Here is an opportunity OF the gold men to
more than double their stock of gold.
-Ca1fd