Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1896-07-29
THE GREAT DEBATE"

4
and Hon. G.. NJ. Martin took place a
the court house on Monday evening, a,
previously advertised. The audienc,
was large from the beginning and KEEP
increasing until both the court room
and halls were packed. Some came tt
learn while others came to "enthuse. ,
The question debated follows:
| Resolved That 1t would be of rrea,
benefit to the people Of this country to oper
the minis of the United States to the free coin
age OF silver at the ratio of IS to /; and that
too, Independent of any other nation.
Z. w. Ellis, being the affirmant. on.
ened the discussion in speech of about
% minutes duration. He showed from
history that the country was in a pros
porous condition before silver was de.
monetized and that the people were
happy and content. He quoted from
speeches of different eminent states.
men showing what the ultimate result
OF closing the minis to silver coinage
would be, and one needs only to reflect
on present conditions to know that the
predictions of those men were wisely
made. To demonstrate that the hard
times are not due to the tariff, Mr.. Ellis
made some comparisons between the
conditions OF the treasury during the
administrations of Cleveland and Har-
rison. The treasury during Cleveland's
first administration was in a better
condition than it was during Harri.
sons administration, and the panic of
1898 came upon US when the Mckinley
law was IN full force and effect. He
went on to show that one. half of the
peoples money had been debased. dis
crlmlnated against and destroyed and
all values were measured by gold exclu-
sively. This, he asserted, was very in.
furious to the masses, and present con-
ditlons prove the assertion TO be true.
Mr.. Ellis yielded to Mr.. Martin at
about 9:l5, and the latter talked a full
nour-more about the Pops and demo-
Gratis than the question at issue.
lie devoted most of his time to per-
sonallties and partisan politics, while
the remaining portion was consumed
by making statements impregnated
with fallacies, inconsistencies and ar.
roneous figures. His manipulation of
Official figures Is shown up in another
column and we invite close scrutiny.
Among other characteristic statements.
was one that law does not make stand
ards and that you can't legislate 80
cents worth of commodity into a dol.
lar. i. e., that the fat of the govern.
ment is worthless. He did not prove
this, though he was ANXIOUS that Mr..
Ellis should prove all statements by
some official authority. He didn't tell
his listeners why the silver dollar is
now worth 100 cents; neither did he say
what it was that destroyed silver as
standard money and made gold the on
ly standard. Harvey and Horn say it
was law. Martin dlssents. He said
the commodity value of the silver dol
lar is So centsi he did not say from
what source the 4S cents come. The
government stamp, according to the
speaker, was worthless, law did not
add single cent of value, but it all
depended upon the London market val
ue OF bullion. 1t is a fact that when
the government stamp is taken from a
silver dollar 1t is worth only between
80 and 81 cents, but when it is not de.
prlyed OF this stamp it is worth 100
cents; yet the government stamp is the
work of lunatic and it don't amount
to anything, according to q. M. Mar.
tin. Mr.. Martin dwelt largely upon
the fact that more silver was coined be.
tween 1873 and 1893 than during any
like period in the history of the coun-
try, and during all this time the silver
dollar was worth 100 cents while
the commodity value of that dollar was |
worth far less. He seemed to think
that this amount Of silver coinage was
good thing but he didn't show what |
good was done by the repeal of the
Bland-Allison and Sherman laws which
closed the minis against the silver dol |
lar. If the coming of this great amount |
OF silver between "a and '93 was good
thing, why close the mints2 Why not |
hold onto that which is goodp We ex-
pected to hear what it was that made |
farm produce worth less than the cost
OF production, what reduced the labor
er's wages over one-half, why it was
that thousands of idle men are today
dependent upon public charity, hut, if
1t was not because of Ubiquitous finan-
cial legislation, we are still in the dark. |
However, since Martin left MIR. Ellis |
statement go unchallenged in this in
stance, we grant that he admits that
the demonstration and subsequent
destruction of silver, the exception
clause, credit strengthening act, con
traction act, resumption of specie pay
ments, and financial legislation along
this line, have caused the present dis.
tress among the people.
The audience was strictly a silver
audience but almost evenly divided be-
tween republicans, democrats and Pop
ulists. Whenever Martin would com.
mend the republican party there was
considerable applause from the repub-
lican side, but when he made hit for
gold monometallism there was very
little applause. Martins talk was
strictly partisan while Ellis adhered to
the question Roth snoakars Uaro FRO