Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1896-10-22
tho Invisible supply Of gold In the cnrntry.
(Y,AnRhtAr and ami uso iS s5i -jsH


How Is 1t to-day? don't know how your
backs are, but know that the st. Louis
banks-the leading ones-published a notice
few days ago that they could not furnish
gold any more to their customers because
Of the silver agitation, but they thought
that within a short time after q correct
settlement of the money Question-they
didn't say what correct was. but every
body, Of course, ought to know what cor
rect was-that after a correc. settlement
of the money question they would be able
to furnish gold again. Think Of It! Can
not furnish gold because of the silver
agitation! Why. my friends, can craze
30 near dead Us the silver craze disturb
the gold in this country? Applause and
laughter.) Why, II you read the gold stand
ard papers you will find that they are per-
fectly confident that the "gold craze" is
weeks-or the ''silver craze;" the silver
craze Is going to be stamped out in about
three weeks. If that is true. what can
agitation do to harm these men? All, my
friends, 1t Is a frail financial system that
trembles at the very breath Of agitation.
It is frail financial system that trembles
In the discussion Of political campaign.
Restore silver; put 1t by the side Of gold,
and let your commerce be built upon the
two, and l will promise you that no dis
cussion of gold standard will ever shake
the foundations. Great applause.)
Gravitntion and Money.
My friends, there are just two great prin-
ciples which we apply to the money ques-
tion. and they are sufficient to solve it.
You can't understand a question until you
do grasp the principles which control It,
If you see boy throwing a stone into the
air and see the stone falling, and don't
understand the law of gravitation, you may
guess all your life as to the reason why
that stone comes to the ground. But when
prr1n nod kI0I nvv
things like that are explained. And SO
with the money question: You can grope
in the dark for an age until you find the
principles which underlie the question, and
when you understand them, then, my
| friends, the whole subject is clear to you.
| That when the supply of money does not
| Increase as rapidly as the demand for
money, then the value Of each dollar rises.
That Is proposition that IS true. 1t Is
| solid rock and upon that proposition you
can build system. We apply the law Of
destroy half the crop of wheat and you
| will raise the price Of wheat. We say
the man who has wheat, profits by the rise,
and we say that he is glad that wheat went
up. We apply that law to money. We
| say, destroy half the money, and the value
man who owns the money, or contracts
payable in dollars, will profit by the rise.
And we also say that he will be glad
tnat money went up. (Applause) We APP
ply the law Of supply and demand to silver
as commodity. We say that hostile legis-
| lation has increased the demand for gold
and raised the purchasing power Of an
ounce Of gold. We say that hostile legisla-
tion has lessened the demand for silver,
and lowered the price Of silver bullion
when measured by gold, and we believe that
| you can undo by law what you did by
l hot If fho otolo ~
! by hostile legislation, that you can bring
| them together again by friendly legislation.
| (Applause.)
You ask me why we invoke the law now.
| I ask you why you invoked the law In 1873.
| Applause. Cries of "Good.') You say that
commerce Is omnipotent; why didn't you
let commerce act then? Why did you come
| in and get law passed In the night and
| In the dark to do what commerce could
not do? (Applause)
Open the mints; create demand for
silver, and that new demand, acting with
the demand now existing, will raise the
price Of silver; and If that demand is great
| enough, as we believe 1t will be, to absorb
| every ounce Of silver presented at eur
mints, then, my friends, the opening Of
the mints of this nation alone will restore
| the parity of gold and silver at 16 to 1
| and make a silver dollar equal to gold
dollar, melted or coined, everywhere in the
world. (Applause.) l say, my friends, these
are the two principles which we apply to
the money question, and our opponents ig-
| more both.
You can't get an advocate Of the gold
standard to discuss the effect Of a rising
dollar upon mankind. You can't get him
| to discuss the effect Of a dollar that grows
fatter every day upon the great mass of the
people, nor can you get him to apply the
commodity. He will apply it 10 wheat. or
oats, or corn, or anything else, but he stops
| when you go to apply it 20 silver.
My friends. when you concede that the
| number Of dollars determines the value OF
| the dnllar-w hen you Rave conceded that,
| upon which monetary science rests; and
| when you concede that new demand ere.
| ated for silver raises the price of silver,
there is only one question left open for
discussion, and tnat is, how large a demand
can be created by the United States, and
how large a supply is there waiting to
come here when that demand is created
| The coined silver Of the world cannot come,
because 1t is worth more Mt home. There
is but little coined silver in the world that
have silver dollar Why don't you sell
it for 95 cents? because 1t is worth one
tuIdled. Why doesn't F:ance' silver come
here under under free coinage? Because
it Is worth 3 cents more at home than it
would be here under free coinage at 16 to
i.
silver is true Of almost all the coined sill.
yer of the world. Why wouldn't mercnan.
disc silver come? Because it is worth more
In the form of merchandise than it will be
worth ut our mints. The labor applied ia
1t has so enhanced it's value that it could
only be melted at loss. How about the
annual product? 1t can't all come, because
other nations must have their share, and
we simply would have to take what other
nations did not want But IL we stood
ready to take it all. we would fix a price,
and they would buy at the price which we
fixed. Applause, and cries, "That is
right.'O All, but you say that there Is
danger Of an increase of supply Of silver.
Yes. that is another one Of those incon-
sstencies, my friends. Naughter) They
tell US that under free coinage you will
have 50-cent dollars; they tell us that law
adds nothing to the value of the metal,
and that under free coinage you will mere.
ly stamp Piece Of silver now worth 50
cents into dollar worth so cents; and
when they forget what they have said.
they will tell you that that wonderful
profit will so wonderfully increase the pro.
duction of silver that we can't take care
of the output. daughter and applause.)
If 1t is true that free coinage converts
t,&n