Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1896-08-01
THE NATIONAL SILVER PLATFORM
unanimously Adopted In Conven-
ton at st. Louis July -.

THE national silver party, in conven-
ton assembled, hereby adopts the follow
ing declaration of principles:
First the paramount issue at this time
in the United States is indsputably the
money question. 1t is between the gold
standard, gold bonds and bank currency
on one side. and the bimetallic standard,
no bonds and government currency on the
other.
ION this issue we declare ourselves to
be in favor Of a distnctVely American
financial system. We are unalterably OPP
posed to the single gold standard and de-
mand the immediate return to the consti-
tutionaI standard of gold and silver by
the restoration by this government. In
dependently of any foreign nation, of the
unrestricted coinage of gold and silver
as the standard money at the ratio of 16
to l. and upon terms Of exact equality as
they existed prior to 1S73-the silver coin
to be a full legal tender equally with
gold, for all debts and dues, public and
private; and we favor such legislation as
will prevent for the future the demone-
tization Of any kind of legal tender mon
ey by private contract.
I'VE hold that the power to control and
regulate a paper currency is insepardble
from the power to coin money. and hence
that all currency intended to circulate as
controlled by the general government
only. and should be legal tender.
I'VE are unalterably opposed to the is
she nv the United States of intereSt-bear-
ing bonds in time of peace, and we de-
nOunCe as a bunder worse than a crime
the present treasury policy, Incurred by a
republican house, of pmnging us into
debt by hundreds of millions in the vain
attempt to maintain the gold standard by
borrowing gold, and we demand the pay
ment of all coin obligations Of the United
States as provided by existing laws, in
either gold or silver coin at the option OF
the government and not at the option Of
the creditor.
THE decentralization of silver in 1873
enormously increased the demand for
gold. enhancing the purchasing power
and lowering all prices measured by
that standard, and since that unjust and
ineXcusabe act the prices of American
products have fallen, upon an average.
nearly 80 per cent, carrying down with
them prOportionately the money value of
all other forms of property. Such fan
of prices has destroyed the profits of
legitimate industry, injuring the producer
for the benefit of the nOn-prOducer, IN
creasing the burden of the debtor swell
ing the gains of the creditor, paralyZlnS
the productive energies of the American
peopIe RELOCATING to idleness vast num-
Der OF willing workers, sending the shad-
ovys of despair into the homes of honest
toilers, filling the land with tramps ana
paupers and building up of coIloSsA! Tor
tunes at the money centers.
In the effort to maintain the gold stan
dard the country has within the last TWO
wears. a time of profound plenty, been
loaded down with $2G2, 900 of interest
hearing debt under such circumstances
as to allow a syndicate of native ana
foreign bankers TO realize pfont Oh
millions on a single deal. 1t stands con-
Tossed that the gold standard can only
he upheld by so depicting our paper cur
rency as to force prices of our pfoductS
below the European, and even below the
Asiatic level. and enable us to sell in for
eign markets, thus Gg@raVating the very
evils of which ou3 people so bitterly com
nlain. degrading American labor ana
striking at the foundatio tons Of our CIV
i1ization itself The 2&rGcdtes of the gold
standard persistently claim that the
cause of our distress IS oVer-productlon'
that we have produced so much that II
has made us poor, which implies that the
trne remedy is to close the factory,
abandon the farm, and throw a muIu-
tude of people out of employment,
doctrine that leaves us unnerVed ana
disheartened and absolutely without nope
for the future. , 4.o+
there can be no such economic parduoA
&C over-production and al the same time
tans of thousands of our fellow-citizens
remaining half clothed and half fed, ana
Who are Diteously clamoring for the COM
mon necessities of life.
"Inasmuch as the patriotic maJorlty OF
+he Chicago convention embodied IN the