The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-02-15
THE QUESTION OF MONEY
John Dsy Smith D,sou s.es the Matter
II An Intelligent
Way.
HONEY in ALL ITS RELATIONS
thoughts Upon the Two Parties
Being Hspelessiy
~ Divided.

4 b :. r. -. :. =. i.
! g. az Divided.
Hon John Day Smith addressed the
Gold and Silver Club last night on ''Sil:
YER Coinage" There was a good attend
ance and the address, which was able and
eloquent, was listened to with the great
est interest. He said in substance:
Money has two functions. BY money
I mean money proper, or hard money. 1t
furnishes a medium of exchange and a
measure of value AS medium of ex-
change it stimulates production, but is Of
itself only a small fraction Of the value
which 1t helps to exchange. AS meas
ure of value it is not perfect or invar:-
able. The more steady and invariable as
to its own value, the more perfect meas
ure Of value it becomes. Money shrinks
in value generally in proportion as 1t Is
exchange, and enhances IN value as it
decreases in volume below the require
ments Of legitimate trade and exchange.
"Binletallisni is the concurrent use Of
both gold and silver as money, at a fixed
relative value, established by law. BIZ
n1etaliism as used outside Of newspapers,
offices and political party platforms, as
system, OF finance, means the free coinage
Of gold and silver as the money of the
people, and making each an unlimited
legal tender, and a certain permanent
legal vallte-ratio to the other. Full legal
tender qualities of both metals do not
alone constitute h.nletallism. II bimetal
Ism is feasible as a system, it has one
great advantage over monometall!sm, In
that it gives "a stability to the value OF
the unit of value Several factors con-
tribute to this stability of the unit of
value. among which may be named the
size and regularity of the demand, the
quantity N use. uniformity In COST of pro-
duction and facilities for transportation.
The demand for money consists. of goods
OF all kinds, services, labor, in short, ev
erything that Is offered for money. There
is greater uniformity in cost of produc-
ton of silver than gold, because of its
wider and more uniform distribution in
the earth.
Gin approaching the discussion of the
question Of true binetallism. I ann glad
that I am not called upon to denounce or
defend the particular tenets of any pol
itical. party. Both Of the great political
parties of the land are hopelessly divided
upon this question. 1t is not a political
problem. The people of the country have
been compelled, by business disasters and
widespread distress and suffering, to fix
Their attention upon the subject of the
monetary condition They are studying
this question--every man for himself. 1t
is a characteristic of our people that
when they become interested in these
subjects of national concern, they study
them very closely. They have knowl-
edge enough and ssgacity enough to COM
prehemd the functions Of government and
the basic principles upon which the gov
ernment rests. 1t will be conceded,
think, that the people of the United
States were never before so exclusively
concerned in the financial questions Of
the day as they are now. There have
been political and philosophical state
ments enough made of these questions to
befog the common everyday man in his
approach to a solution of the present
difficulty Indeed if man presumes to
discuss the financial question from any
other standpoint than that OF gold
recommendation, he is characterized as an
ignoramus and ridiculed as a crank by
the newspaper press, owned and inf1u-
enced by Eastern capitalists. There has
been a studied attempt upon the part of
the Republican and Democratic parties of
construct a political platform, upon which
to stand, which may mean one thing in
the East and another in the West If an
honest Interpretation were given to the
platforms adopted by either the Republic
can or Democratic parties during the past
eight years, they would be pronounced n
favor of practical bimetallism. 1t would
be amusing if it were not painful, in view
of the position taken by majority Of
the Republicans in congress today on the
question Of silver coinage, to read from
the national Republican platform of 1883.
Mark this sentence: The Republican
party is In favor OF the use Of both gold
and silver as money. and condemns the
policy of the Democratic administration
in it's efforts to demonetize silver. In 1892.
the national Republican platform,
adopted in this city declared that the
American people. from tradition and in
terest, favor bimetallism, and the Repub-
licam party demands the use of both gold
and silver as standard money, with such
restrictions and under such provisions to
be determined by legislation as will Sc
cure the maintenance of parity of val
ues OF the two metals, go that the pur-
chasing and debt-paying power of a dol
lar, whether of gold. silver or paper,
shall be at all times equal.''
The speaker then gave all exhaustive
exposition Of the financial legislation en-
acted in this country since 1878, or rather,
since 1892. The facts given by him are
familiar to all that have followed the con-
troversy between gold and silver men
that now has been carried on for such a
long time. Incidentally, he said:
No one bellows i'm deprecated m0n
ey. We all believe wi a stable money,
and that is the best money that maintains
a uniform rate of prices. l do not be-
lieve in Il constantly approaching stand
ard OF money. That means the depression
of business and paralysis of the enter
prise and energies Of the country We
have now the redemption of greenbacks
in gold and constantly increasing bond
ed indebtedness to maintain this gold re-
demption but what else have we? What
is proposed by the present admi Illustration
OF the leaders Of the two great political
parties, who contend for the gold stand
ard, as a solution of the difficulties IN
which we find ourselves? Absolutely
nothing7if we except 1.-THE tariff bill passed
by the house OF representatives, of which
I will speak little later. We are trying
to maintain N this country the parity be-
tween gold and silver, and yet we give
to one money functions which we deny to
the other Thisis a violation Of the fund |
Al. 81