The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-09-24

NoFld-Nlde. ana nor one OF those great
fnaDciers who have given days and years
of thought to this subject, not one. and
nobody except the leaders of the modern
Democracy and Populism. has ventured
to advise his own country in Europe to
undertake that task alone. tAppauSel
he question is this. and nothing more:
Shall the United States, alone under
take the free and unlimited coinage of sill
yer at Il ratio of 16 TO |: "a few cries
of ''yes and mo, and repeated cries of
no. Now, see You gentlemen over
there who called yes" and YOU gentle
men here who called no" shows the
difference of opinion upon this subject
laughter), and 70 you over there who
come To listen to me, you will listen dis
passionately, you will digest my argtl-
mentS, and l hope finally that by the
time YOU have done thoroughly that
YOU will be inclined to shout no with
the gentlemen who responded when you
responded. Cheering and applause)
Now. let us be entirely good-natured
about this. | 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
face o. the controlling fact that every
civilized commercial nation upon the face
OF the earth. except the Central Amer
lean and South American states. Years
ago and before we did abandoned it Ut
tcrly. And if | shall succeed in CON
yinclng any of our friends that we are
not III position to do it without intiicting
upon the country and upon us all injuries
WHICH it will take Il generation to re-
pair. | shall be more than rewarded
for the pains that | have taken the oh
Servati0ns that | have made. the studies
| have gone through and the reflections
which have brought me to my present
convictions. tApplause.)
Shall We Go Backward or Forwarde
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
go with Mexico, South America. China
and Japan. the rearward half OF the
great army OF human progress. and join
those imperfect and rudimentary ciyiliZa-
tons. which are an oCcular dCmonstra
ton that no nation ever undertook alone
the coinage of free silver that did not de-
priye Itself of gold entirely. tAplause.)
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 lower scale 'of
progress than the nations which have
declared the policy upon which the Unit
ed StatrS ROW st8nGS.
My fellow citizens, the warnings of his
tory are all against ii. The present .cx-
amp!3S of nations who Singiy are cndcav-
oring 10 sustain themselves under Il single
standard forbid lis to enter uDon a voy-
age upon. | WAS going To say. Gntried
waters. but no. upon Il voyage which we
can plainly see other nations are ma king
ut the present time. where we can plain
ly view rocks of distress. the shoals and
qurkSandS of their course from the So
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. CAP
planSc.l
Now we have got to take facts exactly
as they are. We are not dealing with
glittering aud glowing generalities. We
are administering society and human con-
Germs: society. Il being perfectly concrete.
infinitely pra cticable. somewhat selfish.
and | am going TO appeal 10 the selfish
rcsS of this audience to know whether
they will assist i'll bringing about that
which | think I can prove will result
from the arts of the gentlemen who are
attempting to miSlcad them.
Now. my friends. the world is divided.
just as sharply rs it is by oceans and
mountain chains. between the gold coun-
tries. who employ cop"urrently with gold
more silver money than all the silver
countries contain or circulate. ZAP
nl""sc.l I say that tho gold countries
of this world including the United States
tand | call them gold countries for the
nrrnne" not of definition. but of clear
ness of cxpressionl. employ and circulate
moro silver than Ill the silver countries
of the world employ. contain or circulate.
| make another proposition. | apDeal
to history and to contemporary facts
oh
free coinage country is on = silver basis.
Isn't that so? Cries of Yes | max"
anotaer statement for Won to think of.
for | am not Going to elaborate it am
going to got into the figures pretty soon
every gold country us"s silver and gold
IN amo"n+S n"arly rGu'l by money no
+;o,~S. Isn't that 500 tF"'oS of ''NpS.'
Ten'+ t''"t in the United States?
f"-;cS of 'YeS'1 In Franco? Woicos
Yes | m"ke another statement for
your "a In end cool reflection. that no sill
yer st"ndarG cou"trv has anv gold mon
py whatever. (AnDlause.) Don't t"Ee
nv word for it. Go AMI investigate this
subject: ] say that no silver country has
any gold mop"v whatever and Won can
soarcl' fro'" Mexico to Cape Horn and
fipd th"t this statement is correct.
Another st" tpment-and ! make it up
on a sense of nv responsibility after an
exhaustive examination of statistics. in
vnStiga lions "nd recOrCS-that III every
silver Sta.Aar1 country wages are pressed
down TO the worry minimum of a wrotched
subsistence. II is so in Mexico. if is SO
in .Janan. it is so in South America. ]
say that in every silver country wages
pre- pressed down to the very minimum
of a wretched subsistence.
The Reasons.
Now if it is true Il will not go into
the reasons for it,. hut if it is true as a
concrete. absolute fact that no silver
country. no country which has adonted
the silver standard has any gold circuia-
ton whatever | say that it follows that
the only practicable himetallism on the
planet is by the nations with which the
United S.atns hos classed itself. and 1t
is this hmptallisIn in the United States
which the new Democracy and Ponu-
lisnl are endeavoring to destroy by sub
shutting Il silver mom,rIetall'sm. lAp-
nlause.) Tho bimetallism which this
country and the nations of which | have
snoken enjoy is the binletallism of fact
and actual enjoyment extending TO that
full extent which human Judgment. hu-
MEN experience. hnman anDrehension-
call II what You will-teach is the pro-
norton in which the metals can be en-
Moved in n degree that one will not de
stroy or drive out the other and that
both can co-exist together tApplause.l
For there is. my fellow citizens. an IN
Questionable dividing line-l shall prove