The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-09-03

that has for its object the betterment |
qf the conditions which surround man /
Kind. (Applause).
WHAT GOLD STANDARD MEANS. |
sUpon the action of the United |
States may depend the action of other /
nations upon the money question. III |
the influences which are at work here |
for destroying silver as a standard |
money succeed in this election, and the |
influence of this nation is cast deliber-
ately upon the success of gold as the
only primary money, you must remem-
ber that those same influences will be
turned against weaker nations, and
nation after nation win be driven from
the use of silver as a standard money
to the use of gold alone, and every
nation that joins in the demand for
gold may help to increase the puF-
chasing power of an ounce of gold, and
every time the purchasing power of an
ounce of gold shall rise the prices of
the products of human labor will fall.
(Applause), because a dear dollar is
simply another definition of cheap
property. A dollar cannot buy more
unless property sells for less. If you
think you have hard times now, what
viii it be if these same influences sue
ceed in driving India TO a gold stand
ard, if they should succeed in suspend
ing the free coinage of silver? Wait
until they make gold the standard of
India. Wait until those $50, 900, 600 of
people there reach out for their share
of the worlds supply of gold. Where
will they get it? They will get it
from the nations which have it, and
they viii have less. Wait until these
inf
gold standard and her 350.000 900 of
people take their share of the worlds
supply of gold. Where will they get
| it? Wait until they have driven Ja-
pan and South America and all the
other silver-using nations 10 a gold
standard, and then what? Then You
have little chuk of gold only twenty
two feet each way when melted into
cubes, and that little chunk of gold
viii measure all of the property of the
world (Applause.) You will then
have. something like $4,000, 100000 of
standard money instead of 5000 .00O,-
600, and those four billions will be i'm
a shape where the money can be corn
cred by the great money owners of the
world and doled out to mankind at
such prices as the owners shall de-
| termine. (Applause.) That, my
/ friends, is what the gold standard
means. Suppose that the people OF
this city should derive their water
supply from one great spring, and
suppose that one spring that furnishes
/ water for all the people, and that one
| spring was controlled by one person
or a few persons who acted in con-
| cert, what would be the result? No
matter how hard times might be for
all the rest Of the people those who
/ own that spring and furnish that wa
ter at what price they would, would
| always get along tolerably well in this
| world. (Applause. / believe that
illustrates just what will go on If the
| crusade in favor of gold continues to
its legitimate, it's natural, its logical
| conclusion. 1T will mean that those
who are able to control the supply of
| the gold of the world win be able to
dictate terms to the rest; it win sim
| ply mean that while the people are
nominally free they will simply be
| hewers of wood, and drawers of water
| for those who control the money sup
ply of the world. (Applause.) DO you
| say that this is a remote contingency?
No, my friends, it is not remote
possibility in the United States. = =
"Can we afford to throw the influ-
ence of the United States on the side
| of gold alone unless we are prepared
| to accept a universal gold standard
with all that it means? If you think
we cannot, if you think we should not,
| if you think we must not then / want
| you to consider your part in this trans
action. = iIfia
A PERSONAL QUESTION. 1a1f
Some hours are ffaught with inn
portance that decades cannot measure.
The day onlwhieh you cast your bal
lot may determine for a few years or
forever the financial policy of the Uni
ted States. That day is the day, the
Post important that has come to the
United States in time of peace since
| the signing of the Declaration of In
| dependence. / want to bring this
| question down home to you. You can
| not interest people in a question un-
| less you bring it down to themselves
| and 10 their conditions If [ should
| say to you there was a fire at the other
| end of town you would not be disturb
| ed but If I said the house of some
| person here was on fire and gave his
name and that man was in the au-
| dience he would at once become an
| interested party. Why? Because his
| property and loved ones would be in
danger / want to tell you that your
| houses are on fire and your families
are in danger of perishing. If you have
a little home and it only cost $500 and
has but one roOm,you own that little
home, and would be as much exercised
| by the announcement that it has
caught fire as would the great man
who lives in a marble palace, because
| it is your home. / want you to. re-
member that when the great financial
magnate says he must leave his party
because his party has declared for the
restoration of bi-metallism, I want
you to recognize that his interest in
tire money question is no greater than
yours. If that man is willing to desert
that party of a Lifetime in order to
maintain-a gold standard from which
| he derives profit I want to ask you if
! throughout this land the tens of thou
sands the millions of small home own