The San Francisco call., 1896-08-07
Follies of the Generalization of
Silver Are Forcibly
Pointed Out.
TRUE BIMETALLIsM DEFINED.
The Records Disprove the Charge
That Silver Was Stealthily
Demonetized.

Va
Maine in Congress for ten consecutive
terms.
Mr.. Reed was nominated by acclamation
by rising vote, and three cheers for Reed
were given, great applause following.
Mr.. Reed addressed the convention, and
| received an ovation. Resolutions were
adopted endorsing the platform and can
didates of the st. Louis convention.
After few words of personal char
acter, Mr.. Reed said in part:
1--WE in Maine have got to make up our
minds on the subject sooner than in any
other State in the Union, and our verdict
will be of greater Importance to the coun-
try. 1t is worth while then that we
should discuss to some slight extent the
great principles which underlie the issues
OF this campaign. Do not understand
that purpose to make the currency ques-
ton perfectly clear to you. don't know
how it is possible for US all at once to con-
tend with the various degrees of ignor-
ance which exist. 1 don't use the word
Ignorance IN any naughty or superior
fashion. / mean by it lack OF inform alton.
''In the first place / think we ought to
remove certain elements of passion and
feeling that have been connected with
this debate. l suppose that if have lis
tened once I have hundred times to the
declaration in Congress that silver money
was stealthily demonetized. Well now,
|, myself. in the House Of Representatives.
produced the volume of the Congressional
Record which contained the debates of the
change in 1873 and there were 1876 columns
made up of speeches that were actually
made on the subject, ana yet they say 1t
was done in corner. They have declared
that it was done by an emissary from
abroad. and they even went to the extent
of giving the name of Ernest Soyd. Err
nest Soyd was always a silver man and
was not here when the thing was done.
.'At the very outset I want you to un-
derstand precisely what is proposed. You
will hear a great deal of talk about BIZ
merallism. The system which is proposed
by the Chicago Convention is not bimetaI-
lism. Bimetallism is an entirely different
affair. The object of bimetallism is to
give to the currency greater stability by
spre aiding it over surface.
"Real bimetallism has never yet had a
perfect trial. I mean international BIZ
metallism, and that is the kind we must
have, because il this'is disease at all it is
world disease and has got to have a
world remedy. Nothing else will attend
to it. Why. we had some experience in
this country, but mems memories are
short In 1882 our earlier fathers decided
to marry the two metals.
what was the first thing they did3 It
was to ascertain the market value of the
two metals, and as they stood side by side
then, and they thought they were Is to 1,
not Is to 1, but Is to 1. What was the
effect? 1t was an generalization of silver.
Yes, the gold in o gold dollar was worth
more than the silver in silver dollar.
have misstated that. I should have said
that gold was more valuab ble-so that we
had silver alone during that period. The
gold fed away. Well, now, the gold dis
appearing, our fathers, in 1884, thought
they had better make change and see if
they could not keep gold and silver to-
gether; so they changed the ratio from 15
to to 16 to 1, or, to be exact, to Is 9S to 1.
That turned out to be an overvaluation to
the other way, and what was the result?
The result was that gold reigned supreme.
"Then in 1861 we had war and we
issued greenbacks, and greenbacks being
cheaper for seventeen years drove out
both gold and silver. bur IN 1879 we re-
sumed specie payments, and the result
to do in 1873, upon a gold basis. And
that has been the case ever since.
ssThis then is the experience of the
United States encountering single handed
the question of currency. We never were
able, when there was difference of or
8 per cent, to keep the one metal along
side the other. 1t was always either gold
or silver; never both- Now, if the United
States could not lift silver dollar that
was worth only cents less than the gold
dollar, can she now lift 50-cent dollar to
the height of hundred cents? And if
she can, why should we want 70 do it?
''Let me take some of the examples
which they give you; but before l take
them will take some that they don't give
you. They talk about wheat and cotton
and state that the prices OF both these ar
ticles have gone down on account of the
rise in the value of gold. Well, now, the
very same set of figures, the very same
method OF figuring by taking all the other
articles which the farmer produces shows
that all the rest of their products have
gone up from 2 to per cent. And it is
perfectly natural that they should because
this is a world which every year consumes
more of certain kinds of farm produce.
Men will have bread and meat and they
will have the produce of the farmer, the
vegetables and the Gamers bring them
within the reach of every body at all times,
and it is natural that there should be
rise.
"But they say wheat and cotton have
gone down. Those are the greatest staples
which the farmer raises. My friends,
everybody in this world, including the
farmer, is liable to have something in
furious happen to his business. somebody
else goes into it, and when good many
bodies go into it there is not enough for
all hands in the way of prott. That is the
history of every occupation on the face OF
the earth.
s'As to the conditions in the price of
farm products, wheat or cotton or any