The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-28
THE JAVEL|N or TRUTH
tcontInued from First Page.)

man will keep in his pocket, or he will sell 1t to bullion broker and every body will use the other. It is an old law proclaimed in England by Gresham that the cheaper dollar drives the bet ter one out. You might just as well say that If we had two kinds of bushels, if the law should declare that sixty pounds of wheat was a bushel and 30 pounds of wheat was a bushel-well, what farmer would deliver wheat by the sixty-pound standard if he had sold it by the bushel? Now, so nice were our people about this, in trying to adjust this, that they went into dec final fractions. We say Is to l. In fact that is not the ratio. It is 15.9SS. Now, that IS the actual ratio It Is so near l6 that we call 1t 16, but the men who made our silver dollar and our gold dollar were so nice in their calculation that they went into decimal fractions, into thousandths to adjust it accurate ly. Now what do these people propose to do, To take any account of thou sandths Nol When the markets of the world fix the relative value of silver and gold at 31 ounces of silver to one ounce of gold, they propose to say 16. Laughter) We'll, my friends, there has been nothing more amusing-and yet I fear that with the thoughtless it may have been in some measure mis- leading-than the repeated declaration of MT. Bryan that everybody admitted that bimetallism was a thing to be de- sired, and that the debate of the cam paign has come down to this fine point.
 The republicans say that we cannot have this good thing without the con- sent of England, and we say we can have 1t ourselves; and he had endeav ored to pivot this great campaign with its tremendous issues upon that pin hole. (Applause.) We hear much about the resources and wealth and power of this country, and do not all low anybody to go beyond my appre- citation of them; but what is the use of talking about all that when you do not propose to put this wealth and power and influence behind the silver dollar at all? (Applause.) As things are now the silver dollars that we, have are supported by the government and the government that supports this sil- yer bullion has issued these dollars on its own account-not for the mine own ers-and has pledged it's honor it would hold everyone of these dollars as good as gold dollar. (Great applause)
 And that is powerful support. Without it disparity between these metals would at once show itself in the markets, and there would be some sense in the talk which our nppulistic friends indulge in when they speak of the power of this government if they propose to put this power behind their free coinage. But they do not. They propose that the man who digs silver out of the mines may bring it to the mint and have it stamped and handed back to him as a dollar, the govern lment having no responsibility about it. These men would reject with contempt the proposition that free coinage was to come with a pledge on behalf of the government to maintain the parity of the two dollars. (Applause.)
 But this feeling is well adapted to touch the prevailing American bump tiousness and well adapted to touch that prejudice against England which many have. But can We do this thing ourselves? Is it a question whether we will do 1t or ask somebody's consent whether we may, or ask the co-opera- tion ot somebody? Not at all. I tell you what this government csn do alone It can fix its unit can de- clare by law what shall be the rela- tive vadue of an ounce of gold and an ounce of liver, but it cannot make that last declaration good. (Applause.)
 It is unquestionably fully within the power of this government to bring this government to a silver basis by coin- ing silver dollars and making them le- gal tender It can do that. This gov ernment can say you shall take one of those dollars in discharge of any debt owing to you for a dollar notwith standing you may have loaned gold dollars, but it cannot say and enforce it's decree--if you should call cut the regular army or navy and muster our great modern ships and add the mili- tia, and put William J. Bryan in com- nland of then-it cannot enforce the decree that one ounce of gold is the equivalent of sixteen ounces of silver. (Great applause and cheers)
 Not only that, not England, France and Germany, can do that unless the markets respond (Applause.) Why, you may make me take silver dollar for debt, but if I have bought my goods at gold prices you cannot make me give as plany yards of cloth for a silver dollar as I have been giving for a gold one. Applause and cheering.) If I have a gold dollar in this hand and a silver one in that and you de- clare that they are equal and l can take that gold dollar to a bullion broker and get two dollars for it know 1t is a lie. (Great and cheers.) If I have nothing, but gold dollar and sugar is twenty pounds for dollar I will not give that gold dollar for twen- ty pounds of sugar. I will take it around to broker and get two silver dollars for it and get the twenty pounds of sugar and have on silver dollar left. daughteA) So it is, my friends We can of ourselves, of our wisdom, de- clare the unit of value. We can coin silver freely, but we cannot make six teen ounces of silver equal to one ounce of gold unless it is. And it is not, un- less the merchant take 1t at that rate. That is where all this thing comes in.
 It is trade; 1t is the merchant: it is the man who exchanges and deals in