The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1896-09-11
emily from the trade of the country.
and greatly decrease our per capita
circulation

IClICuldIlOQ.
| 1t is not proposed by the republican
party to take from the circulatin,
medium of the country any of the
silver we now have. On the contrary
1t IS proposed to keep all of the silve,
money now in circulation on a part,
with gold by maintaing the pledge o
the government that all of it shall be
equal to gold. This has been the
unbroken policy of the republican
party since 1878. 1t has inaugurated
no new policy. 1t will keep in circu.
latlon and as good as gold all of tn.
silver and paper money which are now
included in the currency of the coun-
try. 1t will maintain their parity
1t will preserve their equality in the
future, as it has always done in the
past. 1t will not consent to put this
country on silver basis, which would
inevitably follow independent free
coinage at ratio Of 16 to 1. It will
oppose the expulsion of gold from oul
circulation.
| FARMERS AND LABORERS SUFFER MOST.
Ii there is any one thing which
should be free from speculation an,
f1uctuation, it is the money of coun
try. 1t ought never to be the subiec,
of mere partisan contention. When
we part with our labor, our products
or our property, we should receive In
return money which is as stable and
unchanging in value as the ingenuity
of honest men can make it. Debase-
ment of the currency means destruc-
ton OF values.
No one suffers so much from cheap
money as the farmers and laborers.
They are the first to feel it's bad effects
and the last to recover from them.
This has been the uniform experience
OF all countries, and here, as elsewhere,
the poor and not the rich are the great
est suffers from every attempt to debase
our money. 1t would fall with alarm
ing severity upon investments already
made; upon insurance companies and
their policy holders; upon savings
banks and their depositcrs; upon build
ing and loan associations and their
members; upon the savings of thrift
upon pensioners and their families, and
upon wage earners and the purchasing
power of their wages.
NOT OPEN MINTS, BUT OPEN MILLS.
1t is not increase in the volume of
money which is the need of the time,
but increase in the volume of business
not an increase of coinage, but an in
crease of confidence; not more coinage,
but a more active use of money coined
not open mints for the unlimited coin
age of silver of the world, but mills for
the full and unrestricted labor OF
American workmen. The employ
ment of our mints for the coinage of the
silver of the world would not bring the
necessaries and comforts of life back
to our people. This will only come
with the employment of the masses,
and such employment is certain to
follow the re-establishment of a wise
protective policy, which shall encour-
age manufacturing at home. Pro-
lection has lost none of its virtue and
Importance. The first duty of the
republican party, if restored to power
in the country, will be the enactment
of tariff law which will raise all the
money necessary to conduct the gov
ernment, economically and honestly
administered, and so adjusted as to
give preference to home manufactur-
ers, and adequate protection to home
labor and the home market. We are
not committed to any special sched-
ules, or rates of duty. They are and
will be always subject to change to
meet new conditions, but the principle
upon which rates of duty are imposed
remains the same. Our duties should
always be high enough to measure the
difference between the wages paid
labor at home and in competing coun-
tries, and to adequately protect Ameri-
can investments and American enter
prises.