Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-10-29
TALKED BUSINESS
70 BUSINESS MEN.
Continued From First Page.

ton out from under your fabric and 'e.
vour entire commercial structure col
;9,3se. (Applause.) Tel the people not
to be agitated. my friends, you cannot
calm the sea by words. As hopeless is
IL TO attempt TO calm troubled society
by telling them TO be quiet when they
know that catastrophe stands just il
front of them ell the time. (Cheering)
I want you 10 note this proposition.
When we talk about wanting more mon
ey. why they tell US, there is money
enough in the country: plenty OF money
N the country. The moment you begin
TO argue that there should be more, they
will silence you by pointing to the
amount OF money in the banks await
ing to be loaned. and then you say all
right" If we have enough money IA
this country now, let us have q financial
system OF our own, and they say: On,
no. no: can't do that becaLse ii you do
that. then we cann0, borrow from
abroad" daughter and caeers) Why
do we wan, to borrow if we have
enough? prolonged ceer.ng)' Now,
my friends. there are The Two porposi-
tons. You cannot escape both o. them.
II We have enough money now, then we
do not want any money 20 come from
abroad, because thea we would have too
much daughter an- appauseJ II
we need money from abroad, il is con
elusive proof that we haven't enough
money now in this country, and II we
haven't enough now, ! assert that it IS
better 10 have an additional supply come
OUT of our own mountains and be our
own money instead Of borrowing ana
then pay it back TO the foreign nations
OF the word Great appl2use)
The Republican platform pledges the
Republican party to use every effort 10
promote international blmetallism.
How IS it going to promote it? By
making it profitable for foreign cred
itors to object to it? How are they
going to promote international bimet-
allism? BY making it profitable to for
eign fnanciers to refuse our petition.
I promise you to promote
INTERNATIONAL BIMETALLISM,
and I promise to DO it in a more SEN
sible way than by making it profitable
to refuse your petition. You ask me
what our plan is. / will tell you. They
have tried your plan for twenty years
and we are further off now than we
were when we commenced to try your
remedy (Applause.) l propose a diff
ferent plan. You have said to foreign
creditors that if they will object to BIZ
metallism that we will join with them
in making their mortgages more val
liable and their notes more valuable
and their dollars buy more. | pro-
pose that the United States shall say
that the minis of this country shall be
opened TO the free and unlimited coin
age of silver on equal terms with gold
at the present ratio and the money
coined shall be alike legal tender for
all debts public and private. Great
applause) And then l propose that
we shall say to our foreign creditors
that we intend to pay our coin obliga-
lions in either gold or silver. Gap
plause.) | propose that we shall say
to them: Gentlemen. IL you cOnspire
to make that silver dollar worth less
than the gold dollar we shall pay you
in that silver dollar. Great applause
and cheers.) You say that that is re-
pUdiation I deny it. They bought
our bonds only a short time ago and
they made a difference between coin
bonds and gold bonds. charging for the
risk they took, and now let them have
the risk they were paid for.
You say they have a right to charge
us more because Of the risk they took;
and then we haven't the right to exer-
else the option which they calculated
u F,-fy h,t
simply from those who think that all
society should be careful to guard the
interest of the creditor and neglect
every right that a debtor has. (Cheers)
I notice that some Of our critics are
very much excited because the Chi
cago platform says that we pledge our
selves
TO SECURE SUCH LEGISLATION
as will for the future prevent contracts
for a particular kind Of money. Why,
they say. that we are not going to let
people contract. We are not going to
let them make contracts that are
against public policy; we do not intend
they shall demOnetize by private con-
tract what this government makes
money by universal law. Great cheer
ing) You say that we have no right
to interfere with private contracts.
ask one of you to enter into a contract
to collect twenty per cent. interest and
see whether the government has any
right to interfere with it, (Applause.)
Upon what theory IS n usury law based?
1t os based upon the theory that the men
who borrow money need to be protected
from the avarice Of the men who loan
them money. (Applause) That is the
basis Of all usury laws. and when a man
tells me that we have not the right to pro-
tect the money of the United States
against the conspiracy Of those who would
degrade it. 1 tell you that we have more
right to prevent gold contracts or silver
contracts than you have to prevent one
individual from agreeing to pay another
more than a certain amount of interest.
(Applause)
Talk about freedom of contract Why,
there can only be freedom contract he
tween people who stand upon an equal
footing. When one is under duress 1t Is
not freedom of contract 1t is freedom
TO extort and protection TO the extorter.
Applause)
NV friends. our opponents having been
defeated i'm their efforts to convince the
people that the gold standard ought to be
maintained. are seeking to do now what
they have always sought to do. win the
battle on another issue. and having won
the battle,
CARRY THE GOLD STANDARD
q little further. Now they are telling you
that nv cleo ion would be menace to
neace and order. They tell you that /
- for la,,.Iessrass. I want to say TO