The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1896-10-09

did that recently in a most conclusive manner.
I viii only add that was a member Of the
senate at the time and know whereof affirm,
and emphstioaliy pronounce all the stories
about the act of 1873 being passed surreptitious
ly; about senators and members being some
how hypnotized. SO that they did not know
what they were doing; about some English
man being on the ground with much money to
promote the characterization of silver. and so
on, as wholly and unqualifedly false. I wish
to be scrupulously courteous to my opponents
But as a conscientious student of contempora-
neous history am bound to say that in the 40
years during which have been attentive
messed nor heard of such hunscrupulous. shame
less, persistent, audacious, cumulative, gigan-
tic lying as has been and is now done with re-
gard to the act Of 1873, it's origin, its nature
and its consequences.
What Would Follow Bryan's Election.
Consider now what the immediate conse-
quences would be if Mr.. Bryan were elected
president with congress to match. Mr..
Bryan would of course be anxious to have
his free coinage law enacted, but that could
not be, even if he called extra session Of
congress, until some time in April or May,
five six months after the day of election.
But on the 4th of November as the re-
suit of the election was announced every body
would know that the parity of gold and silver
would not be maintained.
1t having been made certain by Mr.. Bryan 9
election that the parity of gold and silver
would not be maintained there would be a
rush upon the treasury for the gold in it by
persons holding greenbacks entitled to re-
demption, and the gold reserve would be ex-
hausted in twinkling. Gold will instantly
disappear from circulation to be boarded or
exported. Why will it disappear? Because
every sensible person when making a payment
will prefer to make 1t in the less valuable dol
lar and hold the more valuable gold dollar
back for more profitable use Gold will there
fore quickly rise to premium, and we shall
be ON the silver basis long before a free coin
age law can be enacted. What does it mean to
be ON tho silver basis? The word ''coin, :" wher-
ever it appears in the law, will no longer mean
gold, as 1t was far understood, but silver
alone. The greenback treasury note re-
deemhls in 'coin'' will no longer be redeemed
In gold, as heretofore, but only in silver. The
United States bond payable in coin. no matter
whether GOLD was paid for it or whether it had
been sold for the very purpose Of buying gold
for the treasury, will be paid, principal and
interest, In silver-repudiation as fragrant a.
the world ever witnessed. Our. daily trans
actions in buying and selling, I'D paying and
receiving wages, will no longer be carried on
upon the basis Of the gold dollar worth 100
cents, but Of the silver dollar worth 80 cents
or thereabout, for the government will no
longer hold up the silver dollar to the value of
the gold dollar. That is what the silver basis
means You can study In Mexico how 1t
works.
The quantity of gold vanishing from circula-
tion will amount to about $500, ,0O0, ,000 the dis
appearance of which will make a tremendous
hole in the volume of our currency: Nearly
one-third Of it will be gone, and what remains
will be reduced nearly one-haf in purchasing
power. But. says the silver man, there will be
free silver coinage to fill the gap promptly
with coined silver or silver certificates. Oh,
no, my fellow sufferers. The disappearance Of
gold will happen promptly after the election
Of Mr.: Bryan. and there will not possibly DO
INV Cntr nf G1I va fnr af IAaa 1&~
months, and It VIII require great many more
months to fll gap of 5000 Oo6, 600.
The Free Coinage Panic.
What will happen meanwhile2 The st. Louis
Globe-Democrat reports Mr.. Bryan to have
said some time ago: s'1 think ii, " meaning tho
victory of the free coinage movement, "win
cause panic. But the country is in deplor-
able condition, and it will take extreme meas
ures to restore it to condition of prosperity. -
Whereupon the st. Louis paper pointedly re-
marks, evidently Mr.. Bryan has heard Of the
doctor who always threw his patient into fits
before administering any curative medicine. F"
Just so.
How, then, would Mr.. Bryan's "fit" work,
The sudden disappearance Of our gold from
circulation would produce the most strin gent
contraction of the currency on record. Basi-
ness men who owe money and at the same
time have money due them will be forced to
collect that money by every means at their
disposal. Nobody will be inclined to lend out
rity. The banks will naturally consider it their
duty TO keep themselves strong, and there
fore to call in loans and to restrict their dis
counts and advances to business men with the
utmost caution Business establishments
manufactures, mercantile houses, unable to
get the money for meeting their obligations,
win by the hundreds sucoumb to their embar-
ras5ments and tumble down like row Of
bricks. Others will cautiously restrict their
operations to the narrowest possible limit, and
employment and be turned into the street.
No class Of society will be spared the de-
structive consequences Every frightened
creditor, pressed by his own creditors and ap-
prehensive Of a growing loss by every days
delay, will eagerly pounce upon his debtors
The prompt settlement of every account will
be pere1nptorily demanded. Our farmers who
have mortgages on their property and who
have been told that free coinage will make
things exceedingly easy for them will have
some unexpected experiences. Every mortgage
debt that is due will be quickly called in. The
mortgageor who tries to have his bond extend
ed will find an unwilling ear. He who seeks
to borrow money in order to replace the old
mortgage with a new one will be told that this
is no time for loans, except, perhaps, upon ex-
orbitant conditions. The mortgageor may find,
too, that his bond is payable in gold coin, and
he will have to buy the gold at the premium
then ruling. Foreclosures will be the order Of
the day. The mortgageor who seeks shelter un-
burden his property with the cost of legal pro-
ceedings. Everywhere anxiety, embarrass-
ment, sacrifice, loss and distress, even before
Mr.. Bryan could ascend the presidential chair.
Bryan's Binetallism.
After five or six months Of such q deadly
crisis, Mr.. Brysn's extra session Of congress
would begin and give us free coinage Then,
as Mr.. Bryan solemnly promised US in his
great New York oration, free coinage will give
bimetallism, bimetallism will give an
abundance of money, and all will be right
Bimetallism? What Is bimetallism7 It Is a
monetary system in which the two metals cir
culate together for all the purposes of money
on parity with each other upon fixed legal
ratio, which in our case is 16 to l. Evidently
to have bimstallism gold must be on hand
as well silver.
/. How will Mr.. Bryan get the gold back from
the money power? Evidently he must offer
an inducement? What inducementP To be-
sure, the mints will be open to gold as well as
silver. But who will offer gold bullion to have
it coined into dollars for circulation when he
can have silver dollars with the same legal
tender power at half the price2 Only an idiot
would do that. OF course, gold will be offered
only when the silver dollar is up again to the
gold standard. There is the rub. But here
Mr. Bryan steps in with theory which is a