Omaha daily bee., 1896-09-11
ISSUE IS ONE OF HONESTY
Edgar q. Scott Talks to Fifth Wardsrs on
the Pending Issues,
LESSONS LEARNED BY EXPERIENCE
In the Past II Has Always Been Foun'
Necessary to Make the CONNER
cinI md Coinage Ratio
Correspond.

| c1ht
| Correspond.
| The room of the Fifth Ward Republican
club at Eighteenth and Lake streets was
crowded last night to hear Edgar H. Scott
| discuss the financial question. Dave
| Christie presided at the meeting and in
troduced Mr. Scott who spoke for nearly
an hour, confning his talk to a discussion
of the issues as presented by the advocates
of the free silver theory. While he did
not advance anything that was especially
new, he presented the facts and figures in
plain and convincing manner and placed
the propositions clearly before his hearers.
In opening, MIR. Scott said it was not
his purpose to" impugn the motives of hon
esty of the advocates of the Chicago plat
form, but he said he could not refrain from
expressing opinion of those who seek to
| pack the supreme court and overthrow an
unpopular decision.
Il am opposed to the policy of those who
| believe that the refusal to pay an honest
| debt is any less dishonest because it is
backed by the government" said the speaker
| and the sentiment loudly applauded
| THE issue, .. he continued, lis one of COM
mon honesty. The Chicago platform speaks
| the language of reputation. No argument
| Is necessary in an issue of this sort In
the days following the great rebellion the
| people of this nation went forth and re-
| established trade and built up new in
| dustries they spurned the seductive cry of
| reputation and made the securities OF the
/ nation redeemable dollar for dollar. 1t is
| strange it, after experiencing a period of
| great prosperity and while only affected by
short period of democratic rule the
| people should seek to repudiate honest con-
I tracts and make the name of this great
nation byword in the world.
| THE question is not an issue between
| the gold standard and bimetallism, but it
! is can have bimetalism under the Chi
| cago platform
"In 1892 Secretary of the Treasury Ham
! ilton after careful investigation and on
| sultaton with the greatest and brign.-
| statesmen of the day, concluded that oe
| proper ratio between the two metals was
| Is to l. The experience of a few years
| proved that the ratio a mistake and
| that it should have been 15R to l, and the
gold was driven out of the country and
| did not come back until the ratio was
| changed.
| 'If difference in ratio of or cents
drove gold out of circulation what would
be the effect of a difference of AZ cents?
This Is not a theory-it is an established
fact. 1t is conclusive proof tint the fiat
of the government cannot maintain two
metals at ratio different from the market
value.
PURPOSELY DROVE SILVER OUT.
an 1894 under the administration of
Andrew Jackson, the great democrat these
people are fond of telling us about,
change was made in the coinage law. 1t
was not made for the purpose of putting
silver in circulation, but for the purpose
of taking it out of circulation. The market
ratio between the two metals at that time
was 15.5S to l. ratio of 16 to / was
adopted with the avowed intention of driv-
| ,;,.. tt,N,, 10
operated Just as the projectors of the plan
had foreseen The fiat of the government
did not maintain the two metals in cir
culation because the ratio different
from the market value.
"The advocates of free silver tell us that
the ratio OF IS to / will create a demand for
bullion and increase the value of silver to
$1.29 per ounce, putting it on a parity with
gold. Let us see ii experience shows that to
be a true argument.
BY reference to the reports of the direc-
tor of the mint, the speaker showed the
operation of the Bland-Allison act, requr-
ing the secretary of the treasury to purchase
stipulated amount of silver each month
and coin 1t at the ratio of l6 to /. The
speaker asserted that this act was passed
in 1878 at the instance Of the silver mine
owners who asserted that this action would
increase the price of silver, but he quoted
from the report referred to show that the
price of silver steadily declined from Sl.15
per ounce in 1873 to 73 cents per ounce in
1898
The speaker called attention to the fact
that all of the great nations of Europe, eX-
cept England had ceased coming silver
since 1878, and yet the free silver advocates
claim that BECAUSE the United States ceased
its coinage that lessened the demand and
caused the market to decline, and they as
sert that If this government adopts free coin
age of silver that will put it back to where
it was in 1873, ls',
Granting that this is true" he contin-
ued, ''who VIII derive the advantage? Mr..
Bryan saws what we want is cheap dollar
and yet he says that the silver dollar will
be worth as much as the gold dollar. If that
is SO, there VIII be no cheap dollar for the
WOTkingman. w bn
Referring agaih 10 the report OF the direc-
tor of the mint the speaker showed that in
1873 the amount iof money per capita in the
country was $7S,H while the amount in the
country at the present time is 1888 the
amount per capita i'm actual circulation being
now s243O. ~
In closing Mr.. Scott referred briefly to the
tariff question calling to the minds of his
hearers the fact that four years ago Mr.,
Bryan went about this state prescribing free
trade as the panacea for all ills, but now he
carefully avoids all allusion to that sub
ject but advises the people that free silver
is all that is needed to restore prosperity
The speaker charged that the depression of
the past four years was not due to legsla-
tion enacted twenty-three years ago, but
was due to the democratic misrule during the
past four years
Fourth Ward Club Elects Officers.
The Fourth Ward Republican club met
at the heaquarters in the Life building last
night for the purpose OF electing officers,
The following were chosen: President John
G. Kuhn; vice president, Fred Taylor; sec
retary II, Blath treasurer. j. j. Boucher.
X. s. Hall was selected to superlntend
the polling of the ward and report the re
suit to the central committee.
The secretary was instructed TO secure