The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1896-08-27

low projects of the Democratic and Popu-
list platforms be realized.
But you have heard from orr free
coinage friends here that other nations
have done this. And there are many good
people who believe that France is doing
It. and that the Latin union-so-calleI-is
doing it. Now. | would like to know why
they can't tell the entire truth abOut this
matter. Let us not deceive each otner
and let nobody deceive us. The Latin
union is composed of France. Belgium.
Italy. Switzerland and Greece. 1t was
formed in 1865 by treaty between those
powers. whereby each agreed until the
year 1850 to take the coins of the ether
powers at the ratio of 1512 to /.
But Germany demOnetized silver; she
had ceased to coin it. and so, in 1873,
those great nations. headed by France
1.-THE most ScientificaIly-gOverned country
in the world. and the one which has the
most accurate financial idcas), | say those
countries, after Germany had demone-
tized silver in 1873, limited their silver
coinage, and by 1876 they suspended it
entirely. They. those great European
nations-Francc. the strongest monetary
nation in the world. with her allies-un-
dcrtook with all their power to do pre-
clscly what the free coiners of the Unit
ed States are asking this government
to undertake in the light of such con-
spicuous failures of other nations.
InvariabIe Standards Needed.
Now, everybody admits-I think the
most rampant free-coiner declaimer
would admit-that the money unit should
remain as nearly invariable as possible.
Now; l say gold has so remained. Sill
YER has fallen commercially like other
articles. This is denied. They say sill
YER has not fallen, that gold has risen:
Now, that is the way you look at it.
lou can look ut it through the deluding
glass of idealism. and it may appear thai
way. but 1t is an optical illusion. Now
let me put an illustration from nature.
The Waters of Lake Superior. that great
inland sea which floats so much of our
commerce and is such an element in our
prosperity. ave for many years been
falling. until now they are lower than
they have been ut any time for fifty
years. and everything on their surface
has allcn The waters of LAX Supe-
rior. like the universal. sprcad-out plane
of humanity. bearing everything upon its
S1rface-thosc waters bear the fleets,
vessels and craft of all kinds. and YES
sells and craft and fleets of all kinds have
fallen with the water. What would YOU
think of Il nan standing on the deck of
one of those vessels saying. This YES
sci has not fallen: this vessel stands lust
where It did. but the universal shore of
Lake Superior has riscn:' Laughter
and applause.
-N'N. L sly. my lGitIliS. mat since inc
Latin union, from 1873 to 1876. ADAM
doncd free coinage. there has existed in
European nations and the United States
the only practical bimctallism. Let me
repeat this. | feel that | cannot bea" it
into your minds too often or too urgently
that these nations. including ours. 10
the only nations on the face of the eai0l
that have any bimetallism whatever.
And why? Because they went to the
danger line. as we Went. and then
stopped. IApplause.l The universal
teaching of history demonstrated that
there was n dead line. beyond which
silver could not ho pressed without the
immediate humiliation of its companion,
gold, as Il useful. working money medi-
UNI. And when any man gets up and
dreams and ~soliloquiZcS and philosophers
before me and tells me he knows it won't
tell him that an ounce of fact is worth
Il ton of theory, and that something bodi
~ is worth Il million of discmbodict
ghosts. lApplausc.l
what is Ratio:
And Yet those gentlemen favor. in TN
warnings. that tho Iuitcl States @ha
Hl1ho th. ulI of ,oillu-. Tho silver du
lar at ia" ratio of ~ g." l..
Now, what J. ratio: II is not SIG t
81. rs some pr"Ul" claim. H.au.htcr.
Ratio means this: That there shall b
sixteen times more silver in weight in :
silver dollar than there is weight of yol,
III a gold dollar. Or. to pun the dcfinitio:
III another form. that sixteen ounces o
silver. when coined. shall be the cquiva
lent of one ounce of gold when coined
When gold measured by silver is wortl
SIG per ounce. no disparity in value caI
exist; but when measured by silver tin,
ounce of gold is worth S31 an ounce com
mcrcially, disparity results. Such is the
present condition.. and Yet the free silver
men assert that it will be no such thing
in case legislative fiat endeavOrs to make
two and two five instead of the old
fashioned result. two and two four.
The trouble is that our friends have
confused the ratio of weight with tn,
ratio of value. and are trying to confuse
the people with it. The ratio of weigh,
and the ratio of value were once the
same, but they have changed. They
changed more than thirty years ago
Other nations saw it and obeyed the i'm
perial behest of that change before W,
did, and the ratio is now throughout
the world -. or about 81, to /.
Now | say that no legislative fiat what
rver-it does not lie in the power of man
IL was about to say something more OK.
proper To sayl-it does not lie in tn,
power of man to enact that a given di
mcnSion. volume or capacity shall be {;
hairs breadth greater than the laws OF
the Almighty have fixed it from the be-
ginning. ~t.Applause.l
1t is necessary that the ratio or proper
ton of value should lc iuvariable. 1t j.
| necessary for the production of the thing
itself called money. speaking of il in IT.
great volume. as the volume of money in
| the United States. We see a~nalugicS
everywhere: We see an analogy in nature.
Take the air we breathe. 1t is Il COM
pound substance. made mp from oxygen
and nitrogen at the ratio of about -
To- -. and while this ratio lasts it is from
il we all draw our lives and have our
being. But change to amy material de
gree and. instead of being the vital. life
giving air. it becomes Il deadly ana de-
structivc miaSlna.
But the free-coiners assert that unlim-
tied coinage of silver will restore it 10 Il
parity with gold. 1t has been tried by
| many nations of tn, world. Has it done
il in "A single inStanceE Not one. They
said the same thing when Congress-
PASSED the Sherman act of 1890. They
said buy of us freely 4.JO0.OOU ounces Il
month. or n 600. 900 ounces Il year. and
Won will see that silver will go up to
81 30 an ounce Immediately. In the face
| of clamor. in doubt as to what might be
the result. in WILLINGNESS. lit went too
far) to give such claims every pp1or-
tunity to be demonstrated whether they
were correct or Incorrect. that legislation
was enacted. And silver did go in the
course of about ten days to SLID an
ounce applause by one mani and the
| frce-coincrS were exalted. and said. Il
fold YOU So" BUT. my friends who APP
plaud ut that dcluSivc statement. il last