, 1896-10-19

was in perfect health. gave him a severe
blow at the base of the skull, and the
Eight Of intelligence gave way to ar
idiotic stare. Great %heveans," cried
the father; What have you done?"
MY friend" said Mr.. Harvey, don't
you worry n bit. True, l have ruin
ed the only bright boy you have got
but l think I have brought about an in.
~tellectual parity between the twins
Loud applause.)
The proposition is to drop the gold
dollar. They propose to legislate add.
tional value into silver, and then to &c,
a parity they take some OF the metal
out Of gold. Now II you can legislate
value into the one. why can you not leg
islate the value out OF the other? They
say the gold dollar is a 2OO-cent dollar
Why not legislate a hundred cents out
Of it? II you can legislate the value OF
silver bullion up why not legislate the
value of gold bullion down? ZAP
plause). The trouble Is just here:
They are perfectly willing to force a
customer to buy cheap goods at high
prices. nut they realize it is beyond
their power to compel a man to sell
goods below cost. tApplause.)
Mr.. Bryan has a good deal to say
about silver being the poor mans
friend. He talks kindly and affection
ately. with a tear in his eye and a trem-
or in his voice. until you almost feel a
sob, and you want to go away back to
1873 and weep owe the grave of a dear
lost friend. The trouble Is, Bryan
doesn't seem to understand that sent!-
ment and chemistry don't mix.
(Laughter). II he should take the trou-
BILE to assay and analyze a silver dol
lar. he would very Don discover that
Vt possesses no personal qualities OF
affection, which would make it leap
out to caress the poor man. laugh
teri. Silver has neither affection nor
solbcftude. and it possesses no quality
that cannot be measured: neither is
gold cruel and inexorable. hating tie
poor and loving the rich. A gold dollar
resting in the palm Of a poor mans
hand will stroke 1t as gently as it will
the palm OF a Wall street broker, and
will fly as far at his bidding t purchase
the needed wealth Of the spacious and
growing west as 1t would in the hands
OF the proudest monarch of earth in his
palace Of marble. 1t has all the power
in the poor mans hand that it has in
that of the rich. and under and by its
subtle internationalism transmits our
currency into a common parity. and all
as good as gold. The mere statement
of the commercial ratio in the stamp
of the government concludes practical
bimetallism. The free coinage of silver
at the ratio Of 16 to l liz face of the
market ratio of 80 to 1, means silver
recommendation and nothing else; and
the thoughtful student OF American
history will hesitate long before he
casts mis- vote for such a financial policy
as that. When our financial system
was first adopted, 1t was the combined
judgment and wisdom OF Alexander
Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson that
established the legal ratio. and they
maintained that, to establish a success
full ratio, they must first ascertain the
market or commercial ratio, and that
the legal ratio should be the market
ratio for the purpose Of obtaining the
concurrent circulation Of the two met
ais. The first coinage law of the United
States provided that the legal ratio OF
gold and silver should be Is to l. Why!