The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1896-06-19
THE IHRIFF H0T THE ISSUE.
It Has Very Little OF Nothing To Do With the
Present Depression.
The Best Kind OF Protection is the Com
pIete Restoration of silver, Which
WIN Affect All Alike.

which it has fallen. The task is hope
less. Another question is agitating the
American mind. It is the question of
finance. The National Bimetsllist of
recent date contains the following
arguments upon the relative import
ance of these issues:
The republican party is full of free
coinage men, and the leaders are strain
ing every nerve to hold them within the
lines Of the protection" idea. From
every hOusetop these leaders are shout
ing that all we need torestore prosperity
is high protective tariff. In season
and out. it is declared that the Wilson
German tariff is the cause of all the
woes, and if we can only revise the
tariff on republican lines business will
once more "boom."
In this connection it is we'll for free
silver republicans to do a little indie
pendent thinking and pay some atten-
ton to the chronological order of
events.
Last week the National Bimettallist
showed at considerable length how, i'm
mediately after the demonstration Of
silver in 1873, prices began to fall and
business began to dFoOp. It is clearly
pointed out that the whole period from
1873 to 1892 was one of quite general
depression, relieved only by flashes of
temporary prosperity after the passage
of the Bland act in 1873 and the "Sher-
man Law" in 1890, and yet that entire
period was one of high protection.
Whatever the prosperity the country
enjoyed during the Harrison admins
tration was owing to the SHERMAN
Law" and not to the mckinley Bill"
The former measure directly relieved
the monetary stringency which was
then setting in, and kept the business
of the country running smoothly when
England and other gold standard coun-
tries we're oonVuls9d. The Sherman
notes filed the void caused by the ex-
port Of gold, kept prices from falling
as they otherwise would, and fairly sus-
tanned the business Of the country
until about the close Of Harrison's
administration. The trouble and the
only one of the SHERMAN Law" was
that it was not big enough to fully
neutralize the effect of silver demone-
tizatiOn in both Europe and America.
Let US glance now at the immediate
cause of the present depression. To
what extent was the repeal of the Ne
Kinley law and the enactment of the
WilsOn-GOTman law responsible? In
answer to this query it can be safely
affirmed that the tariff legislation which
followed the accession of Mr.. Cleveland
had little or nothing to do with it. In
the first place, it must be remembered
that he was elected in November, 1892,
and that the tariff revision was scarcely
begun until 1894, while the year was
we'll advanced before it was enacted in
to law. Secondly, the panic came early
in the spring of 1893, a year and three
months before the Mckinley law was
repealed. Surely, it will not be serious
ly claimed that the Wilson-Gorman law
enacted August q, 1894, was the cause
of a great panic Is months before that
date. If it be said that the fear of an
ticipated tariff changes was the cause,
the answer is that it did not come soon
enough; for Immediately after Mr..
ClevelaDd's election in November, 1892,
it was known that both houses of con
gress would be democratic, and that
the tariff revision was certain to come.
But the panic did not come for six
months. Moreover if the panic had
been the result of such a fear, it would
have begun with the manufacturers.
which everybody knows was not the
case. It began with the bankers and
was essentially a bankers panic"
There was not a leading fnancier in
the country, either republican CT demo-
crit, who even pretended that the
tariff had anything whatever to do with
it. The sherman Law" was alleged to
be the sole cause, and the whole power
Of the great money centers was brought
to bear to force the repeal of that
obnoxious" measure. That a law
which was adding 100000 Of new
currency to our money supply each
month was the prime cause of the
money famine is to absurd a claim to
merit any degree of consideration;
while the contention that the people
had no confidence in money for which
they were even then paying a premium,
is simply preposterous. But such were
the claims actually made, as every
reading man must know.
Whether or not there was a definite
conspiracy to that end, there can be no
reasonable doubt mat the great banks
Of New York we're largely responsible
for the panic. It vas a matter Of cur
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