The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-02

that it brought 50 cents With free
coinage act in force the owners of that
bullion could demand it's coinage and
force 1t upon the people OF this country
| at the rate of $1.29 per ounce. For
every ounce Of bullion, therefore, the
owner could levy tribute, on an av-
erage, to the extent of more than so
cents per ounce, over and above the
price in 1896. That means that those
interested in silver mines, the great
bullion kings of the Rocky mountain
states. and the stockholders in those
mines elsewhere throughout the coun-
| try. would be enabled to extort for their
product, for a single year, more than
| $27,0O0,0O0 in excess of what they
received for it year ago. Is not this
prize worth working for? Would it
not be worth while for men to scatter
money with a lavish hand to hire sup
porters for such cause? Think of it!
| $27, 900 additional profit in a sin
gle year! Mine owners could
spend $15.O0O,O0O in influencing public
opinion corruptly, and yet those who
hiduc up SUCH pOOIS WOulu get
it all back again. and nearly
as much more in the first
year, if free coinage became a law.
If there were disposition to debauch
the morals of the American people,
there is no lack of incentive on that
side of the question.
| Turn, now, in the opposite direction.
What man is there among what is
called the "capitalistic crew. who has
one dollar to gain by the maintenance
of the existing system? Name him.
Show where his cash interest lies.
Point out how he would DE in purse the
fatter If free coinage is defeated. Is
it the banker? Where will his gains
be Increased? He borrows from one
set of people and lends to another.
Free silver would enable him to pay
his loans in cheaper coin. Where is
his advantage from the gold stand
ard? His loans are made on thirty,
sixty and ninety days time. Does the
much-talked-of appreciation Of gold"
operate to his benefit in these short
POAIOoOs ID IL Tic ldllIOdd klIIS lie
is the biggest debtor of them all. Will
the maintenance of the gold standard
enable him to charge one penny extra
for the transportation of passengers or
freight? There is not one owner of
capital, be he money shark or large
hearted philanthropist, who can be
shown to have the slightest conceiy-
able individual interest in the defeat
OF free coinage, except as saving him
from possible and frightful loss They
all believe that their possessions, in
common with those of the poorest Ia
boring man, would be cut in two by
free coinage, if they were not absolute
ly lost in the ensuing dissolution of
business and trade. They are doing
their best to prevent what they regard
as frightfuI calamity. But by no pos
sibility and no course of argument can
it be shown that If they succeed they
would be the gamer in pocket by the
traction Of dollar. Therefore, if we
are to consider the possibility of an
influence upon mems opinions from cor
| obliged to see that the incentive lies
wholly on the side of the free silver
party.
Away with all this In-American I'M
manly and indecent form Of campaign.
say we. Let us face each other and
have 1t out like men, and not like snarI-
ing wild beasts. We do not believe in
the venality of the free silver workers
and the free silver press. We do not
believe that they have been bought
with price. Yet those Of them who
bring such a charge against their op-
ponents know equally well that there
are no men in the country today who
are sacrificing more for the sake Of
principle; who are giving UP more Of
all that they have held dear in the
past; who are more surely taking their
lives in their hands, and placing their
personal and business fortunes on the
altar Of their country's temple, than
the men who threw themselves in the
breach to meet the free silver onset,
and hold steady the flag of the finan-
cial solvency of this nation.
Brave and honest men respect one
another. He who dares to breathe
word against the virtue of woman or
the bravery or honesty of man without
indubitable proof writes himself down
thrice-dyed knave. And so we
say. welcoming the widest lib
erty of free opinion and free
discussion, and declaring that any man
of whom it can be proved that he has
sold his manhood to one side or the
other for a price should be forever
| damned by his associates; that, on the
/ other hand, he who offers such a.
charge merely to throw discredit, and
without other substantiation than his
/ own imaginings, is a scoundrel by ma
| ture, or has already safely hidden away
/ the bride for which he himself has ex-
changed his honor Mark every such
man hereafter. Let us observe the de-
cencies of fair political contest, and,
respecting others, because we respect
ourselves, accept as the brand of shame
on every mans brow, and the con-
fession of his own servitude to the pc
| cuniary motive, any such accusation
launched against a political opponent.
unless its shaft is feathered with I'M
answerable proof.
| mn