The herald., 1896-10-13
! An ENGLISH VIEW ;

great CltleS are III ldVOr VI INC Soiu
standard. 1 tell you that the great cities
rest upon these broad and fertile prai-
ries. Burn down your cities and leave
our farms, and your cities will spring
up again as II by magic. But destroy
our farms and the grass will grow in
the streets of every city in the coun-
try. Having behind US the commercial
interests and the laboring classes and
all the toiling masses, we shall answer
their demands for a gold standard by
saying to them, You shall not press
down upon the brow of labor this crown
Of thorns-you shall not cruelty man
kind upon a cross Of gold"
Those were the words which made
Mr.. w. j. Bryan a candidate for the
presidency of the great American re-
public That he will be elected to that
important post seems to us on this side
Of the Atlantic improbable, but that he
will receive very large number OF
votes Is certain, for in the western and
far western states. as we'll as in the
south, where men try to live by produc-
ing grain, cotton, sugar, etc., feeling
has attained to an unprecedented height
and depth on the monetary question,
and, looking at the position of the cul-
tivators, who can wonder at 1t, for by
not wage labor" but the interests of
those who try to live by themselves.
working on the land, which is (nomin-
ally) their own.
What are the facts and what the is
sues Of the tremendous contest now be-
ing waged on the other side of the At
lantic over the presidential election?
That the issues are big ones no one can
deny. In short, 1t may be truthfully
said that they are Of momentous and
enormous Importance to many millions
Of mankind, and that upon the method
of their determination depends the fate
OF more men, women and children than
on any other issue likely to arise for
many generation. For many years
prices of the products Of the soil have
been perslstently falling. until at the
present time the gross average return
Is under 91 per acre. Such return Is
necessarily impoverishing to the culti-
vators. who all have payments to make
IN cash for rates, taxes, interest cloth
Ing, repairs and replacement of imple-
ments, groceries, thrashing, and some
occasional hired labor. Many thousands
OF, them, indeed, tens Of thousands, have
defaulted, not having the wherewithal
| to pay with, in spite of continual in
dustry under very trying climatic con-
ditions.
Blood cannot be squeezed out of posts,
nor can money be extracted from empty
purses. 1nnumerable foreclosures of
mortgages have taken place, and the
mortgagors have been turned out of
their homesteads to seek work in la
Dor market already er-crowded.
Thousands of notices of foreclosure
have been given and are now pending,
and so far as can be seen the number to
follow is very great. BY this process the
usurers and money sharks are obtaining
possession of millions Of acres of land
more or less improved by the exertions
or the FORMER owners, together with the
houses and buildings they have erected
The FORMER owners sacrifice their all,
ana the new owners come into possess
sion for very small price.
1t Is evident that the suffering arising
from such state of affairs must be very
great. and the sufferers have been, and
are. casting about for the causes of their
misery and for the cure of 1t. Rightly
or wrongly they are told by some of the
most honorable men in the American
legislature and In the British parliament
that their poverty is due to the gold
standard. They are told that since silver
| was demonetized there is a scarcity of
| money in the world relatively to the ex-
| isting volume Of commerce, because the
work is all thrown upon gold which was
| formerly borne by gold and silver to-
gether, with the consequence that more,
and ever more goods must be given in
order to obtain money. In other words
money has risen in value, or (what is
the same thing) prices of goods have fall
len. Sir Robert Giffen Of the English
| board of trade says that the change in
| prices which has come about is a change
due to monetary causes. and not a
| change due to goods.
Now, what the adherents Of Mr. Bryan
desire is that silver shall be restored to
| its former position Of money" they
want the American mint re-opened for
the coinage Of silver as we'll as of gold
| and they wish to make both metals,
wrvl~1 a. H. ~
of 16 to in weight, as was formerly the
case.
And they want this done without wait
| ing for an International bimetallic agree
| ment.
| Some British and American bimetal-
lists say that such course would within
| a short time deplete America of her gold,
that it would flow to Europe, and that
| America would become a silver mono
| metallic nation like Mexico and India
On the other hand, It is contended by
well-informed persons on both sides the
Atlantic that a nation of seventy mill
| ions, producing every year such an
| enormous quantity of commodities from
her soil as America does. would tAFite be
we'll able to maintain the ratio of 16 to
| I, and to retain all her gold by reason
! of her immense export of goods. Such
persons also contend that the very fact
| Of the femitting of silver and the restor-
ing of the demand for 1t, by once more
| making 1t money of full paying power,
| will of itself raise its value, which has
| been depressed solely because little or
| no demand has existed for 1t except for
use in the arts. etc.
| But even if America cannot maintain
| the ratio, and il she is to lose her gold
and become silver nation, the Bryan
ties say, "Se be it; what does that mat
| ter to us? We cannot be worse off than
we are. Mexico gets along well on a
silver standard, and so can we." AS re-
| CARDS internal affairs it is not easy to
| see why silver standard should not
answer all purposes except those Of the
| gold holders exceedingly well, but Amer
| lea has been an extensive borrower in
| Europe, where lenders are perturbed at
| the notion that they may be offered pay
ment of interest and principal in silver.
| And the same alarm is felt in the east
! ern states, which have lent money in
| large amounts to individuals and COM
| panies in the west.
| The question naturally arises, would
| it be fraudulent of borrowers to pay
debts on silver valuation? Answer:
| Yes, If the bonds stipulated for repay
ment in gold. No, If the bonds stipu-
lated for repayment Sin currency of the
| United States" Probably 80 per cent
Of the money lent was loaned to be re-
payable in currency of the u. S. A.
and was loaned at dates prior to the
demonetization Of silver. Such 80 per
| cent was loaned when the American
mints were open to the coinage of both
metals in any quantity. and when either
| or both were illegal tender" at 16 to ].