The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-09-05
LET THE GOLD MEN EXPLAIN.
A Conservative Friend of Silver Asks Some
Very Pertinent Ouestions.

The people of the United States have
yet to hear from the gold monometal-
lists of the Republican party and from
the gold monometallists lately of the
Democratic party an intelligent defense
of their position.
The evils of gold monometallism are
positive, existent, already demonstrated.
The evils which might attend free silver
coinage are still purely supposititious,
theoretical, predicted, perhaps logically,
by scientific %reasOners, but still to be
manifested. While we coined gold and
silver, as we did until 1878, none of
these disasters which are supposed to
attend upon free silver coinage befell
the evils which the closest students re-
gard as inseparable from gold mono
metallism have fallen to the lot of the
nation.
1t is time for the advocates of the
single gold standard to check themselves
in the easy occupation of asking ques-
lions and answer a few. The present,
for example, is a good time for them to
explain why the only "honest" dollar
is a dollar which constantly appreciates
in value, to get which year after year
the debtor, if he be a farmer, must give
more of his wheat, his corn or his cat
tie; if a workingman, more of his labor.
What is the ~sanctity which attaches to
the money lender that makes the essence
of honesty in a dollar its capacity to
purchase twice as much when repaid as
when lent?
There may be conscientious question
of the merit of the free silver 16 to 1
theory, but even from that extreme men
need lecoil to approval of the wholly
unlawful system of gold recommendation
foisted upon the nation by Grover Cleve-
land, nor to the support of the money
farming interest i'll it's attempt to fasten
that system upon the government by
formal legislation with the aid of Will
liam Mckinley and by permission of
Mark Hanna.
But for the fact that the term has
been brought into disrepute by men
who used it only as a snare The Jour
nal would avow itself with confidence
an international bimetallist. But if we
look back over the past two years of
storm and stress III currency debate, we
will find that the cry of international
bimetallism" has always been raised
just as an election was pending by emf
nent bankers. financiers, statesmen and
journalists who, when the election was
safely past, scoffed at the idea of inter
national action, and even, as a rule,
discarded the bimetallic theory alto
,o+h,, D,,,;1n-+ r1n,o1o,,l hoe ,o4
failed to preach i'll sOnorous phrase the
possibilities of international co-opcra-
ton, but it does not appear that he ever
took effective or ever vigorous action
under authority conferred upon him by
congress to hasten such an agreement.
1t seems pertinent to ask now, i'll the
face of a silver wave which bids fair to
sweep the country, why the very people
who bid their fellow countrymen today
wait for the cooperation of England,
France and Germany in the establish
mcnt of bimetallism were only Il few
weeks ago deriding the very wold BIZ
metallism and ~applauding Mr.. Thomas
Collier Platt for having forced straight
declaration for the single gold standard
into the St. Louis platform.
The political memory of men in this
United States is not very %retentive, but
there are few observers of politics who
do not know that this battle of the mon
etary standards has been in progress fol
a quarter of a century, with the victory
uniformly Oh the side of gold. Nobody
can forget that this sick man of ours
) the commercial nterests-has beef
l given, almost without interruption, the
gold cure, and that year by year th'
dos" has hc,l, mad" stronger. From thu
tim" IF the r~csulultln If Slnrlr pay
nruts u the day If the repeal If ia,
rurcAnS" clause of the sherman law tn
/ only thing tine advocates Of gold mono
melulliSm asked fer was the piece @
| Legislation Immediately in sight. Tha
enacted, they assured us, the patien
would thrive, the bright blood of trad
would again flow briskly through hi
l veins and IA new vigor and animation
D possess his entire body. 1t seems per
tinent TO- to ask whether the state O
the country after 25 years of Legislation
constantly tending toward gold nom
metallism is such as to Justify belle
llitt vi tlit Sooii 10 al llttNE
sary to establish prosperity.
a AS yet no fixed limit has been set b
: those who persistently press OF towar
gold monOmetallism, thrusting asid
= contemptuously with the epithe
''crank' or ''anarchist" all who as
them to stop and reason. But from tn
circumstances attending the repeal c
= the purchase clause of the Sherman la,
II shrewd observers may judge how far til
agencies now raising against Bryan tn
/ bitterest of cries are willing to go. Thu
repeal vas wholly wise. Neither mono
us metallist nor bimetallist can for a mt
- ment defend the bastard system whic
= John Sherman formulated. But we wei
promised by the banking interests thu
:; repeal of that law would cure all tinal
10 cial ills from which the country suffe,
. ed. 1t was repealed. The evils still con
W tinued. Suddenly it was discovered tn;
the treasury notes We're the source
.. all our financial sorrows, and the final
ciers demanded their retirement.
E, Now it is pertinent to ask if the r.
~ peal of the purchase clause of the She
man law must be followed by the r
tirement of all the treasury notes al
"A ~greenbacks? And, if this be done, wi
the silver certificates, redeemable,