, 1896-10-15

and individuals at all times, every.
where and forever. honesty is the best
policy. (Applause.)
GOLD HAS NOT RISEN.
Better be an honest bankrupt than a
rich thief. Poverty a hold in its
hand the jewel, honor-a jewel that
outshines all other gems. A thousand
times better be poqg and noble than
rich and fraudulent. -tApplause.) All.
but they say-these stateemen-these
gentlemen who give their. attention to
running for Office Oaughter); they say
gold has beer cornefed. Well. let US
see. Whenever wheat is cornered in
Chicago the price goes up. That IL
what they corner 1t for. II gold has
been cornered, the rate Of interest would
have steadily risen. And yet the rate
of interest has steadily gone down,
from 1873 to 1896. (Applausc.) That Is
a demonstration that there is no corner
on gold. "a voice in the audience,
Where has the gold gone?'l The gold
is in the country, $500, OOU 900 of it.
(kpplause.) And the gold that Is in
this country makes every greenback
and national bank bill and silver dol
lar good. (Applause.) Yo,: take that
gold away and you are bad. You un>
derstand that. (Applause.)
Now then, my friends, suppose we
had silver money? How would you
keep them from cornering that? How
would you keep the Van1erbils, the
Rockefellers, and the Astors away
from silver? II 1t is good they will get
it. Uaughter.) II it is not good you
don't want it. They have just as good
a chance to corner silver az they ever
had to corner gold. The silver will be
easier cornered, because it is only
worth o~ne-siXteenth as much. But,
say these gentlemen-you know they
love the DOOR,
"a voice, Free coinage will bring
prosperity."D
Mr.. Ingersoll-"Free coinage will
bring prosperity" I don't know. I am
not a prophet nor the son Of a prophet,
and perhaps not a profitable son.
(Laughter.) But l can see into the fut-
ure as far as any populist. (Laughter).
Now, let us see what kind o: prosper
ity free coinage will bring. because I
want you all to know that I want pros
perity. (Applause.) That is my fall
ing.
ON A SILVER BASIS.
Free coinage Of silver, that Is, for the
silver of the world, would, first Of all,
bring us to a silver basis. Our money
would be silver. We have got $500. O00,-
900 in the country in gold. That would
Instantly go out of circulation. There
Is only about thirteen hundred millions
of specie currency in the United States.
There would be about 500, 900, 900 left,
a part of that greenbacks. I; we come
to a silver basis, then the greenbacks
are all to be redeemed in silver, and
they would only be worth so cents ON
the dollar. All your nationa; bank bills
secured by government bonds, would
go to SO cents on the dollar, because
free silver the payment Of all
bonds in silver.
And what else? All your glorious
silver dollars would be cut square in
two. Be worth so cents apiece. And
how would that leave us? 1t would
leave us with only $3.50. 000, 900 Of u
rency. specie. and paper, and that
would be IS a head for all the people OF
the United States and this would be
done in the name of prosperity. What
else would happen? Every man living
on an income would havo to live on
just half; every soldiers pension would
be cut dead in two; every one.
And what else? Every man that had
a debt would try to collect It in gold
before the law caught him. Every one.
Business would stop. Nc money, panic
would come. and the bankruptcy al
most UNIVERSAL; and that Is what these
gentlemen call the prosperity Of free
coinage. There are millions Of people
in the United States who are creditors
and debtors. They want to be paid,
and they want to pay the men they
owe. Nobody can be helped by free
coinage except the few people who
could pay their debts II they were will
ing. Some say that 1t would help the
mine owners. It would not. Coming
this bullion into dollars would not In
crease its value, because you could coin
the bullion Of the whole world and the
supply would be greater than the de-
mand. Have free coinage tomorrow,
and there is not a silver mine owner
that would make a dollar. not one, by
changing 1t into American coin. It
would only be worth what the bullion
is worth in the open market.
Now, what I want to say to you to-
night is, in this country we want good
money-good honest-and there never
was any real prosperity for a nation or
an individual without honesty, with
out integrity, and 1t is our duty to pre-
serve the reputation ut the great repub-
Nc. (Appiause.) Let US have ease
enough to vote for our own interests.
We did not have 1t in 1892. (Laughter.)
I hope we have learned something IN
the last four years. So remember that
money il something that cannot be
made: that n had to be found. Recol-
lect that money cannot ha created nv