New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1896-10-14
Oscar
Reuter-.
The Colorado Student of Finance Talks to
New UImites
He Has Large Au Hence and Makes a
Telling Address.
The Entire Money Question Covered in
i& Mastery Manner.
The Hall Beautifully Decorated in his Hon
Reuter-. 4 !

Senator Oscar Reuter- of Denver, Col
orado, spoke to between 400 and 500
people, nearly all of whom were men, at
Union Hall en- Monday evening.
Mr.. Reuter- made no pretensions to or
atory, but in careful anG scientific dis
cussion of the great financial question he
undoubtedly sets many to thinking. His
address, on the whole, is unquestionably
the most scholarly made in this campaign
and he holds the attention of his hearers
we'll.
In the outset he appeals not only to
the honesty of the German, but also to
his intellect. Ignorance and honesty, he
said,w were incompatible in the campaign,
and it was the duty of every citizen to
inform himself before voting. And he
is to be condemned who lightly or pur-
posely misinforms the people IN this
subject.
He then gave as general definition
of money-that with which we buy and
sell and with which we pay our debts.
Connected with this idea cf money was
the fact that we could easily preserve it
and use it at any time or place; that we
measured the value of all other property
in money and from this Idea it is easily,
but sometimes enormously, concluded
that the value of money remains un-
changed while the value of all other
things rise or fall. An unchangeable or
stationary value in money, he said is
always desirable, while rapid rise or
decline in the value of money will always
strike us as unfair-especially when the
sudden change is produced by artificial
means, rs for instance by law. For iD-
stance, when a man borrows $4,000 on a
$4,000 piece of property and, when his
debt becomes due, he finds that money
has so risen that he must now surrender
his entire property to pay the $4,000
debt, he feels injured. On the other
hand, if he loans man $4,000, ,and, when
the note becomes due, the money value
has so fallen that his $4,000 will only
purchase half as much as when he loaned
it, he too feels injured.
He did not claim t:.iat by remonetiza-
ton some people would suffer, but urged
| that the great benefit to the great num-
| Der far outweighed the disadvantages a
few might suffer.
| There is no progress without change.
No change in conditions Without injury
TO one or another.
Need we, therefore, deny ourselves all
progress.
BY the abolition of slavery we injured
the shareholders. Should we therefore
have preserved slavery?
By imposing duties, we further the
welfare of The state, but injure the con-
sumers of imported goods. Should we
therefore impose no duties?
1t is the peculiarly of a wrong commit
ted by The state against its citizens, that
the wrong can never be righte6 without
lnjuring many many who were innocent
of the crime. -
In all such cases the only question is,
what is the greatest good for the greatest
number.
do not appeal to you patriotic. I dc
not ask you to sacrifice your property
for the good of the state or the rich OF
the poor-I ask each OF you to vote &C.
cording to your personal interests study
the question for yourselves, and not a..
low those to decide the question for yor
whose interests are against your interests
| That farmer he SAID could expect bu
little success who made his goat his gar
dener. -
Because the goat like the money deal
er knows more about harvesting than Ii,
does about sowing. - - ~.
Because the manufacturer paws tn,
tariff is no reason why we should leay'
the tariff question to the manufacturer
Because the money dealer knows.how t,
handle money and make money out of it
is no evidence that he knows anything
about the financial question as an eco
nomical and moral question. And it i
not his business, and we should not ex
pect him to decide such question agains
his own interest. z 8
We must either find an impartial judg
or decide the question ourselves. An,
as we cannot find the impartial Judge W
must decide it for ourselves.
The speaker then went on to tell Q
what money consists, aud said:
We find money in two shapes-pape
and metal. They differ materially from
each other in this, that the metal has i'm
printed upon it sim ply INSTRUMENTATION
while paper money contains only apron
ise to pay Paper money is only goo,
so long as we are sure that we can &c
money metal for it from which it fol
lows that metal money is the only meme,
that has real value and therefore the ON
ly real money.
Now how does metal get its value
Silver and gold, like iron and copper,ar
metals which serve many useful purpos
es, and as they do not occur in unlimi
9 ted quantities and without cost of PRO