The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-25

The Gghtness and Vivacity of the rep
resentative free silverite are equaled
only by the Irishman's flea. He has
a new argument for you every day.
and all is grist that comes to his mill
We observe, now, frequent comments
in the free silver press upon the al
legged scarcity of gold and the difficulty
of getting possession of it. The ale
cation is made that you can not get
gold from the United States treasury
or from the banks upon any solicita-
ton. Gold and gold notes have en-
tirely disappeared" says a contempo-
rary, "and the country is practically
on silver basis" The paper which
makes this statement knows better at
least half the time, but a great many
who echo It do not. Tt is not true that
banks at the present time refuse, uni
versally, to pay out gold. Where they
know that gold is demanded for pur-
sonable hope it is to get a premium for
it at any cost to government or people,
their infamous schemes are plucked, if
possible. Where gold is needed for any
legitimate business, it can be obtained
But the banks and the treasury do well
to guard at every point the credit and
solvency of this nation against those
who are so craftily assailing it.
If there were left any capacity for
amazement in us, it would be stirred
to its depths by the extraordinary, col
ossal and appalling impudence of the
charge that we have just noticed.
Whose fault is it, in heavens name,
that there is today, in the minds of
any of our people, a thought of dis
elimination between the different
forms of our currency? Who is re-
sponsible if itching fingers clutch
eagerly the gold coins and refuse to
let them go? Who has brought it to
pass that there should rest a. shadow
of question as to the equal desirability
of other forms of money, and who has
concentrated the attention not only of
this country, but of the world, upon the
absolute safety Of gold as compared
with other forms of money? Who, in
deed, but the free silver agitators +?
Their crusade has come as blight and
curse to this nation, almost equal In
its disastrous effects to that of war
and pestilence. They, and they alone,
by the persistent. agitation which thew
have manufactured and maintained
have taught millions CT men. who
would otherwise never have thought to
draw the distinction, that the time
might come when gold dollar would
be worth more than a silver one. Ey-
erybody knows that if today it could be
made absolutely certain that there
would be no more agitation for the free
coinage of silver in this country, the
difference, If there be any. between
silver and gold would be forgotten be-
fore tomorrow morning. No man
would know or care which he received.
or which he paid out Neither the
treasury nor a single bank from ocean
to ocean would have the slightest mo-
tive for maintaining a gold reserve as
against the raids of spectators and
panic breeders.
1t passes the bounds of tolerance that
set Of men among us should create
anxiety and CONSERVATION. and con-
vince a large portion of the people
that gold is the only secure form
of money. and then turn around and
argue from the effects of their own
labors as against the wickedness of
those whose fears they have touched
The tendency to hold on to gold is only
the least Of those manifold disasters
that the free coinage agitation has
brought upon this people It has cost
us almost as much as did the civil war
1t has depressed the value of ever
mans property by from 10 to so per
cent 1t has threatened investment