The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1896-09-18
EX-SECRETARY
SCHURZ.
SHOWS CLEARLY THAT FREE SILVER
WOULD MEAN RUIN TO INDUSTRY.

1
WOULD MEAN RUIN TO INDUSTRY.
Threat to Put the United States on Oh
Silver Basis Would Cause Business Stag
nationally. Bryan's Scheme TO Thro,
the Country Into Fits So That He Ca
Try His Sixteen to One ouack Medicine
EVIL Effects of tho Free Coinage Agita
tion Already Manifest.
Hon. Carl Schurz, ex-secretary Of tn
interior, addressed an immense audience
in Central Music hall, Chicago, OF
Sept. 8. Speaking of possible free sill
YER victory he said:
Consider what the immediate conse
quences would be if Mr.. Bryan wer,
elected president, with a congress t.
match. Mr.. Bryan would of course b,
anxious to have his free coinage Law
enacted, but that could not be, even il
he called an extra session of congress
until some time in April or May, five OF
six months after the day of election
But as soon as ON the 4th of November
the result Of the election was announced
everybody would know that the parity
of gold and silver would not be main.
tanned.
1t having been made certain by Mr..
Bryan's election that the parity of gold
and silver would not be maintained,
there would be rush upon the treas
nry for the gold in it by persons hold
ing greenbacks entitled to redemption,
and the gold reserve would be exhaust
ed in a twinkling. Gold will instantly
disappear from circulation, to be hoard
ed or exported. Why will it disappear!
Because every sensible person when
making payment will prefer to make
it in the less valuable dollar and hold
the more valuable gold dollar back for
more profitable use. Gold will there
fore quickly rise to premium, and we
shall be on the silver basis long before
free coinage law can be enacted. Our
daily transactions in buying and sell
ing, in paying and receiving wages,
will no longer be carried on upon the
basis of the gold dollar worth 100 cents,
but of the silver dollar worth so cents
or thereabout, for the government will
no longer hold up the silver dollar to
the value of the gold dollar.
The quantity of gold vanishing from
circulation will amount to about 5000,
600, 900, the disappearance of which
will make a tremendous hole in the
volume of our currency. But, says the
silver man, there will be free silver
coinage to fill the gap promptly with
coined silver or silver certificates. Oh,
no, my fellow sufferers. The disappear
ance Of gold will happen promptly after
the election of Mr.. Bryan, and there
will not possibly be any free coinage Of
silver for at least six months, and it
will require great many more months
to fill gap Of 5000, 100000.
What will happen meanwhile? The
st. Louis G1obe-Democrat reports Mr..
Bryan to have said some time ago: 81
think it-meaning the victory of the
free coinage movement-will cause q
panic. But the country is in deplor-
able condition, and it will take extreme
measures to restore it to condition Of
prosperity" Whereupon the st. Louis
paper pointedly remarks, Evidently
Mr.. Bryan has heard of the doctor who
always threw his patient into fits before
administering any curative medicine I"
Just so.
How, then, would Mr.. Bryan's eft"
work? The sudden disappearance of our
gold from circulation would produce
the most stringent contraction Of the
currency on record. Business men who
owe money and at the same time have
money due them will be forced to COL
lect that money by every means at their
Nobody will be inclined to
lend out any money except upon extraor-
binary security. The banks will nat
urally consider it their duty to keep
strong, and therefore to call
in loans and to restrict their discounts
and advances to business men with the
utmost caution. Business establish
ments, manufactures, mercantile
houses, unable to get the money for meet
ing their obligations, will by the hun
1reds succumb to their embarrassments
md tumble down like a row of bricks.
Others will cautiously restrict their op-
srations to the narrowest possible limit,
and wage earners by the thousands will
ese their employment and be turned
INTO the street.
How can foretell these things with
10 much assurancep Because they have
already cast their shadows before. Do
7ou remember the crisis of 1903, when
The silver basis was in sight? And
low again the mere apprehension of
possibility Of Mr.. Bryan's election
md Of the consequent slipping Of our
country upon the silver basis has al
'eady caused untold millions of our
securities to be thrown upon the
market in Europe as we'll as here.
scores Of business orders are already
ecalled, large number of manufao-