, 1896-10-05

woTid, ouT II WIN not be able To mako twice
its currency.
They speak Of the silver dollar as tho money
Of the constitution, while they must know
that there Is not one single word in the con
s%titution which, honestly interpreted, could
Justify such n claim.
They invoke for their cause tho names of
Jefferson and Jackson, while every reader Of
history knows that Jefferson and jackson
would have stood nghast at their wild scheme
Of creating by law n false value and would
have kicked ont cv their presence ~ n public
nuisance any one ser.' usly advocating it.
Such things the free coinage agitators tell
without Intelligence. Far worse are the APP
peals they address to them. assuming them to
be without moral sense.
ImmoraI Pleas.
They have been teaching the people that
because the prices of wheat and other things
have fallen about onc-half since the so called
demonstration year, 1871 have shown why
those prices have fallen-it Is not equitable
that debtors should be held to pay more than
half the amount of their debts in gold, that
they should be released in correspondence
with the decline OF prices, and that 1t would
therefore be right to reduce by free silver
coinage the value OF the debt paying money
by onc-half.
Subject the principle to n simple test. When
I contract IA debt, l owe what 1t is mutually
understood that ! am to pay. Our whole bust
ness lifo and social fabric. all human inter
course, rests upon the binding force OF such
| Understandings. Unless 1t be expressly under
stood, has the debtor tho slightest right or
reason to demand that the creditor shall be
satisfied with a less amount in payment II
wheat or cotton or something else had mean
while declined in pricer II 50, would not the
| creditor also have the right to demand that
the debtor should pay more in proportion If
wheat or cotton or something else meanwhile
had risen in pricep II neither Of them had
thought of proposing or of accepting so ndvcn-
turous u contract, how can such claims be JUS
tilted IL based upon n mere secret mental res
e~rvation or IN arbitrary nfterthought2 Is it
not monstrous that such an assumption should
be taken rs II warrant for the reduction at
ono sweep Of NIL debts by n debasement OF the
standard Of value?
And yet he who has watched the free coin
age agitation knows that just this appeal to
debtors is one OF its main nllurcmcnts. Listen
to their speeches. read their literature, and you
meet ever recurring-now in soft spoken cir
cumlocution, now in sly suggestion, now in
the Language of braZcn cynicism-the promise
that free coinage will enable the debtor to get
rid of his obligations by paying only a part of
them. 1t is u scheme of wnnton repadiation
of private AS well rs public debts. not AS II we
could not pay in full. but because We would
prefer not to pay in full-the practice resorted
to by the fraudulent bnnkrupt-and this sane
toned by law, as n part of our national policy.
Tho Coming Verdict.
Fellow citizens, think this out. Ii Is a grave
matter-a matter Of vital import to the exist.
encc Of this milton. The father who teaches
such moral principles to his children educRtes
them for fraud. dishunor md the penitentiary.
The public men who teach such moral princi-
pies to the people educate tho people for the
contempt and adherence of mankind. The
nation that accepts such moral principles can
not live. 1t will rot to death in the loathsome
stew of its own corruption. If the nation &C.
ccpting such moral principles be this republic,
it will ,lcpi a blow 10 the credit OF democratic
institution rom which tho cause of free gov.
eminent will not recover for centuries.
But, thank God, the American people will
never accept such moral principles. The
American people will, before election day nr-
rivcs. have fully discovered what all this
means. They will Indignantly repeal the I'M
spcakahle insult offered to them by the poll.
ticians who have dared to ask for tho votes
| of honest men upon the offer OF such n bait.
They will know how to resent tho deep dis
grace inflicted upon the nation in the eyes Of
the whole world by those Americans who ex-
h:bited their own belief that the American
people were capable Of taking such a bait.
Mr.. Bryan has "A taste for Scripturnl illus
tration. He will remember how Christ was
taken up on II high mountain and promised nll
the glories Of the world if he would fall down |
anu worship the devil. He will also remcsiber |
what Christ answered.: so the tempter now