Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1896-09-05
BRYAN CHEAP DOLLAR
His Sole Aim is to Reduce the
Value of the Monetary
Standard.
BASES HIS ARGUMENTS ON 1T
Claptrap by Which the Orator Seeks
to Capture Foolish
Voters.

Mr.. Bryan's informal speech accept
ing the nomination for the presidency
was carefully written beforehand. and it
took about two hours time to deliver it.
1t can hardly be necessary, therefore, to
wait for his formal letter" in order to
learn his views on the issues of the cam
paign.
The most of his long and prosy speech
is devoted to what he calls the para
mount question of the campaign-the
money question: And as this is in fact
the real issue other parts of his speech
may be disregarded, or at least comment
on them may be postponed.
In discussing the money question Mr..
Bryan assumes at every step that the
standard dollar we now have is too valu-
able That assumption lies at the bot
tom of the whole argument. He COM
plains that the dollar is too dear, and
that it is growing dearer; and to this he
attributes all our economic woes, real or
ina ginary.
As remedy he proposes something
which he calls bimetallism, but which,
far from that, is silver monometal-
lism.
He has much to say about bimetallism,
declaring that no party opposes it, but
what he really proposes is, in his own
words. "the immediate restoration of
the free and unlimited coinage of silver
and gold at the present legal ratio of 16
to 1 without waiting for the aid or CON-
sent of any other nation"
Thas is to say, he proposes to permit
anyone who has sixteen ounces of sill
yer to take it to the mint and have it
made into as many dollars as are made
from one ounce of gold, or $20.67.
He proposes this when he knows, or
may know by referring to the published
quotations, that sixteen ounces of sill
yer are worth only S11 in gold He
must know that an ounce of gold is
worth in the market nearly twice six
teen ounces of silver.
What he really proposes, therefore, is
to substitute the silver dollar for the
n
the substitution because the silver dol
lar is cheaper.
Indeed, he virtually admits this ut al
most every step in his labored argument.
All his arguments addressed to farmers,
| to men who work for wages, to holders
| of insurance policies and so on virtually
| admit that he proposes to substitute a
| cheaper dollar the standard
He tries to conceal the admission by
| talking about .'rising standard" and
| talking about influences which are now
| operating to destroy silver in the United
| States.'' But while the attempt is aIroit
| it will not succeed
We have no ..rising Standard We
have the same standard that we have
| had in all coin payments for siXty-two
| for more of commodities in general than
/ it would twenty or thirty years ago. 1t
may, and probably does, go farther id
| paying the necessary cost of living. But
| it will not go further in paying for labor
| Its value measured by the labor stand
| ard is less than it was years ago A
same number of hours If, then. he car
buy more with the ounce of gold he is
better off in two ways: He gets more
| gold for his labor and he gets more OF
the necessaries and comforts of life fol
| his gold.
There are no influences operating te
| destroy silver in the United States
we now have at least ten times much
silver serving as money, including ;ctua
I coin. its representative certificates ant
Sherman notes. as we ever had wheI
| the coinage of silver was free.
There are no influences operating tt
| destroy one dollar of this mass of silver
amounting to about $3.50. 900. 600, oil
about S50,000,0O0 more than gold est
mated to be in circulation
The simple truth is, and there is NJ
use in trying to disguise hide it, tina
Bryan and the men behind him are en-
gagged in a desperate attempt to lowe
the value of the dollar If that is no
what they are after there is not CLEAN
of sense in Mr.. Bryan's speech.
| 1t is true that he says, I'VE believ,
that silver dollar VIII be worth a
much as n gold dollar 1t is true tina
| he SAYS 4 am firmly convinced that b,
opening our minis to free and unlimitei
coinage at the present ratio we cal
create demand for Silver that VIII keel
| the price of silver bullion at $1-29 pc
ounce measured By gold
But if Mr.. Bryan is firmly convince
of that what is be making all this ad
about? The dollar would still be a
dear as it is now, and ii is the dea