Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1896-10-29
A Two-HEAoEp ORATOR.
Col Ingersou Is Trying to Trurap His
Own Ace.

Own Ace.
Col. Robert G. Ingersoll has frequently
told us that he is an agnostic, which IS
another way of saying that he does
not really know anything. Now he
wishes to persuade us that he knows
it all. For years he has tried to make
suffering humanity believe that there
was no such place as Jerusalem the
Golden. Now he turns his eyes toward
the gold vaults of Wall street and says
they are the earthly paradise. The
truth is that Col. Ingersoll, having la
bored for years to rob humanity OF
its hope of eternal happiness hereafter,
is now trying to blight its prospects
of prosperity in this life. He made his
record in the latter matter when he de
livered in Chicago a diatribe against
the free coinage of silver and a paer
of praise for gold. Here is specimen
of his logic:
Now. 1t takes 81 ounces Of silver to be
worth ounce of gold. But they pro-
pose by law to make 16 ounces of silver
the value of an ounce of gold. If :hey car
do that by law, what is the use of wasting
all that silver? If they can by law make
1t sixteen to one. why not put on another
clause and make it one to one? And If they
by fiat can add 4S cents worth of law tt
81 cents worth of silver and make 1t
dollar, why not make ali fiat and Use ths
silver for forks and spoons?
Col. IngersclIs agnosticism some
times inspires him to say Original
things. His sudden advocacy of thf
gold cure for all human ills induced
him to utter sentiments quite as false
as his others and by no means so strilr
! ing. But the rampant repudiator OF
Heaven ought to remember that he has
spoken about free silver before. The
gallant colonel is trying to trump his
own ace. Has he forgotten, or does he
simply not know his own mind? For
he bellies his own previous uttefances
Here is an extract from his lecture on
Farming as published in pamphlet
form by G. S. Baldwin,:
For my part, do not ask any interference
on the part of the government, except to
| undo the wrong it has done l do not as!:
| that money be made out of nothing. do
| not ask for the prosperity born of paper
| But l do ask for the remonetizat ton of sill
yer. Silver was demonetized by fraud.
| 1t was an imposition upon every solvent
man; fraud upon every honest debtor in
| the United States. It assasSinated labor.
| 1t was done in the interest of aVartce and
greed, and should be undone by honest
| men. The farmers should vote for only
such men as are able and willing to guarJ
! ana advance the interests of labor.
| Will the admirable aboIItiOnist CT
eternal JOY be good enough now to tell
us what made him climb over the fence
with so much celebrity and jump down
on the other side so hard? We appea
from Robert gold to Robert silver
There are no museums in this country
for two-headed orators or the coione
might command an enormous salary
Or is is possible that the eloquent spe
cial pleader for soup as substitute
| for salvation has looked upon the golG
when it was yellow in the bank, ane
become intoxicated with dreams o.
what may be his when the corruption
fund is placed where it will do the mos
good?
1t must be confessed that in a mai
so old and weighty as Col. Ingersol
such spryness is remarkable. But i
he really believes his own peculiar re
ligious doctrines it will be all the sam
a hundred years hence. He will no
be receiving his due reward for telling
the truth to the farmers and false
hood to the Chicagoans. But we be.
that he will collect HIMSELF; that b.
will get himself together, as it were
and give his fellow citizens some &C
count of the marvellous intellectual
process which converted the author o
the strong, direct and honest words il
the lecture to the farmers into tn
shrieking visionary of "free silve
swindles,'' mobs, 1.-The dagger, the tore
and the bomb."-N. Y. Journal.
PURCHASING POWER.