Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-03-27

rlsed by men, through the destruction
Of the money function of silver, ant
those who protest against it are char
acterized AS idiots, lunatics, an,
knaves, and accused OF causing all tht
| trouble.
Suppose burglar were to enter 6
dwelling in the night for the purpose
of committing a larceny. The pro.
prietor, reused from his sleep, gives
battle. In the struggle the burglars
dark-lantern is overturned and the
house is destroyed by fire. The
flames spread and other houses are
burned. The burglar escapes in The
confusion, and latter on has the pro.
prietOr of the first house arrested for
arson, claiming that the fire would
not have occurred If he had kept
still and allowed himself to be plum
dered.
Would the champions of the gold
standard take sides with that burglar?
They ought to, for his position is in
finitely better than their own. The
gold standard came upon us like a
thief in the night, and it did it's
stealthy work while honest men slept.
1t did it so insidiously that by it thous-
ands and millions of people were
ruined without perceiving the cause.
It cut down the return of the produ-
cers for their labor, it doubled the bur-
den of the debtors by making it more
difficult for them to get the dollars"
with which to pay. 1t finally crippled
them to such an extent that they
could not pay at all, and the United
States being the heaviest debtor in the
world, it finally landed in the vortex
of the greatest financial convulsion OF
modern times.
After thus bringing us to the verge
OF ruin, and inflicting more misery
upon the people than ever before
came from a single act of legislation,
the authors of it all wrap themselves
in cloak OF sham sanctity, roll their
eyes heavenwsrd, sing a psalm OF
honest money" and with the pie.y
OF Richard III, appeal to the god OF
justice to deliver them from the mach
inations of the silver thieves" and
cheap money vagabonds who are try
ing to swindle the widow and the Or
phan with so cent dollars"
But the responsibility of the gold
standardist does not stop even here.
Not only has he created the condi.
ton of almost worldwide depression
through the destruction OF property
values, but he has forced upon the
government the policy which has
made these bond issues seem neces-
sary.
The Bland law WAS intended to re-
store the standard silver dollar. The
Sherman law was designed to enlarge
the use of silver and at the same time
maintain parity between the metals.
Notwithstanding these enactments
the executive branch OF the govern
ment has absolutely refused to treat
the silver dollar as a standard coin, or
even as a legal tender. When the
creditor is given the option of saying
what kind of coin he will take, it de-
stroys the essential principle Of legal
tender. The law declares it to be the
established policy of the United States
to maintain the parity of the two
metals, and in order to carry out that
policy the government makes daily
and hourly proclamation that silver
dollar is only worth half dollar, and
that any holder OF legal tender notes
who wants gold for them can have it.
Under such circumstances a run upon
the treasury is inevitable whenever
gold is wanted for export. When we
can no longer satisfy foreign demands
with our salable products, of course
we must send gold. The lower the
prices OF our products, the less money
we will sell for in the foreign market,
and the more gold we must send to
meet the European demand.
This is a condition that cannot be
permanently met by bond sales.
Everybody knows that. The shrewd-