Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1896-09-10
Mr.. BRYAN, candidate for president

tains the same general purchasing pow
er yesterday, today, and for ever That
would be an honest dollar. Purchas-
ing power Is the test Of honesty. A
dollar which rises In purchasing power
Is just as dishonest as dollar which
falls In purchasing power. The only
difference Is that when the dollar rises
it helps one class Of citizens. When
1t falls it helps another class of
people,
This Is a bold statement and one
which Mr.. Bryan will find more than
difficult to prove. The goldite can
say without fear, that his metal as a
unit of value has always retained its
purchasing power. All the Quotations
have been with paper, greenbacks and
silver. We talk about premium on
gold. What makes that premium but
the Quotations of paper currency and
silver, in obedience to the law of
supply and demand. No man of
sense can deny that we must have
some unit of Wholesome standard,
as recognized by the civilized world;
and when we measure paper currency
and silver by 1t, which does the lluc-
tatlngY Surely not this unit of value,
but other kinds of money, rs they are
cheap or dear. At one time there was
a big premium on gold, and 1t was NJ
n time when practically we made
greenbacks the unit of value. We
printed a lot of bank notes and called
them DOLLARS and talked about II
premium on gold. The idea was mis-
leading, and II has been misleading
people ever since. The truth ia,
greenbacks were at discount. The
national credit was not good These
= greenbacks were worth say G5 cents on
the dollar, and they went up, just ms
fast, and no faster than the national
credit advanced; and they are worth
today one hundred cents on the dollar,
because the national credit Is good,
and has pledged Its honor to pay them
in gold. Let this confidence be shak
EN-, and what will become of your
greenbacks? They would be below
par, and we would talk about the ad-
vance Of gold. And we can apply
this to the silver craze, for In spite of
the wishes Of the silverites, gold Is the
unit of value, and silver Is II com
modify, and rs such 1t has all the Gle
ments of Quotation, rs Its market
value goes up or down. So to make
silver unit of value and when val
nes are determined by the one stan
dard OF gold-must create 1--WE hate to
write the words) dishonest dollar, in
spite of Mr.. Bryan's wishes. He can
not prevent 1t. 1t comes in spite Of
him. WhyY Because the dollars
purchasing power will be less, and its
debt paying power greater, MS things
now stand.
Is 1t true, rs Mr.. Bryan says "that
rise in purchasing power is rs dis,
honest rs II fall y? If Mr. Bryan
had placed 800 In II savings bank
when greenbacks were worth Is cents
on the dollar, would he have denounced
as dishonest the meeting Of green.
backs and gold ut par in 1870. Would
he have clapped his hands If lS7!
showed Il daily decline of greenbacks
If he said anything he would not have
called 1t honest. We love honest
things, but this love does not make III
object to an advance. Why. this ad
vance only increases this love. Tn,
man loves his farm all the more rs /
advances in value. Tho more spec,
the horse shows on the track the NOR,
his owner reioices. The farmer doe
not stand around and denouuce tn
man rs cheat because he sold him
farm which has advanced from So
per acre, the purchasing price, to Slo
per acre, which he has been offered il
cash. But if only SIS per acre ha
been offered then he could talk ahou
the dishonesty Of the one who sold hin
farm that had fallen 80 per cent i
value. The man who finds that til
purchasing power Of the dollar whie
he got the day before, has advance