Omaha daily bee., 1896-05-17

ktlNtI paul bl Il ldTkt part VI lut NtuA I
the country hey built up a financial system
that makes II taAo almost as much in the
products Of labor to pay what is left as II
would have taken to ray the whole debt
when it was CONTRACTED. tApplause)
THE RIGHT OF CONTRACT.
He speaks Of the sacred right of contract,
and at last he qualities it. Unless It is
just the ground upon which we place It,.
We say that II Is against public policy TO
allow q handful Of the, creditor class to make
contracts and demonetize one money ana
raise the demand for the other, and then
collect the debts that they have made larger
by their own act. That Is what l say is
wrong. | want to ask him II the law has
net a right to regulate the rate OF interest.
Why does 1t do It? II does II in order that
the men who is in the grasp OF the money
lender may not be robbed by him because
of his power over HIM l know some people
say that they do not believe In usury laws
But wait until a man has had to pay 100 per
cent on his household goods because some
shylock has had him in his grasp, and then
they will agree that public policy requires
that you protect the borrower from the
greed Of the lender. And the very same rea-
son ~justifeg us in making a law prohibiting
gold contracts.
But after he had acknowledged that he
had made a contract and made 1t in coin,
so that he would not have to pay In gold,
| didn't suppose that he would get up ana
read us a lecture about paying in the same
money as was borrowed.
Now. I asked him to define bimetall!sm.
He has not done it. ask him again to
want a large use of silver. Don't they want
a large use of copper coins, too? Don't
they want a large use OF nickels? My
friends. we don't want a silver dollar that
is held up to gold by legal tender. We
want silver that is standard money, and
pOOd pnOuUh IN nav hODdhOldprS as we'll
as anybody else.
And l must not forget to answer one argu-
ment. He says, Why did the Rothschilds
want to demonetize silver when silver was
worth more than gold?
ENGLAND WITH A GOLF STANDARD.
My friends, here is the reason. At that
time England had the gold standard and
the money center was in London, and 1t
was easier to bring up other countries to
that standard than to attempt to change
their standard to suit others. And at that
time, also, the supply OF gold was de-
creasing and the supply of silver was in
c~reasing. and at that time a large amount
of gold was used in the arts and a larger
amount was being used each year. 1t
makes no difference to the creditor class
which kind of money they destroy. All
they want is to make money scarce and
better to destroy that money which seemed
to be ncreasing-sO that it might bless
nankind-rather than destroy that money
which was decreasing in its production.
That is the reason, my friends; He says
they are not fools. | know it. Nobody ac-
cuses them of being that. But l want tc
know what they think Of people who are
willing to put their necks into the halters
that they have prepared.
He says, how much will silver go up, If we
have the free coinage Of it? You cannot
tell until you try, and those who will not
try will never know, and they never want to
find out. Why, my friend here would have
us believe that as long as he thought there
was any chance of bringing gold and silver
together, he would favor bimetallism, That
is the equivalent of saying that, when the
dollar was only rising slowly and was only
a little dishonest, he didn't think much of 1t,
but, that as soon as it got to rising very
rapidly and was very dishonest, he fell in
love with it, now is going to stick to it, NO
matter how rapidly it tfises.
PUT YOUR MONEY IN THE VAULT.
l ask him whether he would, If he could,
have all nations agree upon the double
standard Of gold and silver at a fixed ratio ?
If he says yes, then he admits that there is
not gold enough to do the business of the
world. No man who believes that the gold
standard is a good thing will be in favor OF
international bimetallistn, and he must either
denounce the gold standard as wrong, OF
else he must say that the gold standard is
all right, and that he does not want BIZ
metallism. ~ x:
l believe the free coinage of silver will ere,
ate a demand for it, and that that demand will
increase the price, and that that will reduce
the purchasing power Of gold, by making
silver a competitor, until they come together
at 16 to /, where they used to be, and then
we will have a stable standard.
Under the present system it is safer, it is
better, 1t Is more profitable to put your
money into a vault and keep 1t and earn the
rise in the value of the money, than it is
to put your money into enterprises and de-
velop the interests Of this country. My
friends, that is the question he must meet
and | want him to show to this audience
where the gold standard is going to helr
develop the resources of Nebraska. Why, he
says that credit is everything. l want to ask
him how he is going to restore confidence
in those people whose property has become
less than the amount of their debts. ZAP.
plause.)