The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1896-09-05
BRYAN CHEAP DOLLAR
His Sole Aim is to Reduce the
Value of the Monetary
Standard.
BASES HIS ARGUMENTS ON IT
Claptrap by Which the Orator Seeks
to Capture Foolish
Voters.
BASES HIS ARGUMENTS ON 1T

Mr.. Bryans informal speech accept
ing the nomination for the presidency
was carefully written beforehand. and it
took about two hours time to deliver it.
Itca 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 he dsregarded. or ut l4st 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 ut 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 Il remedy he proposes something
which he calls llism. but which,
SO far from that, is silver monomctal-
lism.
He has much to say about bimetallism.
declaring that no party opposes II, but
what he really proposes is, in his own
words, 'the immediate restoration of
the free and unlimited coinage of silver
and gold ut the present legal ratio of III
to 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 S2O.6I.
He proposes this when he knows. or
may know by referring to the published
quotations. that sixteen ounces of sill
yer are worth only $11 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
gold dollar as our standard. and to make
the substitution because the silver dol
lar is cheaper.
Indeed. he virtually admits this at 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 as the standard.
He tries to conceal the admission by
talking about n 'rising standard" and
talking about influences which are now
operating to destroy silver in the United
States" But while the attempt is alroit
II VIII not succeed.
We have no "rising standard" We
have the same standard that we have
had in all coin payments for sixtyitwO
years. An ounce of gold may exchange
for more of commodities in general than
it would twenty or thirty years ago. 1t
may. and probably does. 80 farther in
paying the necessary cost of living. But
Ii will not 20 further in paying for labor
Its value measured by the labor stand
ard il less than it was years ago A
man can earn more of II by working the
same number of hours. If, then. he can
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 necessarics and comforts of life for
his gold
There are no influences operating to
destroy silver in the United States"
We now have at least ten times as much
silver serving az money. including actual
coin, it's representative certificates and
Sherman notes, az we ever had when
the coinage of silver was free.
There are no influences operating to
destroy one dollar of this mass of silver.
amounting to about SJJ0.00O.000, or
about $50.00O.OOO more than gold esti-
mated to he in circulation.
The simple truth Is. and there is 10
use i'm trying to disguise or hide il, that
Bryan and the men behind him are en-
gagged in a desperate attempt to lower
the value of the dollar. If that IL not
what they are after there Is not CLEAN
of sense IN Mr.. Bryan's speech.
1t Is true that he says. 1--WE believe
that n silver dollar will be worth as
much ms a gold dollar" Ii il true that
he says, II am firmly convinced that by
opening our mints to free and unlimited
coinage mt the present ratio we can
create n demand for silver that will keep
the price of silver bullion ut $1.29 per
ounce measured by gold.'
But IL Mr. Bryan In firmly convinced
of that, what IL he making all this ado
about? The dollar would still be as
dear as II IL now. and 1t is the dear