The Irish standard., 1896-10-03
me Is address You through the medium 81

ST AND ARD sATIRD.All.Y' =
me to address yon through the medium o1
! an open letter.
No one can read your published accep-
I.tance without being impressed that you
regard the maintaining of the gold stand
are as not merely a wise and judicius pol
! ley, but as absolutely essential to the
preservation Of our financial honor. =
| You assert that the free coinage Of sill
yer at the ratio Of is to l would at once
! lead to the "debasement'' Of our currency
| to the level of ''50-cent dollar, impair
and bringing long train Of terrible ca
| lamities in its wake. Throughout your
entire discussion of the question, the ger
minal idea is that parity with gold is the
| infallible test Of honesty in money. and
that any currency cheaper than gold at
its present appreciated value, is, Of ne
cessity, dishonest.
You are certainly aware that the cam
paign committee of the Republican party
is literally flooding the country with
books, papers and pamphlets, in which it
is broadly declared that he financial issue,
honest money" VS.. dishonest money
There is no reason to doubt that you are in
perfect and harmonious accord with your
committee. Hence the conclusion comes
irresistab1y that you regard the advocates
Of unrestricted silver coinage as being de-
fcient in personal integrity and as seek
ing to establish monetary policy that
will dishonor the American nation.
Being one Of those whose personal In
tegrity is thus inpugned, make free to
remind you that in the year 1878. and as
member Of the house OF representatives
you voted for the famous BLAND BIZ
providing for the unrestricted coinage of
si1vror OF he rot Ia Nf 7C IN, fhaf fyyc
the commercial value of the bullion which
you voted to coin into dollar was little
more than 80 cents. 1t had been much
lower but at the time your vote was cast
it had risen considerably as the result Of
political agitation and free coinage. You
will also remember, I am sure, that the
Bland bill was at that time denounced as
Reputation and rank dishonesty by
many of the prominent financiers. who are
now giving you their earnest support
In view Of these facts would you regard
it as impertinent for me to request a
public statement Of your opinion as to
whether or not the Bland bill was dis
honest measure" calculated to "debase"
our currency, and "dishonor" the country.
If you answer In the affirmative, in JUS
tice to yourself you should inform the
country why you voted for 1t. If. your
supplemented by an explanAt ion of how an
act was honest in 1873 and can be dishonest
in 1926.
1t is true that the vote in question was
IS years ago, but even then you were old
enough to know the difference between
right and wrong: 1t is also true that sill
YER was not at that time SO far below the
gold level as it is now; but in this oon
nection you will allow me to suggest that
there is no difference whatever in princi-
pie, nor even in degree, so far as the
question Of honesty is concerned. If it is
dishonest to coin So cents worth Of silver
into dollar, it is equally dishonest to
coin SO cents worth into dollar
You have probably not forgotten that
you were q member of the Fifty-f1rst con-
gress and a candidate for the speakership
of the house. I am very certain that the
Republican members Of that body from
the West have not forgotten how anxious
earnestly you reminded them that you
had voted for free silver nearly IL years
before was one Of those Western
members,
At that time Qss9) when silver bullion
had fallen to Is cents on the dollar in gold
in your opinion a Law providing for the
free coinage of that metal would involve
financial dishonor."
All through the long session Of the Fiji
ty-first congress you distinctly recognized
the fact that demonstration of silver was
x,
narrow in its scope, and that something
further must be done toward silver restor-
alton. Your utterances at the time plain
ly showed that you were prepared to go
any length in that direction, If the Repub-
licans in congress would only keep you
company.
You will not hesitate to admit that you
were one of the most active members
of the committee, and that none was more
earnest than you in the effort to formulate
a measure which all Republicans includ-
ing those who were strongly for free silver
might support.
You may not remember all that you said
during the debates in that committee,
and neither do I. But there is one state
ment made by you that have never for
moment forgotten. In emphasizing the
necessity of passing a silver: bill, in SUBJ
stance you said: eve must pass silver
bill; the country demands 1t; we must pass
it as a party measure. I am prepared to
support any bill that we can unite upon.
I can accept free coinage, or the Win
dom bill, or anything else upon which we
can agree; but 1t is imperative that we
have silver bill.
I grant that you showed preference for
some measure other than free coinage, and
that after some vacillation you threw your
vote in favor of what was called the Win
dom bill. I grant further that you~may
have expressed your willingness to vote
for free coinage merely Tor erect, knowing
that the condition laid down was an i'm
possible one and that the Republicans
would never agree upon such a measure.
STILL the fact is that you said it, and there
was no inconsistency between that Ian
guage and your previous record. If a
majority of the Republicans had declared
in favor of free coinage bill, have no
doubt that you would have kept your word
and voted for it. Therefore, ask you the
further question: Did you In 1890 regard
the free coinage of silver as meaning
financial dishonor," and consequently
dishonesty in those who advocated that
policy? IT not the country will
no doubt be greatly interested In read
ing your elucidation of the ethical differ
ence between free coinage in 1890 and free
coinage In 1896. ~
Finally, deem It proper to remind you
that up to the very day Of your nomina-
ton, you were not the choice of the ex-
trenae gold standard men. They looked
upon your past financial record with un-
qualified disfavor, and the somewhat un-
certain language of the Ohio platform.
which was supposed to reflect your posi-
ton, filled them with distrust.
In the end, however, you were nomi-
mated upon gold standard platform, and
these same men are now your enthusiasts