San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-08-27

in favor of an international agreement
and if elected president it will be my
duty to employ all proper means to
promote it. The free coinage of sill
yer in this country would defer, If
not defeat international bimetallism
and until an international agreement
can be had every interest requires us
to maintain our present standard. 1t
has been the Republican policy since
1878. 1t has inaugurated no new pol
icy. 1t will keep in circulation and
good as gold all the silver and paper
money now included in the currency
of the country. The debasement of
the currency would bring destruction
of values. No one suffers so much
from cheap money as the farmers and
labOrers of this country. They are
the first to feel it's effects and the last
to recover from it. The uniform prac-
tice here, as elsewhere, is that the
poor are the greatest sufferers, rather
than the rich, from a debasement of
our currency. 1t would fall upon in
vestments already made with severity,
upon insurance companies and the
policy holders, upon savings banks and
their depostors, upon building and
loan associations and their members,
upon the savings of the thrifty, upon
farmers and their families, and upon
wage-earners and the purchasing pow
er of their wages.
Another issue of supreme importance
is that of protection. The peril of
free trade is another menace to be
feared. We have already had a taste of
partial FIRE trade. The one is assert
ed. IL argument was needed to
strengthen the devotion to the Ameri-
can system of protection it is found in
the lesson and experience of the past
few years. Men realize in their daily
lives what before was to many sub
ject of history and tradition. They
know what a change has done for
them.
The public eXigencies demand pro-
tective legislation promptly and for
the payment of debts and also for the
providing of adequate revenues for the
government. This is an absolute du-
ty. If elected president of the United
States it will be my aim to vigorously
pursue this object and give that ample
encouragement to the occupations of
the AmeRican people which above all
else is so imperatively demanded at
this juncture of our national affairs.
What a startling, sudden change
within eight months from December,
1892, to August, 1893. What had oc-
Cured? A change of administration.
All branches of the government had
been entrusted to the Democratic par
ty which was committed against the
protective party that had prevailed
| until then for thirty-two years and had
brought unexampled prosperity to the
country and firmly pledged to its COM
plete overthrow of the substitution of
| a tariff for revenue only. The change
having been decreed by the elections
| its effects were at once anticipated
| and felt. We cannot close our eyes
| to those altered conditions, nor would
| it be wise to exclude from contempla-
| ton an investigation of the causes
which produced them. They are
facts which we cannot as a people dis
regard and we can only hope to i'm
prove our present condition by a study
of its causes. In December 1892, we
had the same currency and practically
the same volume of currency we have
now. 1t aggregated in1S92, $2,372,-
500, sol; in 1898, 81, 232, 000, 900; in 1894,
| So, 234 Az, 1862, and in December, 1895,
So, 194, 100000. The per capita Of
money, too, has been practically the
same during the whole period. The
quality of the money had been iden-
tical-all kept equal to gold. There is
nothing connected with our money
therefore to account for this sudden
change. Whatever is to be depreciat-
ed in our financial system, it must
everywhere be admitted that our mon
ey has been absolutely good and has
brought neither loss nor inconvenience
| to its holders. A deprecated curren-
cy has not existed to further veX the
| troubled business situation.
Our foreign trade has been dimin-
ished and our domestic trade has suf-
fered incalculable loss. Does not this
suggest the cause of our present de-
preston and indicate the remedy?
Our men at home are idle and while
they are idle men abroad are occu-
pied in supplying us with goods. Our
unrivalled home market for the far
mer has already greatly suffered, be-
cause those who constitute it, the
great army of American wage-earners
are without work and the wages they
formerly earned. The first duty of
the Republican party will be the en-
actment of tariff which will raise
the money necessary to conduct the
government economically and honest
ly administered and adjusted so as to
give protection to home manufacturers
and adequate protection to home labor
and the home market.
Another declaration Of the Republic
can platform that has my most cor
dial support is that which favors re-
ciprocity. The splendid results of
the reciprocity arrangements that were
made under authority Of the tariff
n, xf1 1000 90 nd