San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-10-24
RIGHT OF CONTRACT.
To Be Abridged by Bryan and His Popo-
Demo Party.

|
The Cordage Trade Journal of Oc-
tober discusses a part of the Chicago
platform which has not thus far re-
ceived the attention which it merits
that part which proposes to take away
the right of private contract. The jour
nal says that mo industry of any size
can exist without the use of contracts,
agreements for the purchase, sale, de-
livery of and payment for goods. 1t is
hardly necessary to point out what this
means in the cordage business"
It then explains how rope manufac-
turers make contracts with brokers,
and brokers with foreign growers of
MANILA, or sisal, for their raw mate
rails. Having made these contracts,
they are in position to makecontracts
with large jobbers and rope dealers.
Continuing, the Journal says:
Contracts are necessary to the Sue
cessful transaction of business upon
any scale above that of the very small
retail trade, where goods and money
pass between buyer and seller simulta-
neously. Mr.. Bryan would, if presi-
dent, give his approval to laws which.
would prohibit business men from
specifying what they shall sell goods
for or what they shall pay for goods,
thus seriously restricting the right of
contract. His first nomination-in Chi
cago-was based upon his acceptance of
q platform which contained the follow
ing plank:
1--WE demand that the standard silver
dollar shall be a full legal tender, equally
good with gold, for all debts, public and
private, and we favor such legislation as
will prevent for the future the demoneti-
zation of any kind of legal tender money
by private contract
His populistic nomination in st.
Louis carried with it this plank:
eve demand such legislation as will
prevent the decentralization of the lawful
money of the United States by private
contract
Possibly the United States supreme
court will uphold such legislation-it
sustained the validity of the legal ten
der act-and-whGt? Mr.. Bryan does
not tell the people whom he addresses
tri-daily. When he gets near the sub
ject it is only to say something like
this:
"'When anyone tries to give you an OBJ
ject lesson with Mexican dollar, tell him
that the Mexican dollaris not legal tender
in this country and that our silver dollar is,
and under free coinage will continue to be,
and no one will be allowed to contract
against it.'-W. ]. Bryan in Newark, Sep
TENDER 81
This not only shows the purpose of
the man, but also gives an intelligent
n1a
Bryan's skill as logician. Ii he knew
anything at all about commerce-the
likelihood of which he so glibly talks of
interfering with-he would know that
the execution of his plan would cause
an instant cessation of commercial &C
tivity, which would be followed by
resumption upon a restricted and an
tique basis. Methods which the COM
mercial world discarded generations
ago would have to be brought into use
for carrying on business under the con-
ditions which the adoption of Mr.. Bry-
ans two absurd propositions would i'm
pose.
"Where would the hemp come from
for next years binder Irvine to- tie the
"uSdU! IuC SulNCN OO10SSs
where silver dollars worth less than 100
cents would be legal tender, could not
furnish the material. All prices now
quoted are for gold. No matter how
much farmers wanted Irvine, when it
was no longer possible to make a con-
tract to pay gold or its equivalent for
hemp, they would have to go without
it until some cumbersome method of
bartering was devised to get around
the law. OF course, in time the hemp
would be secured and the farmers sup
piled, but the new way Of doing bust
ness would be more costly. In the end
the consumer pays all costs. Hence the
farmers would have to submit to higher
prices for binder Irvine, as for every
thing else they buy. And yet Mr.. Bryan
claims to be the particular friend of ag-
riculturistsi
at is to be hoped that the business
men of the country will carefully con-
slider what the proposed interference
with the right to enter into contract
to pay and kind of money would result
in and then vote for a candidate for
president who will preserve the freedom