Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-10-17

| gold, and why. will tell you that It IL be-
cause in the beginning the peoples Of the
| world sought for some convenient medium
| Of exchange which was possessed of GER
tain requisite and necessary characters
tics. These were durability, divisibility,
| portability, homoSeneity and comparative
steadiness Of value. Without this last quail
ity no metal should ever be, regarded as
| worthy of being used for money. The rea-
son that I stand before the world in sup
port of the golaHtandard Is because the
nations of the w'brld have found by ex-
perience that 1t aisligold which most nearly
satisfies the requisites for desirable me-
| dunn of exchange.
said Of the necessity for bimetallism. I
tell you, my FRIENDS. that bimetallism is
possible only when,it is accepted and sup
ported by the entire commercial world
| Money must have Of itself a commercial
| value of its own before it can be a genuine
medium Of exchange. Anything else is but
some form or other Of greenbackism. Gold
| Is an interposed commodity, which the ma
tons of the world have agreed to accept
at its real and face value in Exchange.
"Bimetallism is impossible. because of the
workings of the Gresham law. Gresham,
that famous English student and authority,
| did not. invent the law that bears his name
| any more than did, Sir Isaac Newton manu-
facture the law Of gravitation. Apples fell
to the ground long before Newton ever
| thought Of the reasons for that phenome-
| non Of nature. The law to which Gresham
| gave expression Is simply the fact that
when two metals are put into circulation
| side by side therone that Is undervalued
| will leave the field of UNEQUAL strife and
| resume its character as a commodity in
commerce. The law of 1913 undervalued
gold and drove 1t out Of the country. The
| law of 1884 did the same for silver and
drove it out Of circulation into the arts
into teapots. spoons and the like. Bimetal-
lism Is impossible, 1 say, because of the in
| violable and unconqIerable human laws of
| commerce and trade"
| At this point in his agument Mr. Davis
pointed out what he considered as the alb
solate absurdity of any attempt to MAIN
tain fictitious value on money. In con-
nectfon with this. he cited the case of the
French assignats. which fell in value
| steadily until they passed current at only
one three hundred and twentieth of their
| face.
And yet" continued Mr. Davis, earnest
~ lat the very time that the merchants
OF Paris Of Lyons, of MarseilIes were TAX
| ing the assignats at that small fraction of
Itffeirsfaee value, there was a law biazoned
on the statute books of France which pro-
| Vided twenty years penal servitude as the
punishment for anyone who took them for
DO you suppose for one moment that such
| a law as that could ever be enforced. in
| France or anywhere else?
| Bimetallism. l must insist, Is possible
only when the coinage ratio Is the same as
the ratio Of value. In support of this con-
tention can not do better than to quote
the words of Jefferson, that man who
founded the party to which l beiong''
At this there was wild outburst of an
plause. which lasted for some little time.
When it had subsidized and Mr. Davis was
af'ie to make himself t1ea rd.she went on:
a,. - can stand fairly and firmly. o.. the In
Question 81 the q sha aet hsdeed
1b sIs I t Peg *1l lsssa ssuss IKE
thaa mIatfn IS not TRAD can stand upon
p ns there netsss sspus,,ssn
there.ssltsays whAt j. .psansr and It shows
that the men who framed it had the cour-
ags.of. their .eonyistions..,- $3.50
You cannot hAye bimetallism because.
for- one 5hiasa aASe1 lacks enc Of the nee
essary elementsRf4 medium of exchange.
mean 1sortahisktAs eWhy. my friends, a
man would haveto have a coach and six to
90 around with him then to carry his small
change"
A voice fron7 the audience-'That's all
right, but we would have the coach and
! Perhaps you would. my FRIEND, but
doubt 1t. But more of that later on You
must excuse me II ! seem to devote good
the elementary features Of the question
with which we Are confronted But let me
tell you 1t is thai very phase of the situa-
ton that they fan to meet at all. those men
VINO advocate tPe free and unlimited COIN
age of silver. IL Is as If they would answer
| the arguments of those who favor sound
| money by saying that there is no such
as a pot,e cav q GSmmerce no such thing
standing here tonight to Insist that there
are laws OF commerce. and that there Ia "a
political economy. This question cannot
be laughed away or answered with a lest
1t Is serious matter
80 In other Lands. -a----
This country Is in bad condition. I
will rot Rainsay that for one moment. But
1 must say further that the whole world
Is in the same bad way"
At this there were a number of expres-
sions of surprise or disapproval to be
heard from different sections of the hall.
mean just exactly what say" con-
tinued MIR. Davis. THE condition Of the
worse today than 1t is In this country.
The poor Of Germany are many times
worse on than are the poor of the United
HaU h is australia a.s,n so very prosperous?
Why! They are going to remedy our
Ills In this country by giving US free sill
yer, but how do you account for the fact
that other lands are worse off today than
we are? Why? 1 ask. Is the crime of II,
responsible for them. too? w..
Was 1t silver. let me ask. was it gold
that brought about the downfall of that
great English banking house. the Barings7
No. gentlemen and ladies, 1t was neither of
| these 1t was wheat"
This seemed to strike a large portion of
/
| and many appeared to doubt whether the
speaker was in earnest. There were cries
| OF dissent from all sides and much con-
| fusion ,,..- .. ..... .. .... -..
Il mean precisely that. It was wheat.
Any man who read the papers at the time,
and remembers what he read, or will take
| a file of the papers Of that time and study
| 1t, will bear me out. The Earrings were
broken because they tried to bolster up the
| securities of Argentina, securities which
rested upon the value of wheat in the
markets Of the world.
| Il have heard good deal tonight about
| plutocracy and democracy. I am not here
| to discuss plutocracy and democracy, how
| ever well 1t sounds. I am here to talk
solely AMI only about gold and silver and
| the free coinage Of silver at the ratio of 10
ITO I. We have heard, too, a great deal said
lately about the money Of the Constitution.
The Constitution says that no state shall
ever issue anything else than silver or
gold, but 1t does not say anywhere that
silver shall always be money"
A voice from the audience: Nor gold,
either, ~ ...s....,.
mo. nor gold. either. as my friend says
But do believe that the United States is
free and perfectly able to make money of
anything 1t chooses to. But further, I do
believe that it should choose a coin that
will make the money good in every money
market in the world.
Let us now come down for q moment to
the horrible, the ever memorable crime of