Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1896-11-02
MAKES 1T CLEAR.
Another Great Speech Delivered
by Carl Schurz.
he MAKES A STRONG APPEAL.

Diminish the Value of Money Nor Did
It Bring Low Prices - "Lincoln and
Bryan, Lincoln and Aitgeld, to Mem
tion Them In tho Same Breath Is n
sacriiegc."
Hon. Carl Schurz delivered speec.,
at Peoria, Ills, last Saturday, under
the auspices of the Democratic Sound
Money club of that city. Mr.. Schurzs
speech was in the main a rejoinder to
the reply of Governor Altgeld's reply
to Mr.. Schurz's recent speech in Chi
cago. He said in part:
"Ideny emphatically that the demon
citation of silver in the United States
by the act of 1873 has been the cause
either of the hard times or of the low
prices, and deny with equal emphasis
that the free coinage of silver in the
United States alone, without waiting
for the aid or consent of any other ma
ton, would be. the remedy. l assert
that, in point of fact, the act of 1873,
paraded by the silver men as great
of currency, has not made the remain
ing dollar 2oO-cent dollar at all, and
has not in that way depressed prices.
my reason for this assertion is SIM
pie and conclusive. If prices had been
depressed by sweeping change in the
purchasing power of the money Of our
country, that change would necessarily
have operated upon all things equally.
But did it? Do we not all know that
the prices Of some things-among them
some agricultural products-substan-
TALLY maintained themselves for seve-
raj years after the act of 1873, which is
said to have demonetized silver, while
others went down little, and still 9TH
ers went down considerably. Now, if
the dollar had become a 200-cent dollar
by the act of 1878, it must have been
the same 200-cent dollar for wheat as
well as hardware, and for corn as we'll
as hoes, and for oats as we'll as beer
and for potatoes as well as cigars. 1t
could not be a 200-cent dollar for one
thing and at the same time a 150-cent
OF 125-cent dollar for another. Now if
all prices were not equally affected, as
everybody knows they were not, their
decline can not have been caused by a
sudden and great change in the pur-
chasing power of the money of the
country. Nothing could be clearer.
What, then, is the reason for the
decline Of the prices of SO many prod
ucts of agriculture, as well as of indus
try? 1t is simply that those products
are produced far cheaper and in far
greater quantities than before. In 9TH
er words, that the genius of invention
the progressive civilization of our age,
has devised new machinery, facilitated
and cheapened transportation, elimi-
mated the element of time and almost
the element of cost, the transmits
sion of intelligence, and thus conferred
upon mankind the inestimable benefit
of producing greater quantity of
those things which constitute the nec-
essaries of life and contribute to hu-
man comfort and enjoyment, and OF
making them more attainable to the
great mass of humanity by makinh
them more abundant and cheaper"
The last point made by Mr.. Schurz
was in reference to the quotation Gov
ernor Altgeld had made from speeches
and messages of Lincoln to support his
views of the money question, Mr.,
Schurz saying in conclusion:
Abraham Lincoln and Bryan! Abra
ham Lincoln and Altgeld! To associate
these names together as allies on q
common cause-aye, to pronounce them
together in the same breath-is not on.
ly fraud, it is sacrilege.
"As an old friend of Abraham Lin
coln who sat at his feet receiving hi,
teachings of justice, freedom and hi
manity, and who was with him many G
day in his struggles for the rights o.
: man, for national government and FL
} the brotherhood Of all the American peO
pie, l solemnly protest against this out
, rage. l call upon the people of Illinoi.
to resent and repealit. They are the Gus
, todians of Abraham Lincoln's grave
Let them prove themselves the worth!
custodians of his historic character
and fame by burying the repudiator'
and meters of class hatred who dar,
to claim him as their own, under ;
; crushing vote of condemnation"