Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1896-08-11
REINERT SUNDE ON THE
SILVER QUESTION.

oe'u "'uu lnCeieSG Dy Ine many
old acquaintance of Mr.. Sunde
in Kandiyohi County. He was
formerly cashier Of the Kandiyo-
nj 90. Bank. The interview ap-
peared in the Minneapolis Times
OF August 3rd and is as follows:
While a banker with silver
leanings is a good deal of a "rara
avis" St. John of New York is
not the only existing represent
tative of the species. There are
others, and Minneapolis counts
one OF them among it's residents.
His name is Reinert. Sunde and
he has been the president of the
Scandal bank for the last thir-
teen years. In this capacity he
has won for himself the name of
being a good fnancier and a
level-headed business man. By
birth Norwegian, he has gained
and also understood how to keep,
the full confidence of the thou
sands of thrifty homes in South
Minneapolis.
"Why are you silver man,
Mr.. Sunde?' a Times reporter
asked Mr.. Sunde the other day.
Because I want to see the
country prosper so than | can
prosper myself. l am not only
a banker, but also a producer.
l control 2,500acres of fields, and
| prefer to sell my wheat for 60
cent a bushel, instead of 80 cents.
| control a goodly amount of
real estate, and l prefer to see it
worth something, instead of moth
ing. Therefore I AIN silver
man."
But Mr.. Sunde has not always
held this position. He confessed
frankly that up to 1898 he was a
gold bug as good as any one that
belongs to the banking frater-
nifty. Times were good, profits
were good and there was no
special reasons for thinking of
the why's and wherefores. But
then the crisis came. Econom-
ical depression seized the vast
and previously prosperous coun-
try by the throat, squeezing the
life blood out of the toilers of
the earth and making the capital
withdraw with the swiftness and
constituencies Of a noli-me- tan
gere plant. The farmer received
little or nothing for his products;
the merchants tried to vain to re-
alize something on their stocks;
the artisan wandered around
voorhees, and breadless; and the
banker suffered with the rest.
Then the hour for thinking had
come. Mr.. Sunde pondered long
and earnestly over the great
| problems that confronted the
nation as SO many death threat
ening sphynxes. When he was
through, he found that his for
mer adherence to the single
standard had been changed into
an enthusiastic, and on strong
arguments, based belief in BIZ
metallism and the free coinage of
silver.
''The same thing will happen
to every intelligent man who
thinks the matter through in a
disinterested and thorough man
ner,' Mr.. Sunde explained. ITO
my opinion there are only three
reasons for being a gold man,
and these are selfshness, indif-
ference and imbecility. [ can
understand that the eastern
bankers and manufacturers
favor a single standard. It is to
their own interest. But [ can
not see how any producer of this
country can avoid becoming a
silver man when he looks the
problem squarely in the face.
The people of the south and the
westa are the producers; they are
the men who raise the products
which bring money into this
country. The east is more of a
middleman between the other
two sections and Europe, dis
posing of the native products in
in the European markets and i'm
porting European products for
for the use Of this country. In
other words, the east loans us
money and takes interest on it