The San Francisco call., 1896-02-15

pdIlISS iHcdl WHICH bhCy sSio thsst
they favored the resum ption of silver COIN
age under international agreement or sur
rounded by necessary legislative restric-
tions? If law could not affect values what
did we mean, Crisp asked, bv saying that
we would trust in the maintenance of the
parity of the two metals by Legislative re-
strictions?"
Crisp asserted that the results OF the de-
monetization of silver in 1878 had been
most disastrous. They were first seen in
the struggle for gold by all the nations.
In this connection he quoted from a speech
made by Senator Sherman in 1876 in which
he (Sherman) averred that the partial de-
struction of silver as a money metal "was
felt by every man, woman and child who
had anything to SELL" He (Sherman) re-
ferred in that speech to the ''appreciating"
purchasing power of gold, an assertion
which was now vigorously denied in the
House.
Another result, Crisp said. was seen in
the constantly falling scale of prices which
had existed since 1873. While this was
the condition under which business was
conducted nc man could tell where he
stood, and doubt, distrust and distress
necessarily ensued. The unfortunate con-
dition of manufacturers and agriculturlsts
was not confined TO the United States,
but was to be found in the gold
standard countries everywhere. In
support of this he read from
an interview on the 9th of the
month with a. J. Balfour, First Lord OF
the Treasury in Salisbury's Cabinet, and
from the Queens speech delivered on the
11th. There was no probability, Crisp
said, in view of Balfour's declarations, that
England would assent to any international
agreement for free coinage, and he was of
Che opinson that nothing substantial could
be looked for from any other Government.
The treatment of silver in the United
States, he was satisfied, had been part of
the general conspiracy or movement to
strike down silver. He reviewed the
financial legislation in this country since
1873 and the policy of the Treasury De-
parUmenJ from the time of the resumption
of specie payments, and charged that by
whomsoever administered the Treasury
Department had piayed the part of ''wet-
nurse" to silver, seeking to endeavor to
maintain it in the markets of the world,
and thereby discreditlng it,"
Referring to Secretary Carlisle's refusal
to change silver for gold, "pecause he must
retain the silver to support the treasury
notes issued under the act of 1890, and yet
when one of those notes is presented be
redeems it in gold" Crisp exclaimed:
"What kind of juggling is that with the
American people? What kind of friend
ship for silver is that?" Applause.
at is not the coinage of every ounce of
silver which gives it it's value" said the
speaker, ''but the right of every ounce of
silver in the world to be coined" Zap
plause.
Were that right restored, he claimed
the old parity of the two metals would be
speedily restored. Crisp said the country
was not likely to receive any substantial
relief because this Republican Congress
was ''do iothing Congress" Laughter
That was the platform on which it was
proceeding. The present preferment of
the specially preferred creditors of the
treasury. by which they received gold for
their claims, he said, was the deliberate
surrender by Republican secretaries of the
treasury OF the optional rights of the Gov
ernment which had been followed, be re-
gretted to say, by Democratic officials.
The maintenance OF the parity of the two
metals was the declaration of the Sher-
man act of 1890. The Bland-Allison act
contained no provision on the subject
Referring to the ''endless chain" Crisp
said the Government was engaged in the
most expensive financial experiment ever
undertaken in the history OF nations and
he asserted that one proba bic result would
be the locking up OF all the greenbacks,
thus bringing about a reduction of the
volume of the currency, which the Repub-
Iicans would not vote to do. The final
question, Crisp said, was: Could the United
States single and alone undertake, with
the expectation of maintaining it success
fully, the free coinage of silver? He be-
4ieyed 1t could. If it be conceded that an
international agreement could restore the
old ratio between gold and silver, he said,
then it was conceded that the law could
affect values and the practical question
was not whether all power was behind the
movement but how much power. ZAP
plause. Crisp quoted from the late Secre-
tary Manning to prove that it was possible
for the United States to restore and main
tain silver coinage ''that was in the days
before it had been discovered that law has
no power to affect values" TApplause.l I
Quotations were made from Sherman's
speeches and letters by Crisp to show, he
said, 1.-THE reasonableness and propriety of
our contention"
'He did not believe" commented Crisp,
''in the modern theory that law cannot
affect values, and that other one: that this
country cannot alone undertake the free
coinage OF silver" Applause
The United States needed more
money, said Crisp, than any other two
or three nations. relatively and in bulk.
What the friends of silver asked was that
the old conditions be restored that the
United States undertakes for itself and
mankind what France, greatly inferior to
this country, maintained for period of
seventy years; that the law be observed in
the exercise of an option in favor of the
people in the transactions of the Treasury
Department, and, finally, that the owner
OF 371A grains of silver may take it to any
mint in the country and receive for it
dollar OF American money.
IF we return, ne concluded, "to the
conditions of our fathers, and return to the
financial independence of the Nation, we
may not only hope that prosperity will
in hoo,