The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1896-08-29

of silver; and I want to say one thing
to you-that not n of these professors
in foreign universities, not one OF tnese
economists whose name m 1ame are
world wide, and not one of those great
financiers who have given days n years
of thought to this subject, not one, ana
nobody except the leaders of the modern
Democracy and Populism, has ventured
to advise his own country in europe 70
undertake that task alone. 3Appiause.l
The question is this, and nothing more:
Shall the United States, alone, under
yer at a ratio of 16 to 1? "a few cries
of yes and mo-" and repeated cries OF
"no.'D Now, see you gentlemen over
there who called Eyes," and you gentie-
men here who called no." shows the
difference of opinion upon this subject
%(laughter), and to you over there M si
come to listen to me, you will listen dls-
ments, and 1 hope finally that by the
time you have done so thoroughly that
you will be inclined to shout mo" with
the gentlemen who responded when you
responded. Cheering and applause.)
Now, let us be entirely good-natured
about this. l am going to try to give
you the facts, and | repeat it, the issue
is whether the United States shall at
tempt to do that thing alone, IN the
llCC " III COLlIOllluS 1uSS NA
civilized commercial nation upon the race
of the earth, except the Central Amer
lean and South American states, years
ago and before we did abandoned 1t ut
terly. And if l shall succeed in con-
vincing any of our friends that we are
not in position to do it without infiictlng
upon the country and upon US all injuries
which it will take a generation to re,
pair, l shall be more than rewarded
for the pains that l have taken, the OBJ
scrvations that l have made, the studies
l have gone through and the reflections
which have brought me to my present
convictions. (Applause.)
Shall We Go Backward o. Forward?
Shall we, for our own interests stand
along with those nations with which we
have classed ourselves and who are lead
ing the march of humanity, or shall we
70 with Mexico, South America, China
and Japan, the rearward half OF the
great army of human progress, and JOIN
those imperfect and rudimentary clvlllza-
lions, which are an ocular demonstra-
the coinage of free silver that did not dc,
prive itself of gold entirely. (Applause)
And you have but to glance upon the
map of your school boy or school girl,
your little son or daughter, to see the
fact recorded there for the education OF
youth. to know that every one OF those
nations stands upon a lower scale OF
declared the policy upon which the Unit
ed States now stands.
My fellow citizens, the warnings of his
tory are all against it. The present eX-
amples of nations who singly are endcav-
oring to sustain themselves under a single
standard forbid us to enter upon a vocy,,
age upon, l was going to say, untrled
yyy0forS hlIf M llnOn q vnVQVp winch we
car plainly see other nations are making
at the present time, where we can plain
ly view rocks of distress, the shoals and
quicksands of their course from the Sc
cure mainland upon which the American
people now stand, and from which our
opponents are attempting to lure them
by false lights and false alarms. Zap
plause.)
Now we have got to take facts exactly
as they are. We are not dealing with
glittering and glowing generalities. We
are administering society and human con-
Germs; society, a being perfectly concrete,
infinitely practicable, somewhat selfish,
ness of this audience to know whether
they will assist in bringing about that
which l think | can prove will result
from the arts of the gentlemen who are
attempting to mislead them.
Now. my friends, the world is divided.
just as sharply as it is by oceans Inc
more silver money than all the silver
countries contain or circulate. ZAP
plause.) I say that the gold countries
of this world. including the United States
land I call them gold countries for the
purpose not of definition, but of clear
more silver than all the silver countries
of the world employ, contain or circulate.
l make another proposition. l appeal
to history and to contemporary facts
which no man can dispute, that every
free coinage country is on a silver basis.
Isn't that so? (Cries of "Yes.") I make
another statement for you to think of.
going to get into the figures pretty soon
every gold country uses silver and gold
lions. Isn't that so? (Cries of "Yes.')
Isn't that SO in the United States?
Cries of "Yes.") In France? Voices
'Yes.D I make another statement for
your calm and cool reflection, that no sill
ey whatever: Wpplause.j Don't take
my word for it. Go and investigate this
subject. I say that no silver country has
any gold money whatever. and you can
search from Mexico to Cape Horn and
find that this statement is correct.
Another statement-and I make it up
on a sense of my responsibility after an
vestigations and r~ecords-that in every
silver standard country wages are pressed
down to the very minimum OLA wretched
subsistence. 1t is so in Mexico. it is SO
in japan, it is so in South America. I
say that in every silver country wages
are pressed down to the very minimum
of q wretched subsistence.
Now if it is true Il will not go into
the reasons for it), hut if it is true as n
| concrete, absolute fact. that no silver
country. no country which has adopted
the silver standard has any gold circula-
ton whatever, I say that it follows that
the only practicable bimetalIism on the
| planet is by the nations with which the
United States has classed itself, and it
is this bimetallism in the United States
lism are e~ndeavoring to destroy by snb.
shutting a silver monumetallism. (Ap-
plause.) The bimetallism which this
country and the nations of which I have
spoken enjoy is the bimetallism of fact
and actual enjoyment extending TO that
full extent which human Judgment. hu-
man experience, human apprehension
call it what you will-teach is the pro-
portion in which the metals can be EN-.
ployed in a degree that one will not de.
stroy or drive out the other and that
both can co-exist together. (Applause.)
For there is, my FELLOW citizens, nm un.
It further along, though it is mo- neces.
sary for men who have read history,
even cursorily, for me to prove it-there
10 . dividing line bey0nd which vnu oon.