The herald., 1896-10-12

ment stamp gave value, the debased
coins issued in the past by impecun1ous
sovereigns would not have ruined the
subjects of those sovereigns, and the
assignats of France and the paper is
sued by Ferdinand of Naples century
ago, would not have been sold in the
market almost as government rags Le-
gal tender arts compelling men TO ac-
cept against their will money above its
commercial value in the markets of the
world, are rank injustice. The early
financial statesmen of America. Jeffer-
son, Morris, Hamilton, never thought of
making the legal value of coin higher
than the commercial value of the metals
of which coins were made.
Then, with the passage OF free silver
coinage, we shall have currency re-
jected at it's nominal value from the
markets of the world and unstable ana
fluctuating in real value. Business can
not prosper with such currency. The
first condition of life of business is sta
bility of the currency. None Will IN
vest money of a certain value today in
commerce and industry If by the time
the raw material has been turned into
marketable wares the currency is like
ly to havd changed in value. Business
in all its branches would become
speculation gamble; conservative
capital would keep out of sight. No
loans would be made 1t is nonsense TO
say capital may put itself into the
American market whether the capital
be American or European We should
not be deluged by words. We may
clamor in vain for capital, it will not
come to us unless there be security for
it. 1t will remain in the vaults of safe
ty or go to other parts of the world
where reward is small but certain. And
without capital there will be no enter
prise and no work for the people.
| am abzO1ntelV convinced that the
laboring classes will suffer the most Of
all from free silver coinage. And yet
the laboring classes are those who are
the most urgently appealed to in this
free silver movement A man who talks
against free silver is put down at once
as an enemy of the common people.
Well, for my part, l am willing to be
called an enemy of the working classes,
of the common people," If / am in re-
ality advising them for their good and
serving their true interests. Those
above all others in the land who should
today be on their guard against the
silver movement are the laborers of
America.
But will not the farmers be benefited?
Will they not receive higher prices for
their products? Maybe higher price,
but not higher value. OF what use is
it to have dollar instead of half dol
lar if the dollar can purchase no more
than the half dollar? And will farmers
receive even nominally a much higher
price than they do now? The best mar
ket for the farmers product is his own
country. And if his own country is
Impoverished, if factories are closed. if
laborers in cities are penniless, the
farmer will receive but little for his
harvests.
Men on salaries will scarcely hope to
have their salaries doubled, even NOM
inally, and then their salaries, such as
they may be, will have only half the
purchasing power they have today.
Those who owe debts payable, princi-
pal and interest. in gold will receive the
same salaries as today, and their SAL
aries will have but half the debt paying
power which they have today
But those who owe debts not payable
in gold? Well, if the country is ruined
where will they find even silver to pay
their debts in silver? The only men ben
Gifted, and they are few today, and it
is scarcely worth while to bring around
a revolution in the country to benefit
them, are the debtors who today have
the gold on hand, and who by free sill
yer coinage will have their store
doubled in nominal value and will be
enabled to reduce their debts by one
half.
The question remains: "Is it honest?
Is it delusion to imagine that silver
will circulate so plentifully that it can
be had by all and that the quantity
will make UP for the value?" If silver
bullion does not increase in commercial
value silver will not be produced IN
quantities. and as owners of silver will
not part with it except in exchange for
commodities or labor which they deem
useful and valuable, if the business of
the country is not prosperous the peg
pie will get very little silver and obtain
no profit from free mintage
But-aQl here is the pOpJ11ar aro,,.
ment in favor of free silver coinage
we have had hard times under the gold
standard. That Is true, and what Is
also true is that under the silver stand
ard we shall have much harder times.
1t is the great fallacy of the day to be
attrfbuting our hard times to the gold
standard.
The craze for free silver as cure for
hard times is explicable in the same
theory that a man who has been a long
time sick despite the attentive care of
experienced physicians, Will call for any
quack who adVertSeS to cure all the
ills of humanity. Hard times have come
through the severe and resistless work.
ing of economic laws which go their way
in spite of local enactments of parlia-
ments of congresses. One of the chief
causes of hard times today is the agita-
ton for change in the currency of the
country. If the American people put
down by an overwhelming majority this
idea, bury it out of sight, the chief cause
of hard times will be out of the way,
Good times may be expected to come
back surely If only gradually. The over
production that glutted our markets has
been used up. Capital is anxious to do
something with it's money if it can be
invested safely; our wondrous natural
resources invite investments to develop
them and confidence restored, the out
look is bright. But the essential thing
is confidence.
There are a hundred aspects of this
question which I do not touch upon. I
merely throw out some few thoughts,
which show reasons for my own present
political faith and which may be of some
benefit of those in forming their own
Judgment. I may, of course, be mis-
taken. But l have come to look upon the
present agitation as the great testimony
of universal suffrage and popular SOW
ereignty. Can the people defend public
honor and the institutions of the coun-
try at the polls as they have done on the
field of battle; can they be so calm and
deliberate in their judgment, so care
full to weigh all things in the scale of rea-
son and to avoid all rash experiments
that they can be trusted with the settle
ment of grave financial and political
problems? That is the question that is
before us at the present moment.
GAMBLERS DISPOSED OF