Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-06-25

promised with the friends of silver and
on July IA, 1890, passed the Sherman
| silver act rearing upon our sound fina1-
clal system a further superstructure.
This led to piling $4S7 100000 on top OF
our slender gold reserve. and on top
OF that, still, are heaped S334,0O0,OOO OF
silver certificates, making $S21 ,OOO,OO0 IN
all which our gold reserve must sustain.
II will be the policy of the Democracy
at Chicago, to further increase this bur
then. until the end comes, and then we
stall come to silver monometallism ana
take our place alongside Peru, Mexico,
and other countries which have forgot
ten national honor and national !hleS-
rity. There is another ledtuIe'
We are told that the great fall IN prices
is due TO the decentralization or silver.
want to say to you-and you can verify
II bv reference TO the books OF any
Wheeling mercantile house-that prices
began TO fall at least seven years De,
fore 1878; yes, as far back as $780, anu
the fall before 1873 was in greater ratio
shan the decline since. Yet your silver
orator goes no further back than 1916
the crime OF 1S73'-and he becomes so
axcited that he almost f6rgets the great
crime of nineteen centuries ago in dis
cuss,ng the crime of twenty-three
wears ago, when we 'demonetized' some
thing we had not had for twenty years
before 1879 .
The speaker discussed at some length
the result of free silver coinage at 10 10
l. and said no possible benefit could ac-
crue TO the workingman and wage earl
err. 1T might benefit the great banKS
and trust companies to pay their depos-
tiers back in fifty cent dollars, but 1t
could scarcely benefit the depositor
He said the silver men were at work
on "a beautiful scheme and that the
problem growing out of their ideas was
one which had engaged the earnest
thought of the most brilliant minds IN
the history Of the world. Earnest
| thought and honest thought, and yet
your average silver speaker knows It
all, and his solution is simply this-l6
| to l and free coinage! Tnere
| is more money in the country now than
ever before. and it is honest money and
| it only awaits the breath of the Repub-
! lcan party upon the revenue laws Of
| the county to see commerce ard manu-
ufactures revive and our country again
| prosperous"
His peroration was very effective.
Chairman Whitaker then introduced
| Congressman Dayton, with some refer
ences TO Hon. w. L. Wilson as man
who had sought to vault into conspic-
uous public life over the ruins of our in
dustries, the desolation Of our farms
| ard the impOverishment OF our peO-
! pie" There were some other remarks
by Mr. Whitaker to the same general
effect.
Mr. Dayton was warmly greeted. He
opened with some pleasant references
to Mckinley. and then made the some
what peculiar remark that he was glad
We have this year an honest platform. 3"
This apparent reflection upon previous
| Republican platforms was rather start
| ling. Proceeding, Mr.. Dayton told ono
of Chauncey Depew's stories, about
| Christopher Columbus, the alleged ap-
| plication of which was that the Democ-
| racy had just discovered that a crime"
| had been committed in 1873. Il am not
interested in crimes that far back. I
want to know who was guilty Of the
crime of 1898 which brought
about the soup wagons and Coxey's
army. That's the crime | want to
know about! All my friends, they can't
resTrect the crime of 1873, when they
are the criminals of 1898" Again:
But they say we want more money.
| What we want is better wages. more
money for our crops, more work and
more confidence, and not more money.
There is more money now than We ever
| had before"
Editor Hart was the next orator, and
went back thirty-fve years for his in
troductory text, ard gradually came
down to date. He referred to the
| great clamor in the land for free coin
age, and to the new and strange proph-
cts who had sprung up, who seek to
| convince the people that they have found
a great deal of nothing out of which
something can be made who claim
a discovery OF method of extracting
sunshine from cucumbers and of laying
up great wealth out of by-products.
They have taken a stone, labelled it
bread and offered it to the people, and
the people will pelt them to death
with their base Offering"
The speaker then made very clever
explanation, first what free coinage and
16 to l did not mean, and secondly.
what those terms do mean. This was
followed by somewhat extended fnan-
cial discussion, which was only adorn-
ed, at the last end, by a reference to
Mckinley, and. in which, by strange
lapse, there was not word of protec-
ton.
The audience then broke up the set
programme with cries for Atkinson, -
and the Gubernatorial candidate was ac-
corded a warm'reception. He remarked
that it was a warm evening, but his
party would make it ten times hotter
for free silver and free silver DemOc-
racy" before the summer was over. Mr..
Atkinson had his audience in roar in