Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1896-01-03

was Il corner in wheat, which AS "A con-
sequence. was held AT an eXOrbitant price.
Would anybody suppose that in such
case, an agent even had he a full poWer
OF attorney To act for his principal,
would be justified in saying to the cred
itnT, ~"Although. in the making OF this
contract. my principal reserved to him
self, rs Il protection against wrongful
eXactiOn. an option to deliver eth, r
wheat or barley, whichever might be
most just upon the day when the con
tract was tlltd. yet yOH are an hOAeSt
man, and of course whatever advice YOU
would give me would he 'boReSt advice.
aud whatever money You would wish TO
be paid would be 'hOHcSt money. There
fore. | will interpret this contract in
such way rs shall be suitable 20 honest
men like you. If, instead of accepting
delivery in barley, which is not cor
nrred. aud which is there fore III ~honr~t',
you prefer wheat, which i, cururrcd by
honest men like yourself, | will transfer
to you the option which my principal
reserved to himself, and if you wish me
to deliver wheat, | Shall do 81, even ii |
have 70 pay out of the funds of my
principal the eXorbitant and eXtOrtionate
price which the honest managers o. the
corner in wheat have decreed."
What, | may ask. would be thought of
the "honesty' of such an agent? And
especially what would be thought of his
honesty when it was aS plain as day that
the creditor was himself IA member of
the gang that had cOrnered the wheat
market.
Ii has often been said, Mr.. Presid, mt,
that Americans are nothing, if not o'igi-
nal. This method of dealing in options
l. certainly original, even in America.
No similar example is to be found in the
history of any civilized government. and
| venture to say hat the officers of no
government on earth VIII ever follow
the example of those of the United
States in IA matter of this character.
II ADVOCATES OF SOLD PROTECTING
THE BoNDHoLDERs ONLY.
Had the congress of the United States
been willing to make special provision
for the payment of the public creditors
in gold, many years after the making of
the contract, thus establishing IA dis
~tinctiOn between them and the body of
our citizens, including the wOrkingmen
and all who were not owners OF bonds,
we should not have been summoned here
in extraordinary session 10 enter upon "A
discussion of this subject. The silver
que stiOn would have long since disap-
peared from public view.
When the silver purchase law of 1873
was before the senate for considerations,
one of the gold standard senators Of
fered an amendment providing that
standard silver dollars "shall be a legal
tender at their nominal value for all
debts and dues, public and private, eX-
cept duties on imports and interest on the
public debt"
The intention of this was to give to
the creditors IA special dollar, and to
discriminate in their favor against every
body else, to give them an ''horest' dol
lar and the wOrkir gmaD what senators
themselves called a dishonest" dollar.
Had that amendment been accepted by
those who favored free coinage of silver.
the silver question would then and there
have been settled, and we shOuld have
had free coinage at once. This is the
sort of regard that the advocates of the
gold standard had for the interests OF the
wOrkingmen of the country, whose spe-
cial friends and champions they now
pretend to be. Had the bondhOlders
been able to secure for themselves a gold
dollar which was constantly increasing
in value, they and their friends were
willing that the workingmen should
nave any Otner klnu OF dollar tilat tney
pleased. Where, then, were to be found
the advocates of the dollar of ''highest
purchasing power for the w%orklngmen
of the country? We heard nothing from
the New York press denouncing IA pro-
vision that would have paid the work
ingman in ''cheap dollars and dollars
of low purchasing power" while giving
to the b%ondholder Il dollar not only of
nigh purchasing power, but IA purchas-
ing power constantly growing higher.