The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-16
Mr.. CARLISLE AGAIN
The Secretary of the Treasury Talks
to a Chicago Audience.
HE DIGS DEEP FOR FACTS
After Telling Them All About the
Panic and How IL Was Brought
on, He Says silver Must
and Shall Perish.

ence that filled the great hall to the ut
most. The address was delivered under
the aupices of the laboring men of Chi
cago and they were there in full force,
nearly three-quarters of the crowd be-
ing workingHen.
Many local democrats were anxious to
obtain an interview with Carlisle on the
political situation in Kentucky. but he
refused to talk politics in any way. He
said that he had come to Chicago to
make an address on the currency ques-
ton and that nothing could induce him
to talk politics. His address, which was
greeted with much applause and which
gave satisfaction to his hearers, was as
follows:
Mr.. Carlisle opened with the asser-
ton that the effect of instability Of
currency must fall with more force
upon the poor than upon the rich man.
Said he: Labor cannot be boarded
and therefore steady employment and
good paying demand in money Is es-
sential to the comfort and happiness
of the American laborer and his wife
and children. and he will be unfaith-
ful to himself and to them IL he does
not insist upon the adoption and main
tenance of such a policy as will most
certainly preserve the value and sta
bility of all our currency and promote
the regular and profitable conduct of
all our industrial enterprises"
he then went on to argue that the
opening of the mints to unlimited coin
age of silver at the ratio of l6 to | of
gold, would drive the $500 900, 900 of gold
now in use out of the country, and at
the same time reduce the purchasing
power of all other money, actually re-
duce the amount OF circulating medi-
um instead of increasing IL.
The secretary then took up the silver
question and ratios as established by
Hamilton and Jefferson. He said that
when a silver dollar contained 371L
grains and gold PAX and the difference
in value about a cent and an eighth,
silver drove gold out of use and out OF
the country, and from that time we had
silver monometallism until after the
passage of the acts of 1884 and 1887.
The fact that the silver was put into
the form of coin and made legal
tender. the same as gold, and that both
dollars were declared to be worth 100
cents each, did not increase the value
of 371h grains of silver to any extent
whatever. In 1884 congress determined
to restore gold to circulation, and so
the ratio was changed to 16 to l. This
was slight generalization of gold. and
Immediately the situation was re-
versed. Silver fled from the country
and gold came in.
After the war, when IL was deter
mined to change the character of our
currency again by the resumption of
specie payments, the law was enacted
four years in advance of the time when
1t was to take effect, in order that am
pie opportunity might be afforded to
adjust the business of the people to the
altered conditions. Now. however, all
the conservative and prudential con-
siderations that have usually con-
trolled in the settlement of great fin
IL L.
regarded, and we are confronted by an
organized and aggressive movement to
destroy, by single blow, the measure
of value upon which all existing con-
tracts are based, and thus subvert the
very foundation of our monetary sys-
tenn, without allowing a single day to
prepare for the change. In the gen.
eral confusion and disorder resulting
from such a radical measure, what will
be the condition OF the American la
borer? VIII he be benefited or injured
by reducing the value OF the money in
which his wages are paid and at the
same time increasing the prices OF the
commodities for which his wages are
expended?
After struggling for more than a
quarter of a century. through labor or
ganizations and otherwise, to secure a
rate of wages which would make the
of a days work equal TO the
cost of days subsistence for the
and his family, you are
asked by the advocates Of free coinage
to join them in destroying one-half the
money in which you are
paid and impose upon yourselves the
task of doubling the nominal amount
of your wages hereafter; that Is, to
struggle for another quarter of a cen
tury to raise your wages In depreci-
ated currency to point which will en-
able you to purchase with them as
much OF the necessaries of life as you
can purchase now: and If, after years
Of contention. privation and Industrial
you should at last succeed I'm
SO adjusting wages that they would
procure at the higher prices Of COM
modities just what they will procure
now at the existing prices. what would
you have gained by the change from
the old to the new conditions?
The speaker then quoted from the
report of a subcommittee OF the COM
mittee on finance of the senate. sub
mitted March 3. 1898, on the course of
prices OF labor and the prices OF 223
articles of general consumption during
a period of 50 years. including the time
when specie payments were abandoned
after the beginning OF the civil war
In 1863. he said. the price OF labor
had increased 10lz per cent. and other
prices 4s per cent. In 1864 the advances
we're 25iz and sia respectively; in 1855
hey were 43 and III per cent. He fur
ther calls attention TO the fact that
during those years the government by
is army and navy had withdrawn hum
1reds of thousands OF men from COM
petition in the labor Of the country.
our neighbOring republic OF Mexico !
With a constitutional government very /
similar to our own, with an area Of
'67 coo square miles and a population
u only about 1900. coo. with almost
marvellous resources awaiting devel-
,pment. and Offering a most inviting
ield for the investment Of capital and
he employment OF labor. has the silver
standard OF value. gold not being in
Use. and IL cheap money is a blessing