The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-12
MIR. LIMBS ADDRESS.


MIR. LIND'S ADDRESS.
1t is mere justice to say that the
letter in which Mr.. Lind accepts the
nomination of the Democratic party
for governor is paper Of unusual,
we may say extraordinary, force and
ability. Although we disagree wholly
with it's principal contention, and find
it an argument to make the worse ap-
pear the better reason, it Is, never
theless, the most plausible and forceful
presentation that we have seen Of the
wrong side Of the financial issue.
Neither in any of his speeches nor in
his most elaborate papers has Mr..
Bryan approached the address of Mr..
Lind in argument, in apparent can
dor, or in dignity of expression. The
candidate for governor of Minnesota
places himself head and shoulders, in
his appeal to the voters, above the
candidate for the presidency. And
they will err greatly who underesti-
mate the strength and probable effect
of the powerful campaign document
which Mr.. Lind has prepared for his
party by setting the precedent of dis
cussing at length the issues of the con-
test in a letter of acceptance Of the
gubernatorial nomination.
We need hardly say that we consider
the position of Mr.. Lind fundamentally
q
free coinage Of silver. He has gath
cred together almost every fact and
argument known to the whole contro-
versy, that would tell in his favor, and
presented them with consummate SKILL
Yet they will not bear careful ex-
animation. He speaks of free silver as
"a financial policy that will tend to
relieve the working and producing
classes" 1t has, instead, already cost
them more, in the paralysis of indus
try and the contraction of credit, in
vestment and employment, than the
whole amount of our national debt.
And that is but a fraction of what it
would cost them were it to become a
destructive reality instead OF a potent
fear. His appeal to mere discomfort, to
the feeling which every man is prone
to entertain, that he possesses less
than his deserts entitle him to, is the
worst feature of his platform 1t verges
on an agrarianism which should have
no place in a Republican community
n No inc
productiveness of every kind of indus
try, which alone accounts for falling
prices by it's enormous additions to the
supply of commodities and the effec-
tiveness Of labor. In the same sem
tence he attributes that fall to the
gold standard, which has lived through
prosperity as well as adversely, and
witnessed the rise as well as the de-
cline of prices that have waited on the
operation of the great law of supply
and demand.
Showing a sufficient cause in the
cheapening of production, he asserts.
without a particle of evidence to sup
port it, that less money is to blame.
1t is as if a man, seeing a wall top
pied over by the efforts of a gang of
laborers Juggling at rope, should
insist that it was done by an earth
quake shock, of whose occurrence there
was no evidence whatever. For sta
tistics prove incontestably that there
is and has been progressively, not less,
lint in,
the world while these changes were
taking place. Admitting that prices
are fixed in the worlds markets, he
denies that the same consent must ap-
ply to the relative values of the pre-
cious metals And one of the least
worthy and most nearly approaching
the demagogic thing in his ad-
dress is his repetition of the
silly assumption that, because
this nation is great and powerful,
1t can rise superior to natural
laws, and create value by legislation
The rhinoceros is a powerful beast, but
he cannot thread needle. When Ma
poleon dictated terms to Europe he
could not have made pound of one
metal weigh more or less than pound
of another. Value depends on mental
appreciation; on desire. And desire is
not to be made or unmade by acts
of congress. Finally, if all else were
admitted, Mr.. Lind gives not one rea-
son for the arbitrary and fictitious ra-
tic of is to 1; not one apology for the
legalized robbery of acts of legal ten
der.
In the few brief paragraphs which
Mr.. Lind devotes to state issues he is
at his best He announces, unlike Mr..
Bryan, that he is in favor of civil serv-
ice reform. His language, in dealing
with the question of railroad regula-
ton and rates, is by no means violent,
and the position which he takes is one
that the people unquestionably ap-
prove. So. too. in relation to the levy
ing of taxes, he sounds popular note.
and throughout maintains position
Of apparent reasonableness and pro-