The herald., 1896-10-16
THE ISSUE

The eastern railway and Industrial
monopolies continue to send their en-
ployes by the trainload to Canton. where
they are obliged to listen to and cheer
Major McKinleys twaddle about the
dangers to the country that lurk in the
Democratic partys financial system, as
outlined in the Chicago platform. Ma
jor Mckinley tells every visiting dele
cation that If Bryan is elected the gov
ernment will open the mints to the free
and unlimited coinage of silver dollars
and thus establish a fiat monetary sys-
tenn for the country, and that such a
circulating money medium would neces-
sarily he fiuctuating and uncertain in
purchasing power. Perfidy. hypocrisy,
deceit and the coercion of workingmen
are the warp and woof of the campaign
methods of Major McKinley's mana
gers, and Mckinley is himself willing
tool in their handc.
Certainly there will be fiat money if
Mr.. Bryan is elected. and so there will
be if Major Mckinley is elected. All
money is fiat money. That is to say,
the fiat of authority is required to
tender function which the government
confers upon thing which makes 1t
money. To be sure. there must be a CIV
en- quantity of specified quality of
metal in each dollar, but it is the fiat
of the government that establishes the
quantity and the quality, exactly as it
makes the disk which contains the re-
quired quantity of a given quality a
legal tender dollar. By the fiat of the
government copper cents and fraction
al silver currency are legal tender to
given amount, but their bullion value
is less than one-half of their coin value.
A dollar containing 4121a grains of stand
ard silver is as much a legal tender as
Is dollar that contains 25S grains of
standard gold, but it is the stamp of
the authority and command of the ma
ton that makes the one as good as the
other, and neither would be legal ten
der money, or money at all, but for
the fiat of the government
Major Mckinley purposely tries to
mislead when he charges that the Dem
ocratic party would compromise the
honor and integrity of the nation by
opening the mints to silver. He knows,
as does every other sensible man, that
the issue in the present campaign
which the Democratic party is forcing
does not involve the credit of the coun-
try. What the Democracy is contend
ing for is larger volume of circulating
money. The trade and commerce of
the country have grown to enormous
proportions in the last quarter of CEN
tury, and because of the closing of the
mints against silver, the increase in the
volume of money has not kept pace with
the increased requirements of the busi-
ness world. The consequence of this is
that trade and traffic everywhere are
more or less handicapped and crippled.
That is to say, the demand for money
has become so pressing that money
lenders can and do exact more of COM
merce than commerce can bear. Major
Mckinley stands for a governmental
policy whose operation would continue
to restrict the volume of circulating
money medium within the ability of
money dealers to control it.
The Democratic policy is, and if Mr..
Bryan is elected it will be the nations
policy, to increase the volume of the
country's circulating money in an
amount equal to the entire output Of
silver ore. 1t is claimed by the ablest
of the worlds political economists that
the free and unlimited coinage of silver
would not add dollar more to the vol
ume of money than commerce has press
ing need for. But while all lines of
business and occupation would immedi-
ately take on new activities and go
from strength to strength, the money
syndicates would be powerless to clog
the wheels of trade and business by ar
bitrary eXactions, and it is just such
conditions that the Democratic party
proposes to establish by increasing the
number of the country's dollars to the
full amount of offerings of silver for
coinage into dollars.
Mr.. Bryan, as the candidate of the
Democratic party is pledged to open
the mints to silver, if he is elected,
because the country's circulating mon
ey is not equal to the demands of the
people, and because, further, the pres
ent volume is so small the syndicates are
able to create money stringency and
then force commodity values down
when they like. Major Mckinley stands
for those who want the volume of mon
ey kept so small that it will be under
their control, for their own selfish ad-
vantage. Mr. Bryan stands for those
who believe that government should
provide a circulating money medium
which shall be fully equal to the re-
quirements of the peoples business in
terests at all times. Major Mckinley
stands for the industrial barons and
the money syndicates. Mr.. Bryan
stands for the best interests of all the
people. There is no middle ground 1t
is Bryan and prosperity for all the peo-
pie, or Mckinley and more wealth for