Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1896-10-01
POOR MONEYS DANGER.
M'KINLEY TALKS FOR A SOUND
CURRENCY.
More Confidence Rather Than More
Money the Crying Need in the Bus
mess World Many Important
Truths Put Forth.

party OF several tnousahu lnolan
farmers who visited him this weel
used the following strong language OF
sound money:
ii believe in America for American
native born and naturalized.
believe in the American pay roll, ant
do not believe in diminishing tina
pay roll by giving work to anybody
else under another flag while we hay'
an idle man under our flag. Foul
years ago the laborer was agitatine
the question Of shorter hours, VIC
then had so much to do. | have hearC
no discussing of that kind for foul
wears. But have never heard o.
the laboring man discussing tht
desirability Of having short dollars.
The complaint-the chief complaint
of our opponents is, first, that We
have not enough money; and second
that our moneyis too good. To the
first complaint answer that the pei
capita Of circulating medium in thiI
country has been greater since the
so.called crime OF 1873 than 1t ever
was before, and that it has been
greater in the last five years than il
ever was in all our prior history.
We have not only the best money in
the world, but we have more Of it per
capita than most Of the nations Of the
world. We have more money per
capita than the United Kingdom; per
capita, than Germany, than Italy,
than Switzerland, Greece, Spain,
Roumania, Servia, Austria, Hungary,
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Russia,
Mexico, or the Central and South
American states, and more than Japan
or China. Sa that some ! ason rathgr
than the lack of volume of money
must be found to account for the
present condition Of the country.
"And to the second complaint, that
our money is too good, it would seem
to be enough to say that the money
Of any country cannot be too good;
and that no nation ever suffers from
having its medium Of exchange Of
of the highest and best quality. 1t
has been poor money-not sound
money-that has been the cause Of
so much loss and ruin in the past,
both to individuals and to nations.
The older men of his audience will
remember that before the war we did
business with an uncertain and fluct-
uating currency known as state bank
money. Many of these banks and
their notes were absolutely sound;
but for the most part the notes were
subject to discount. The total
number of banks in 1860, exclusive of
state bank branches, was 1870. OF
this number the counterfeit detector,'
then in constant use, S32 as broken,
closed, failed fraudulent and worth
less The notes on these banks were
in circulation among the people, and
had been received by them for their
good labor and their good products.
They were absolutely worthless, and
of no more value than the paper upon
which they were printed, Upon
whom did this loss fall, my fellow
ctizensp There is scarcely an old
gentleman in this audience who will
not recall that it fell upon the labor
ing men and the farmers of the United
States. allude to this only to show
that those who suffer most from poor
money are the least able to bear the
loss.
at is the history OF mankind that
the least valuable money which will
pass current is the money that at last
finds its resting place among the poor
er people, and when the crash comes
the loss must be borne by them. And
| doubt il there is man in this aud
ience who has not among the belong
ings of his family or the family of his
father some Of that old bank paper as
a reminder Of what they lost.
81 cannot imagine any interest that
can be permanently subserved by
having poor money. The bare sug-
gestion Of such proposition to a man
Of reason meets its instant rejection
You will remember that from 1862 to
1879 we did business with paper
money exclusively; we had neither
gold nor silver; and you will re-