Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-10-31
These statements are absolutely

in the world today. II there is d place
n the world where It Is worth more, all
to Mr. Bryan's theory. instantly rise to
that price. whatever 1t might be- II.
as he. said. iii is more valuable at this
time in other. lands than It would be at
our mints under free coinage" it must be
that he expects the price Of silver under
free coinage to, so below S. cents per
ounce. Yet in the same speech he says:
1.-The free and unlimited coinage OF sill
yer by the United States alone will make
the silver bullion worth $l.29 per ounce in
gold.
"Bimetallism IS endorsed by human
to endorse 1t except the miseryl which
follows wherever it has been tred''-
Cleveland Speech.
The sort Of bmetallism which Mr.. By
an proposes. is that which prevails today
lea and China. The people of Mexico
have a per capita of money in circula-
ton amounting to s4.95: those of Central
S..94 exclusive of their irredeemab.e pa
per currency; and those Of China. sizes.
| 'rhe gold standard nations have a per
capita circulation of from SO to So each.
Does that look as though ''bimetailism Il
endorsed by human history and ths gold
standard has nothing p endorse ii ex-
cept the misery which follows wherever
it his been tried?"
Il only wish that this distinguished di-
vine (Mr. Beecher, whose name has add
ed TO the great fame of your great city.
We're with us tonight that he might cham
pion the cause of The people in their
sreat fight of today. brooklyn Speech.
During the fiat money and unlimited
currency excitement of 1871 Mr.. Beecher
said in his Thanksgiving sermon: when
ever in any nation there is such an at
tempt to tamper with standards that the
moral sense OF man is bewidered and lib
erty IS given to unprinciped men at
large TO cheat and TO be unfaithfui to
obligations. to refuse the payment Of
honest debts, whenever MAT takes place
| il is all the worse for being done with
permission of law. hate the devil rid
| ing on Il law worse than | do the devil
| riding without a law under him. Who
ever hampers with established standards
| campers with the very marrow Of vitality
Of public faith. Cold IS the worlds stand
ard; gold is the universal standard Of
value"
They say that under bimctallism a
| foreigner could bring silver here and have
| il coined and exchanged for god and take
the gold home, leaving the silver. Where
| would he get the gold? This government
does not agree to swap dollars. Under
| bmetallism the government would coin
silver bullion into silver dollars and gold
bullion into gold dollars. but would not
agree to exchange one for. the other. -
Ashland. n. c.. speech.
This is at least a frank admission that
| the government would not attempt TO
maintain the parity between the silver
and the gold dollars under free coinage
| The only ratio by which they could COM
pare them would be the commercial ratio
OF the silver and the gold which is today
about 81 to l. Yet Mr.. Bryan voted IN
| Congress against all propositions 10 put
\ a single grain more Of silver into the dol
| lar than is in it today. Upon his own ad-
mission it may be assumed that the gov
| eminent would. If he We're its head, make
no effort to make the silver dollars worth
more than the bullion in them, and that
| they would therefore fall to a lower
| price than the Mexican dollar of today,
| because they have less bullion in them
| than that dollar has
In 1894 the amount of our money in
| circulation in the United States was, ac-
cordng to the treasury department re
port. 81 $50. 700 900. In 1895 the amount OF
money in circulation had fallen TO sl.6ol.-
| 100 GOO a decrease In one year of $50 900 900.
| In lse; the amount in circulation had fall
| len 20 Sl.503. COG, GOO. This means that in
| Two years the amount of money in circu-
| lation among the people had fallen Sl50,-
| 900. 900
| The government publication from which
| Mr.. Bryan quoted these figures shows. on
the very same page from which he quotes.
| that the amount of money in the country
| fell only $74S03.453 in the TWO years In
question. though the amount of money in
circulation fell $4,000 900. II Is the guam
| tity OF money in the country which de
| termines whether more money is needed.
| Lack of circulation is due to depression
/ in business. which in this particular case
! IS caused by the suspension of work in
| the factories of the country. due TO the
| enormous importation under the Bryan
Wilson-Gorman tariff law Why did not
money in the country. instead of those
relating to circulation? And why did he
! not admit. what everybody knows, that
/ the loss of money in the country Is due
! to the fact that in the TWO years in ques-
! ton the importations of foreign goods,
| which had to be paid for in gold or its
| equivalent We're hundreds of millions in
I excess of the rate at which they We're inn
ported in the last year of the Mckinley
law? During, the two years Of wfich he
! complains. the importation of foreign
goods. which. of course, had to he paid
4 for in gold or its equivalent. amounted To
. the enormous sum of St.5il,619, 9s7. or ten
| times the amount of the decrease in cir
any wonder that the gold went abroad?
Any legislation which lessons the
creases the eNchangeable value of the
dollar: therefore, the crusade against sill
Yer must inevitably raise the PURCHASING
! power OF money and lower the money
/ value of all other forms of property -
, NJ adison Square Garden Speech
! The amount of money in the world both
/ silver and gold. has vastly Increased
since what Mr.. Bryan terms the cru
SADIE against silver" was begun In 1873
the silver money amounted 10 less than
/ g, 900, 900. Now it amounts to ,sl.o1ooh.-
600 and nearly all of it Is full legal ten
/ der. In 1873 the gold money of the world
i amounted to less than y, 800 00G.00O. Now
1t amounts to $l06s. 100000. Thus 1T VIII
/ lie seen that the worlds stock of metallic
| n oney today is double what 1t MAS III
I 1873. Does this look as though legislation
had 'lessened the worlds stock of stand
: IF the influences which are at work
4 for the destruction of silver MS stand
ard money succeed in this direction those
same influences will be turned against
! the weaker nations and nation after ma
! ton will be turned from the use of sill
| yer. "-Toledo Speech.
Is it not rather absurd to assume that
any given set of Influences or organi-
cations of men could have secretly and
! viciously induced the law-makinS powers
of the most Intelligent nations Of the
earth to do an unwise thing in such a
short period? Is it possible that a hand
full of men could have compelled the in
telligent law makers of such nations as
, the United States. England. France, Ger
many, Holland. Denmark. Sweden, Nor
way, Spain. Italy. Switzerland, Turkey,
Austro-Hungary, Belgium and the Eng
fish colonies all over the world to COM
nit financial hari-kari, all within com
paratively few years? If a few men had
been attempting a plan of this sort which
was really bad. would they not have be-
gun on what Mr.. Bryan terms the weak
er nations" which would be more easily
influenced. rather than to have begun
, with the strongest and most ihteiiissnt2
| How can a syndicate. few dozen or a
few hundred at the most. have been able
SO to deceive $50 900. 900 of the most in
, telligent people OF the globe within few
years time as to lead them to do an I'M
wise thing in regard to the subject upper
most In the mind of all men and all na-
i ~. of hI1c