The Globe-republican., 1896-08-20

plant against tho gold standard.
Wage Farmers and FREQ silver
Thu wage earners have ben injured by .
gold standard and have expressed than elves
upon the subjsct with great emphasis In
February. 1885,, a petition asking for the I'M
mediate restora ton OF the FREQ AMI unlimited
coinage of gold and silver ct Is ID 1 was signed
By the representatives Of all or nearly all. the
leading labor organizations, and presents to
Congress. Wage earners knew that whilo q
gold standard raises tho purchasing power Of
the dollar. it also mak,s it moro difficult to
obtain possess on OF the dollar: th,y knew that
employment is less permanent. loss OF work
more probable and re-employm, 1t less certain.
Agold standard encourages the boarding OF
money, because mon3y Is rising 1t also dis
courage, enterprises and para iyz 3 industry.
On the other han l. the restoration OF bimstai-
ism will discourage boarding because when
prices are steady or rising. money cannot
affo:d to lie idle in the bank vaults. tn,
farmers and wage earners together constitute
q considerable majority of ths people OF the
country. Why shoul their interests b. ig-
nored in cons iderins financial legislation. A
monetary system which is pecuniarily advan-
tageous to q few syndicates has far less to com.
mend it than system which would give hope
and encouragement to those who create the
nations wealth.
Much solicitude has bosn expressed By our
opponents for the dcpo,itors in savings banks
They constantly parade before these depositors
the advantages of gold standard. but these
appeals will be in vain, DO ause savings banks
depositors know that under a gold standard
there is increasing danger that they will lose
their deposits because of the inability OF the
banks to collect their assets: and they still
further know that if tbs gold standard Is 70
continue indefinitely. they may b, compelled
to with draw their deposits in order t. pay liv-
ing expenses"
1T is only necessary to nots the increasing
number of failures in ordor to know that a gold
standard is ruinous to merchants and manu-
facturers. Thes, business men don't make
their profits from the ,ople from whom they
borrow money, but from tho people to whom
they sell their goods. If the people cannot
buy. retailers cannot sell and if retailers can
not sell, Wholesale merchants and man ufact-
urcrs must go into bankruptcy.
How Banks Are Affected.
1T is sometimes asserted by our opponents
that a bank belongs to tbs debtor class. but
this is not tru, OF any solvent bank Every
statement published by solvent bank shows
that the ;sets zcee1 the liabilities; that is to
say. waile the bank owes a largo amount of
money to its depositors, it not only has enough
on hand in money and notes to pay its deposit
ors. but in addition thereto has enough to GOV.
err its capital stock and a surplus. When the
dollar is rising in value slowly, bank may. by
making short time loans and taking good Sc
curity, avoid losses, but when prices are falling
rapidly, the bank is apt to 10 o more because
of bad debts than it can gain by the increased
purchasing power of its capital and surplus.
1T must b. admitted. however that some
bankers combine the business of bond broker
with the ordinary banking business. and these
may make enough in tho negotiation of loans
to offset tho losses arising in legitimate bank
ing business
'.As long as human nature remains az it Is.
there will always be danger, moro or less re-
strained by the public opinion or legal enact
ment, that those who $40 a pecuniarJ profit
for themselves il d cert ain condition may yield
to the temptation to bri1. about that condi-
ton. Jefferson has stated that ono of the
main duties of government is to prevent m n
from injuriny one lother. ami never was that
duty moro important. than it is to.daE. 1t is
not strange that those who h w, made a profit
by furnishing gold to tho governm,n in the
hour of its extremity favor financial policy
which will keep the government dependent
upon tn m. l believe, however, that speak
the sentiment of the vast minority of the p,o-
p of tn, United States when | say that a
wise financial policy, administered in behalf
of all the people would make our government
independent of any combination Of fnancicrs,
foreign o. domestic
The relatively W whose wc,lth consists
largely in fixed investments have a right to use
the ballo; to enhance the va uc of their invest
ments; have not the rest of the people tho right
to use the ballot to protect them selves from
the di :astrOus consequences Of rising stand
ard?
The people VIII, mrst purchase moneJ with
the products of toll stand in a position entirely
different from tho5, who own money rec Two
fixed incom, The we'll being of the nation
aye. OF civilization itself depends upon the
prosperity of the m asses. What shall it profit
US to have dollar which grows NOR, valuable
every day if such dollar lowers the standard of
civ liz ;tion and brings distress TO the people7
What SHALL it profit Us if, in trying to raise our
credit by increasing the purchasing power of
our dollar, W, destroy our ability t. pay the
debts already contracted by lowering tho pur-
chasing power of the products with which
those debts must b, paid?
FREQ Coinage No Experiment..
"As egainst the mainte ance of gold stanl-
ard, either permanently or until other atoms
can be united for its overthrow. the Chicago
platform PRESENT a clear anl emphatic de-
mand for the immediate res.orat. on of the free
and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the
present legal ratio of l6 to without waiting
for the aid or consent of any other nation. We
are not asking that a new experiment be tried /:
We are insisting upon a return to a financial
policy approved by the experience of history
and supp Orted by all the promin mt statesmen
of our nation from the days of tn, first pr,s:-
dent down to 49,. When W. ask that our
minis be opened to the free and unlimited coin
age of silver into full Legal tsn!er moasy. W,
are simply askiny that the sime mint privileges
be accorded to silver that are now accorded to
gold. When We ask that this coinage be at
the ratio of 70 to |, W, IMPLY ask that our
gold coins and the standard silver dollar
which. be it remembered, contains the same
amount of pure silver as tn first silver dollar
coined at our mints, retain their present weight
and fineness
IF Their, ara two kinds Of money; tho option
must rest either with the debtor or with the
creditor Assuming that their rights are equal,
We must look at the intere ,ts OF society in gen.
eral in order to determine to which side the
opinion should be given. Under the bimetallic
system, goll and silver ar, linkei together by
law at a fixed ratio and any rerson OF persons
owning any quantity of either metal can have
the same convert ID into full legal 9ender mon
ey. If the creditor has the right to choose the
metal in wtich payment shall be made, it is
reasonable to suppose that he VIII require tho
debtor to paw in the dear,r money if there is
any p,rceptibie difference betweel the bullion
values of the metals This new nemani created
for ths deare- ne.1 Will max, that metal
Gearer still. while t':S decreased demand for
tho cn,-p,r me,el vi MAKE that metal cheap
g. still
IF. on tn, other hanl the d,b.or exercises
u