The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-09-29

that parity between our silver aud COLE
coins which the law declares Il III,
policy Of the government. and becaus,
he has the courage 10 execute the pow
erH given 10 him by the resumption acl
20 carry nj that declaration VI public
law. undertake. therefore. 10 say
that N Mr.. Bryan, or u man holding bis
Views. were In the presidential chair,
without any legislation by Congress. VIZ
should be on q silver basis In a weeks
time. tA~pplausc).
The silver question-what Il IN Do
q want silver because you want more
money. larger circulating medium
have not heard anybody say so. Mr..
Bryan IL not urging Il upon that basis.
II anybody were 10 seek 10 give that as
\ reason for wanting free silver he would
bc very o c0nfonnded by the state.
mcnt that free silver would put more
gold out Of circulation than minis Of the
United States could possibly bring In In
years Of silver. aud that instead 81 hav-
Ing more money We would have less, TAP
plnnseJ With our six hundred aud odd
million Of gold driven out Of circulation
We VIII reduce our per capita money Of
this country between eight and nine dol.
lars. 80 IL Is not for more money. We
have an abundant supply Of circulating
medIum-gold, silver. national bank
gr%ccnbncks, treasury notes. fractional sill
yer, We have something like $1} per
capita Of u population. What Is Il.
then, that creates this demand for silyer2
u N openly avowed. II IL not more dol.
lars, but cheaper dollars that are wanted.
IL Ia a lower standard OF value that they
are demanding. They shy gold has gone
up until IL has ceased 10 be a proper
standard Of value, and they want silver.
bnt how do they want y.
Now, my friends. there Is a great
deal OF talk about bimctallism and the
double standard and a great deal Of CON
fusion In the use OF those terms. ri.
mctallism Is the use Of the two metals
as money where they are both used
by u double standard they mean that
we shall have a gold dollar aud a silver
dollar which will he a unit of value.
by which all property aud all wage
aud everything Is 10 be measured. Now.
our fathers thought that when they used
these two metals In coinage they must
determine the Intrinsic relative value OF
the two, so that a comparison OF the
markets OF the world would show Just
what relation one ounce Of silver bore
TO one ounce OF gold; how many ounces
OF silver u took 10 BE- equal 10 one ounce
" eNA ~ Ahf uldE htNN Ol tut M0FlU
where gold and silver were used. and
they carefully went about ascertaininr
that. Thomas jefferson aud Alexander
Hamilton gave their great powers TO
the determination Of that question, and
they collected the market reports and
they studied with all their power that
question, and when they found what
appeared 10 be the general aud average
relative value Of these two metals they
fixed upon a ratio between them. Now.
what was the object Of all thatg Why
did they lump Il all? Because they fully
understood that unless these dollars were
Of the same intrinsic value that both of
them could not be standards Of value,
and both could not circulate. ZAP.
plause)
A things are now the silver dollars
that we have are supported by the gov.
eminent, and the government that sun.
ports this silver bullion has issued these
dollars on It's own account-not for the
mine owner-and II has pledged it's sa.
cred honor II would make every one of
these dollars as good as n gold dollar.
Great applause.) And that Is a power.
full support. Our Popullstic friends pro-
pose that the man who digs silver out of
the mine may bring II to the mint and
have II stamped and handed back TO him
as n dollar, the government having no
responsibility about Il. These men
would reject with contempt the PROPOSE.
ton that free coinage was TO come with
a pledge On behalf of the government
10 mnintain the parity of the two dollars.
(Applause,) But this feeling is well
adapted TO touch the prevailing American
h~umptiousness and well adapted TO
touch that prejudice against England
which many have, hut can we do this
thing ourselvesg Is II a question wheth-
err we will do II, or ask anybody's con-
sent whether we may, or ask the coop
Grafton of somebody's Not at all.
tell you what this government can do
alone. Ii can fix its money unit. 1t
can declare by law what shall be the
relative value Of an ounce of gold and
an ounce of silver. but it cannot make
that last declaration good. (Applause)
II is unquestionably fully within the
power of this government to bring this
country to q silver basis by coming silver
dollars and making them legel tender.
They can do that.
"rhis government might say you shall
take one of these dollars. but Il cannot
say and enforce its dccree-if you should
call out the regular army or navy and
muster our great modern ships and the
militia: and put William j. Bryan in
command OF them-it cannot enforce the
decree that one ounce of gold is the
equivalent of sixteen ounces Of silver.
(Grcat applause and checrs.) Not only
that, not France and England and Ger
many can do that unless the markets
respond. (Applause.) We can of our
selves, Of our own wisdom, declare the
unit Of value. We can coin silver free
ly, but we cannot make sixteen ounces
Of silver equal TO one ounce of gold UNI
less II Is. (Applause) And 1t is not
rate.
what Is the next suggestion. II Is,
my friends, in the case Of free silver,
what is the financial and moral equiva-