Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-05-19
The gold standard men say to re-

The gold standard men say to re.
monetize silver would increase the
price of silver to $1.29 an ounce, and
make the silver miners rich. In the
next breath they tell us it would
flood the country with cheap SO cent
dollars. If reconciliation would in
crease the price of silver to $1.29 an
ounce, what are they going to make
those cheap dollars out of?
Q o
The Populists say the remonetiza
ton of silver would truly make silver
worth $1.29 an ounce just as it was
before 1878, and therefore there could
be no 50-cent dollars; that this would
be no greater advantage to the silver
miners than the gold standard is tc
the gold miners; that it would make
market for an American product,
stimulate silver mines in this country
employ American labor, develop the
West, create demand for ali
products, improve prices and benefit
all alike.
The gold standard men tell wage
laborers the gold standard provides
them good dollars that will buy more
food, clothing etc., than would the
dollars based upon the double stand
ard. If this is true, what effect must
it have upon the farmers and other
laborers who produce the food, cloth.
ing, ETC., such increased quantities OF
which they must give in exchange for
those extra good dollars? AS those
who sell products for money are the
far greater number, what has become
of that principle of government which
holds that ali policies should look to
the greatest good to the greatest
number.
But the populists say to oil laborers
whether for wages or on their own
account, that if you get dollar that
will buy more you must give more la
Dor and products for it, and that the
loss will invariably be yours in de-
stroying the demand for labor and it's
products, and thus preventing you
from getting dollars at all, while all
fixed demands, such as taxes, etc.,
are as great and imperative as ever.
The populists declare that an Ameri.
can system of finance of gold, silver
and paper coined and issued by the
government, full and equal legal
tender, would give more dollars to
business, and increased demand fol-
labor at better wages; that this would
increase the demand for products and
at better prices, while the fixed
charges would remain the same, and
business and labor of all grades and
classes would be benefited,
The gold standard men say we musi
have money that will circulate in
Europe.
The populists say very few Ameri
cans spend money IN Europe, and
those who do, do SO through the me.
dunn of exchange. For this purpose
any American legal tender is just as
good as gold. If gold is used it is used
by weight just as wheat and cotton
are used-it is snapped for exchange,
and the rate of exchange depends up
on whether we are selling more pro
ducts or buying more in the foreign
land. We hold it to be far more i'm
portant that we have a money that
will circulate at home to stimulate
business and production that we may
have more products to sell abroad
and thus keep the rate of exchange il
our favor.
The gold standard men say if W.
abandon the single gold standard
America will become second elias
nation
The populists say the only way t,
make second class nation is to maxi
a second-class people; that the sur
and swift way to make second elias
people is to destroy their business
overwhelm them with debt, weigl
them down with burden of taxation
destroy their energies, smother thei
enterprise, and close to them til
doors of hope. This is the fruit of tn
single gold standard, the fruit it ha
borne in every country where it ba
been made the fixed national policy
The populists hold that the way t.
make first class people, and, there
fore a first class nation, is to unfette
their hands, encourage their enter
prise, and permit them to achieve tn
wonderful possibilities of their won
derfnl genius in most wonderful
country. This the circumscribed lin
its of the gold standard cannot do; j
never has done it anywhere, becaus
it places all power in the hands of TIL
monied few, and makes the indus1
rial world their slaves. But the An
erican system of finance-gold, silve
and government paper, each eque
legal tender-does do SO; it has don
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