Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-27


further experiment in this direction.
The Double Standard.
On the 22d Of August. 1891, in public
address. said: IF we could nave an inter-
national ratio. which all the leading nations
of the world would adopt, and the true
relation be fixed between the two metals,
and all agree upon the quantity of silver
which should constitute dollar, then sill
yer would be as free and unlimited In Its
privileges of coinage as gold IS today. But
that we have not been able to secure, and
with the free and unlimited coinage Of
silver adopted in the United States, at the
present ratio, we would be still further
removed from any International agree
ment. We may never be able to secure 1t
II we enter upon the isolated coinage of
silver The double standard implies equal
ity at a ratio, and that equality can only
be established by the concurrent law Of
nations. 1t was the concurrent law of ma
tons that made the double standard: it
will require the concurrent law of nations
to reinState and sustain it,"
The republican party has not been, and
is not now, opposed to the use of silver
money, as its record abundanty shows
1t has done all that could be done for it's
increased use, with safety and honor, by
the United States, acting apart from other
governments. There are those who think
that 1T has already gone beyond the limit
Of financial prudence. Surely We can go
no further and we must not permit false
More Than Any Other Country.
We have more silver in use than any
country in the world except India or
China-s5OO, 100000 more than Great Britain,
$15O,O0O,OOO more than France. $4O0, OGO, 900
more than Germany, 3d., 100000 less than
India and S125,OOOOOO less than China. The
republican party has declared N favor Of
an international agreement, and if elected
President 1t will be my duty to employ all
proper means to promote It,. The free
coinage of silver in this country would de-
fer. If not defeat, International bimetallism
and until an International agreement can
be had every interest requires us to main
tam cur present standard. Independent free
coinage of silver at a ratio of sixteen
ounces OF silver to one ounce of gold would
insure the speedy contraction of the vol
ume of our currency. 1t would drive at
least five hundred millions of gold dollars
which we now have, permanently from the
trade OF the country and greatly decrease
our Per capita circulation.
1t is not proposed by the republican party
to take from the circulating medium of the
country any of the silver we now have
On the contrary, 1t is proposed to keep all
OF the silver money now in circulation on
a parity with gold by maintaining the
pie dye of the government that all of it
shall be equal to gold. This has been the
unbroken policy of the republican party
since 1878. 1t has inaugurated no new
policy. 1t will keep in circulation and as
good as gold ali Of the silver and paper
NOR ey which are now included in the cur
IeEcy or the country. 1t will maintain their
parity. 1t will preserve their equality in
the future as it has always done in the
past. 1t will not consent to put this coun-
Try on silver basis, which would inevi-
tahly follow Independent free coinage at a
ratio of sixteen to one. 1t will oppose the
expulsion of gold from our circula ton
Farmers and LabOrers Suffer Most.
II there Is any one thing which should be
free from speculation and fluctuaton it is
the money of country 1t ought never to
be the subject of mere partisan contention
when we part with our labor our products
or our property We should receive in return
money which is as stable and unchanging
In value as the ingenuity of honest men
can make 1T. Debasement of the currency
means destruction of values. No one suf-
!ers so much from cheap money as the
farmers and laborers. They are the first
to feel its bad effects and the last to rccov-
er from them.
This has been the uniform experience of
all countries, and here, as elsewhere, the
poor and not the rich are always the great
est sufferers from every attempt to debase
our money. 1t would fall with alarming
severity upon investments already made.
upon insurance companies and their policy
holders. upon savings banks and their de-
positors, upon building and loan associa-
tons and their members upon the savings
OF thrift. upon pensioners and families
ana upon wage earnerS and the purchasing
power of their wages.
Unlimited Irredeemable Paper Money,
The silver question is not the only issue
affecting our money in the coming contest
Not content with urging the free coinage
OF silver, its strongest champions demand
that our paper money shall be issued di-
rectly by the government of the United
States. This is the Chicago democratic
declaration. The St. Louis peoples declar-
alton Is that "our national money shall be
issued by the general government only,
without the intervention of banks of is
sue. be full legal tender for the payment
OF all debts, public and private" and be
distributed ''iirect to the people, and
through lawful disbursements of the gov
eminent Thus. in addition to the free
coinage OF the worlds silver, We are asked
to enter upon an era of unlimited, ire
deemable paper currency.
The question which was fought out from
1860 to 1873 Is thus to be reopened, with
all its uncertainties and cheap money ex-
periments of every conceivable form foisted
upon US. This indicates a most startling
reactionary policy, strangely at variance
with every requirement of sound finance:
but the declaration shows the spirit and
purpose of those who by combined action
are contendIng for the control of the gov
eminent. Not satisfied with the debase-
ment of our coin which would inevitably
follow the free coinage of silver at 10 to J.
they would still further degrade our cur
rency and threaten the public honor by
the unlimited issue of an irredeemable
paper currency. graver menace to our
financial standing and credit could hard
ly be conceived and every patriotic citizen
should be aroused to promptly meet and
effectually defeat it.
In the HiEhcst Degree Reprehensible.
1t Is a cause for painful regret and So
licitude that an effort is being made by
those high in the counsels of the allied par
ties to divide the people of this country
into classes and create distinctions among
US which in fact do not exist, and are re-
pugnant to our form Of government These
appeals to- passion and prejudice are be-
meath the spirit and intelligence of free
people, and should be met with stern re-
Duke by those they are sought to influence,
and 1 believe they will be. Every attempt
to array class against class, 1.-The classes
against the Masses section against Sec
ton, labor against capital, 1.-The poor
against the RICH" or interest against in
terest. in the United States is in the high
est degree reprehensible. 1t is opposed to
the national instinct and interest. and
should be resisted by every citizen. We are
not a nation Of classes. but of sturdy, free
independent and honorable people, despis-
Ing the demagogue, and never capitulating
to dishonor.
This overcoming effort endangers pop-
plar government and is a menace to our
liberties 1t is not new campaign device
or party appeal. 1t is as old as government
among men, but was never more untimely
r.