The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-07-29
The Money Question.

study carefully the various phases Of
the present campaign and vote in &c
cordanee with his convictions, and In
favor OF that money standard which
his intelligence tells him Il the best for
the country. What Is best for the
individual citizen who puts patriotism
above party and who believes In the
perpetuation Of those principles that
are eternal.
IL Is possible for a man 10 be intense
In his patriotism and 10 believe that
the silver standard Is best for the coun-
try, just as 1t is possible for a man to
believe in the gold standard; but every
man should vote as he believes, and
the right he claims for himself he
should most willingly accord TO his
neighbor. 1t Is only in this way that
the rational settlement Of vexed ques-
tions can be reached in "a government
of the people" where His Majesty,
The Majority, is the reigning mon
arch.
There's neither heart nor pulse nor
politics in money. 1t will serve the
needs Of poor man as readily as those
Of n king, and, if it be of the right
kind, il requires no certificate Of char
acter in the hand of sinner any more
than i'm that Of saint. This is a. il
should be. In olden times, when the
''bush" was the accepted sign Of the
tavern, a phrase became current that
has since passed into proverb, and il
declared that
"GOOd wine needs no bush.r
And, 80, good money should need no
praise, no advertising, no passport. 1t
should he its own best recommended
tiOn, and lose none of its virtue by
travel. A dollar should be as good in
London as it is in New York, and the
proposition to make and keep it 50 is
not one of PARTISAN politics merely,
but of business.
Common sense tells US there should
be no such thing as rich mans dollar
or poor mans dollar. II such a dis
tinction should arise the poor man
would be more interested than the
man of wealth in having the best dol
lar going, and this is why we believe
il to be to the interest Of the wage
Garner to maintain the gold standard
of value. The adoption Of the silver
standard at ratio of l6 to l, which
makes 53 cents worth of silver a legal
dollar, will naturally double the cost
of living, but there is no assurance
that it will double wages The man of
means can buy silver with his gold
and have it coined into dollars under
the free coinage law, but the man who
has only his labor to sell can not do
that. He will have to take his pay in
silver dollars of diminished purchas-
ing power, and pay twice as much as
he does now for sugar, coffee. tea and
clothing and other necessaries.
How much is the poor man benefit
ed by the free and unlimited coinage
Of silver? How much are the gold
barons injured by such change? The
gold baron can easily become a silver
king. With one of his gold dollars he
will be able to buy enough bullion to
make two silver dOllars-at the ratio
of IL 70 land thus the wealth of the
gold plutOcrat does not diminish. The
silver mine owners are the only men
who will be directly benefited, and
this is why the subject developed such
a stIOng sectional feeling at Chicago.
The men of the silver States were
fighting for their personal interests,
not for principle or party. The silver
kings will profit by free coinage be-
cause they have that to sell which the
people will be compelled to buy at
twice its intrinsic value.
If there were no silver mines in this
country and no silver kings, does any
one suppose for moment that there
would be any elamOr for l6 to l dol
lar? The issue is the Outgrowth Of i'm
patience of a lot of silver mine owners
who thou sht they had captured the
country when they bought their way
into the United States Senate. and
then bought up such other Senators as
they could reach by giving them STAT
bargains" in silver mines. Having
failed at Washington they tried TO
capture the Republican convention at
st. Louis, and failing in that they
played their last desperate card at
Chicago, and now they want the peO-
pie of the United State to endorse their
action and help them to bunco the en-
tire country.
Against this bold scheme Democrats
and Republicans who believe in honest
money, and honest value for II, most
strenuOusly protest. The silver con-
spiracy, Matched in the United States
| Senate, will never be cOnsummated.
The independence and integrity of
press aud people will not permit it.
The silver kings captured the Demo-
cratic nomination, but they have not
captured the Democratic leaders or the
Democratic newspapers of the land.
There must be no speculation in the
intrinsic worth of the American dol
lar. Its integrity must be upheld, and
it must be as good for the day laborer
as for the silver mine owner. The kind
of dollar that buys the most is the
dollar for the people, and that is the
dollar that is based on gold, whether il
be expressed in silver or paper money.