The record-union., 1896-10-29
TOM REED
OF MAINE
Addresses Twenty Thou
sand People.

daughter and applause.)
These men say to us that il we can get
a lot more money we will have more
business. If we can get a lot more cap
ital / tell you we will have more busr-
ness. Capital is one thing and money in
a certain sense is another. Not that
money is not often capital, but 1t is only
capital when it is used for a particular
purpose.
What is money for? Simply to trans
fer goods and real estate from one man
TO another. That is the sole use of 1T.
Now, when we have got enough for that
purpose all the rest of it is dead waste.
/ am going to put it to you just as did
to the farmers Of my county of York.
Money is a transferer of property just
the same as hay rakes are transferers of
hay. Gaughter) If you have got
enough hay rakes to move your crop,
you have got all the hay rakes you
want. And I want to know of any man
of sense what he would say to another
man who came to him and said: IF we
can only have more hay rakes we can
have a better crop Of hay" applause
and laughter)
It is precisely the same with any kind
of production. No man with brains
NdlIIS " SCS 1IiOIt liliuSS utcJuS IIIdil OAAc
people can use, and it Is no use for them
to have more of them. This is a waste
of wealth and not a use Of it. Let every
manChave a hat that wants one, and
whoever doubles the number Of hats in
the world acts like fool. So, whoever
insists upon digging out Of the earth,
merely as money, more silver and more
metal, is wasting the time and wealth OF
honest men.
Now, don't misunderstood me. I am
in favor of our mining interests so far
as it is consistent with the interests OF
the rest of the community, and the
United States has already shown it's
Willingness. 1t has spent 56,OOO,OOO
buying silver and has lost $136 900, ,OOO
by the action That is enough to en-
courage one industry. Let's wait awhile
and encourage some Of the others
(Cries of Good" and laughter.)
Now tell you another thing. 1 do not
believe that it is for the interest of the
lnine-owner to have free coinage of sill
yer, and he would find it out if we had
the misfortune to give 1t to him. Why.
a part of the argument which these fell
lows adopt to everybody except the
farrner-yes, to everybody except the
farmer-one of the arguments they
adopt is that silver viii at once go right
up to par with gold. What reason do
they give for that? Well, they say,
| eve believe, we believe" Gentlemen
that were never heard Of six months
ago are talking about what they believe
WHY. gentlemen, I'VE believe" Is well
enough as a matter Of theology attest
ed by a future world, but ii won't dc
for business in the nineteenth century
| Uaughter)
believe that silver Will go down IN
stead of going up by free coinage, and
| frtend to back up my belief, too
back It up by reference to American
| history. not to history Of Mexico on
| China or Japan.
We have bought two millions a month
of silver ever since 1873, except wher
we bought 100000 ounces of silver
every month. In other words, we have
bought silver enough TO coin S6OO,OO
OO0-ffty times as much as we evel
ccined before. What was the effect Of
It? The effect of it was that silver
went 1ovv~, from per cent. discount
to so per cent. discount. That is his
tory.
Now what is the reason Of that Why
| do these men make the mistake they
arc making? It is because they do not
realize that the famous law of supply
and demand has two meanings. Wher
! there is a great demand and small sup
ply. prices are raised; but that Is only
! temporarily In the long run where
there Is big demand there is always
a big supply, always at lower prices.
A voice-That's so.
Mr.. Reed-That is a fact, and it is 9
| fact which every manufacturer with
| brains knows You take wire nails, YOU
| take railroad iron, you take rails, yor
| t..ke anything on earth where there Is
| large demand continuously and ths
supply is bound to be big, and the price
| is bound to go down.
A voice-How about eggs?
! Mr.. Reed-Well, 1 don't know about
eggs. Perhaps some Populfst gentle
man would know about that, because
| he bought a. good many for Mr.. Car
| Isle. applause and laughter) Now
then, If silver is going down, as it must
in other words, let me put 1t to you
| like the rule of three. If buying $780,
! 100000 Of silver and coming 1t made
it go down 43 per cent. what will coin
| ing the rest Of it do? (Applause and
| laughter)
Now, are we going to get any more
money because we do coin silver? Ir
the first place, gold Is going out. Any
nan of sense knows that I suppose
| YOU have had that explained to you by
| the Dreshin law. Do you know what
the Dreshin law is? Well, 1 can bring
| 1t right home to you. The Dreshin law
| is the declaration of fact That fact
| is that the cheaper money drives Out
/ the dearer. Simply because whenever
| a man can pass off smooth quarter
| instead of a wellmarked one, 1t is 9
principle of human nature he will dc
| ii. Uaughter) / don't mean of q
| redeemed and rejuvenated human na-
ture, but such as you and 1 find out In
| the sinful world. Now, that law was
formulated by a certain Thomas Dresh-
| In. but I think CopernicuS discovered
| 1t when he discovered that the earth
went around the sun (Applause) And
| YOU will find 1t in your own household
at any time. Did you ever see a boy
with two apples who was told to give
| one of them to his little brother?
am talking now about the average bad
boy with q reasonable appetite for ap-
pies and not about the good boy who
| dies young u.aughter.) Did you ever
see him struggle with that problem
| and see how nicely he adjusted the
size of the apple to the size of his lit
tie brother? QAughter) That is Mr.
Dreshin's law. Well, now, under thai
law we are just as sure to have gold
disappear and have silver take it's place
| Well. at what ratio? Well, the same
ratio that it occupies now.