The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-09

been led to believe that silver could retain
its f00-cent value simply because IL had the
governments stamp? To my mind IL
seems probable that one OF the things Lead
ing to such notion was the fact that
during our late war we were Obliged to
make a forced loan and large quanti-
ties of paper money. Men began TO say.
If the government can make so many mil
per money without limit2 And why can it
not say that q given piece OF silver shall
sn e. ne doliar! Ihey 90 not STOP 70
that every dollar of paper money was to
be finally redeemed in coin at It's equivalent.
Then, again, when the disabled soldiers of
the late war were awarded pensions the
sum necessary finally amounted to over
$40. 900. and as this amount has been
men have said. If the government can pay
its soldiers by millions of dollars, why can
1t not. by it's own fiat, make any amount
Of money ard distribute it TO all citizens
who need it? They have also forgotten
diers must be redeemed and that not a
dollar of it has been created by the mere
much for the logic of the money question.
We. next ask ourselves as TO the ethics
of the case.
EFFECTS OF FREE COINAGE.
Suppose that we should find Bryan
elected and free silver coinage fact, what
would be the result? First of all would
be the simple fact that silver would drop
to it's bullion value. which is now 81 cents.
and there is no good reason to believe that
it would rise above it's present bullion
value. In other words. silver dollars
would become half dollars. Gold would be
withdrawn from circulation, as has been
clearly pointed out by Gresham. Who
would suffer by such depreciation of our
money? All creditors would suffer and we
are all creditors. The man who works by
days labor, at the end of the week is a
creditor to the amount of his wages, and,
paid in deprecated money, he would suf-
fer. All men and women who work SAL
aries would suffer because they paid in
this greatly deprecated money. Those who
are in insurance companies would share the
same fate, whether 1T be fire or life in
surance. In each case they would receive
about one-half of what they fairly ex-
pected TO receive. All invested endow-
ments would suffer. Our institutions OF
higher learning would be obliged TO cut
their expenses to about one-half the pres
emit rate. All invested philanthropic funds.
as those of home mission societies and for
elgn mission societies and publication So
cieties would share the same fate. All our
organized charitable benefactions would re-
cefve but about half their present income,
and SO the orphan and the widow would
be deprived of one-half their present means
of living. Our railroads would all suffer de-
cldedly and nobody claims that they are
a detriment to country. lit has some
times been said that only the wealthy
would suffer and that the poor would not:
that only the creditor would suffer and not
the debtor. but as has already been said,
almost all of us are creditors to- a greater
the great insurance companies of the East,
which have loaned such large amounts to
the West. 1t should be remembered that
these vast amounts of money represent the
small savings of thousands of wage earn
ers in the East, and that the companies do
not suffer, but these large number OF wage
earners. And then, what is worse. for the
debtors in this country to be willing to
pay their debts with money worth half what
1t when the debts We're created, would
indicate lack of high moral sense which
we cannot believe exists in fact Again. it
tph nf p1tr
ucts in this country have always come with
bimetallsm.. but we do not find this to be
just two periods of very high prices, and
they were caused by first, the Napoleonic
struction everywhere and prevented the
full work of the factories and the farms:
ana seeonay by the ed crmsan American
wars. Those were the two periods of very
high prices,
that France fiourished with silver stand
ard. But we must remember that when
that was established the bullion price Of
gold, and that it remained so up till al
most 1874. when the amount of silver mined
price began to decline and so not only
France but all the States of the Latin
Greece, stopped the coming of silver. 1t has
also been often said. during the present
campaign, that we do not wish to have
England set us the standard for money. 1t
would be fatal logic for us to edopt an in
ferior standard simply because England
as if we should decide that we would never
breathe pure air drink pure water SIM
ply because England chose both. And in
answer to the statement that is often made
that England is trying to crowd us to the
wall we should remember the fact that
while In 1894 England bought $423, 000, 000 OF
cur products, England received fronf>,s for
her products but $107, 600 900. Upon the whole
1t seems to me that it is the duty of every
true patriot to do all in his power to uphold
our present gold standard. for otherwise The
Generalization of business would be SO
great that in all probability it would take.
say, ten years to recover. and all OF our
great enterprises of education religion.
philanthropy and business would have re-
celved such a blow that it might take us a
quarter or century to regain what we had
lost.
MY comrades, neighbors and fellow-citi-
zens this is not campaign of passion and
mere personal assault and recrmination. 1t
is rather one Ia which 1t becomes us to sit
down and study the problem before u.s. and
most of us feel that this is so. / never had
half so many men say to me, Now just
what is the truth about this money BUSH
ness? We do not fully understand it, They
We're from both the principal parties. Some
of them are here tonight. have not been
in a campaign In which there was more OF
a disposition to ignore old issues and find
clear light on this question of our finances
est which I. in comon with You. feel in the
approaching election. To make a mistake
would bring disaster, the magnitude OF
which I do not believe we can now see.
Moreover, it seems to me that whoever will
sit down to an earnest study of the funda-
mental financial principles involved cannot
be led far astray. Politicians may befuddie
us with trifles. but the leading principles
are clear as day Free silver advocates
side is SO apparent that any purbind man
could find it out. On the other hand, we
may yet more earnestly say, with Somer-
set: And side the truth is so clear,
glimmer through blind mans eye"
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