The McCook tribune., 1896-09-11
Glad They Are Not Asking to Have
Leather Remonetized - Tells why
Clam Shells Were Demon onetized-Civil-
ization and Evolution Advancing.

never set up any cry because of the de-
monetization Of leather, never asked
redress for the "crime" of the abandon
ment OF the use of leather as money.
You do not now ask for it's remonetiza-
ton.
Mr.. Stein-Nor for free tannage.
Mr.. Hendrix-No! Therefore, l have
great respect for two people, the North
American Indian and the morocco
manufacturer. Along these sand dunes
from Manhattan to Montauk point, the
antiquarian can point to great heaps
OF shells where the old squaws used to
sit and practice the free coinage of
Wampum. After while smart Yankee
invented turning lathe which trans
formed the clam shells into money too
fast. This led to the decentralization
OF the Long Island clam. Oaughter.)
The poor Indian has passed off to the
plains and We hear no more OF the free
coinage of clans.
These are simply evolutionary steps.
You look back to the beginning of your
Industry and marvel at the changes.
The world advances. Civilization re-
lines. Commerce requires exact terms
and measures. 1t insists upon certain
ty, fixity in the standard of values. 1t
must have something upon which it can
depend. 1t has found out that it must
depend upon some one thing. That is
why it has veered to the single stand
ard. 1t has quit stepping from one
standard to the other. 1t makes it's
election. 1t votes for gold because of
its great value in small compass and
because of the fixity of that value. So
It is that one great nation after an
other, under the command of it's best
intelligence, has come to the gold
standard. 1t is because they have found
1t the cheapest, best and most effective
standard by which to measure all val
ueS.
What does a standard mean? What
is it's primary significance? 1t comes
from an old Latin word meaning some
thing to turn to. When you are in
doubt you go to the standard. I don't
care what line of business you are in or
what course of life you pursue, a stand
ard governs IL somehow Or other. You
ride on a railway on a standard guage,
you sit at table of standard height,
and so on through the list. The stand
ard must be the thing it stands for. If
you have a standard of weight, it may
be of diamonds or precious stones, but
it has got to have weight-that is the
first thing. IF you have a standard
OF length, it must have length. And when
you come to the question of the stand
ard of value, whatever it is made of it
has got to have value
You can talk about the whole ques-
ton of finance in 100 different lights.
But this is the main point-you must
have d standard of value. That stand
ard must have value. We choose for
the standard the metal which fiuctuates
the least in value. That is the whole |
story Of the gold standard (Cheers.) |
Our friends out in Chicago claim |
that the gold standard is a British |
policy which we are seeking to enforce
in this country. Did you ever hear |
anything about British policy in con-
nection with the law of gravitation or |
a British policy of good health against |
bad health-good clothes against shod- |
dy? There are other countries in the |
world besides Great Britain. We do
not have to look to Great Britain to
know what is good thing. (Great |
applause) We are old enough and big
enough to know good thing when we
see it. Ours is country that for 60 |
years has been under the gold stand
ard You have never known anything
else. All you have was built upon the
gold standard. The greatness and de-
velopment of this country have been
attained under that standard. How is
the world lining up on this question?
China. Japan and Mexico are for free
silver. Great Britain, Germany, France
and the great empires of Europe are for
gold. Where do We belong? There is
only one answer. Can any one fancy
that our great population, made up of
100000 of the best examples of the
race, mixed with Irish
wit, Scotch cunning, German thrift. is
going to step from the high plane where
we stand to the lower one beneath?
What strange madness has come into
the American people to make it seem
possible that they could do a thing of
that kind? (Applause)
We can live on a silver basis after
we get there. Our great rivers will
follow their courses to the sea- Gods
pun will kiss the earth. The crops will
spring forth. Children will be born
and grow up. Enterprises will go for
ward. But are We going to take the
leap in the dark and try an experiment
fraught with such risk and panic? A
gerat French economist once said that
when he was 40, he thought he under
stood something about finance. When
he was so, he felt he did not know as
much about it as he did at 40, and at
20 he began to doubt whether he knew
anything about it at all, and scarcely
dared to open his mouth. Mr.. Glad
stone pondered over the question till