Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1896-10-15
Why do we want it? Because, my

w ny uO We W6uI IL! DocAuSo, lily
friends, there is not enough gold to
furnish tho standard money upon
which other money is to be based.
Our opponents say that they have
sound financial policy; I deny it.
I deny that you can build sound
financial policy upon a gold basis.
Ask them where the gold is, they
tell you how much there is in the
treasury, in the national bank
vaults. Then they guess at tho
amount in other banks and leave
about one-half unaccounted for.
Ask them how much gold there is
in the country, they say 100000
600; ask them to point it out, and
they may be able to point out
$500, 100000; ask them where the
rest of it is, and they tell you that
is the invisible supply Of gold.
Great applause.
Do you believe that you can
erect q substantial structure on an
invisible base? You can't do it my
friends. Well, in sight we have
something like half Of the esti-
mated gold in the country, but my
friends the gold in sight is either
in the treasury or in the national
bank vaults or in the state bank
vaults. Suppose you need some
Of it to pay gold contract how
can you get some of it to pay a
debt but on such terms as the
holder of it is willing to charge.
The gold standard means in its
final analysis that gold will be the
only legal tender money in this
country because, my friends, you
cannot have two kinds Of money
in this country long and have one
kind good enough for the bond
holder and the other kind good
enough for the rest of the people.
Great applause.
Our silver money will either be
good enough to pay all our debts
with or it will soon cease to be
good enough to pay any debts
with. And the gold standard,
carried to its logical conclusion,
means that all legal tender, ex-
cepting gold, is to be abandoned,
and that whenever you have q
debt to pay you must 60 around
looking for gold to pay it, no
matter how hard it is to find it;
and moro than that, the financial
policy of the republican party not
only contemplates gold as the legal
tender but it contemplates national
bank notes as the only paper
money. You put the control of
your legal tender in the hands of
a few fnanciers and your paper
money in the hands of an organ
ization of banks, then, my friends,
all the people will have to do is to
duck their backs little lower to
bear the additional burden placed
upon them.
My friends try to thrust various
issues in the campaign. Some of
them all the time talk about hav-
ing new tariff law, some of them
imagine that if you can raise the
taxes you can relieve the people.
It is not more taxes that we need,
my friends, but more money to
pay the taxes that we already have
to pay; and when they tell US we
ought to raise the tariff, reply to
them that until they put prohib-
itory duty upon foreig gn financial
policies l am not willing to talk
about tariff on any other article.
Without financial policy of our
own it is impossible to have any
kind of policy of our own. Let
me call your attention to what
occurred. You remember that
when Grover Cleveland gave out
his message in regard to the Mon
roe doctrine, you remember what a
fluctuation there was in stocks and
they who measured the prosperity
of the country by the stock mar
kets at once became excited, and
all at once began to turn their
backs on him. What was the re-
suit? The men who had applaud
ed Mr.. Cleveland turned against
him and he had to appeal to the
great masses Of the people who
had been ignored by him to find
people who would stand by him in
enforcing an American foreign
policy. The gold standard is not
sufficient even in peace and it's
utterly powerless to carry this
country in any war, whether Il
great or small one. War would
not be declared in this country
twenty-four hours before specie
payment would be suspended if we
had gold standard. Gold has al
ways been arrogant and insolent
when in power, and has been a
coward at the first sign Of national