Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1896-09-10

that parity between our silver and gold
coins which the law declares is the
policy of the government, and because
he has the courage to execute the pow
ers given to him by the resumption act
to carry out that declaration of public
that if Mr.. Bryan, OF man holding his
views, were in the presidential chair,
without any legislation by Congress, we
should be on a silver basis in a weeks
time. (Applause).
1.-THE silver question-what is it? Do
you want silver because you want more
money, larger circulating medium? l
have not heard anybody say So. Mr..
Bryan is not urging it upon that basis.
If anybody were to seek to give that as
a reason for wanting free silver he would
be very soon COMPOUNDED by the state
ment that free silver would put more
gold out of circulation than minis of the
United States could possibly bring in in
years of silver, and that instead Of hav-
ing more money we would have less. ZAP
plause.) With our six hundred and odd
million of gold driven out of circulation
we will reduce our per capita money of
this country between eight and nine dol
lars. So it is not for more money. We
have an abundant supply of circulating
medium-gOld, silver, national bank
greenbacks, treasury notes, fractional sill
yer: We. have something like $23 per
capita of our population. What is it,
then, that creates this demand for silver?
It is openly avowed. 1t is not more dol
lars, but cheaper dollars that are wanted.
It is lower standard of value that they
are demanding. They say gold has gone
up until it has ceased to be proper
standard of value, and they want silver.
But how do they want it.
"Now, my friends, there is a great
deal of talk about bimetallism and the
double standard and great deal of con-
fusion in the use of those terms. BIZ
metallism is the use of the two metals
as money where they are both used
By double standard they mean that
we shall have gold dollar and silver
dollar which will be a unit of value,
by which all property and all wages
and everything is to 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 it took to be equal to one ounce
of gold in the markets of the world
where gold and silver were used, and
they carefully went about ascertaining
that. Thomas Jefferson and 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 to be the general and average
relative value of these two metals they
fixed upon ratio between them. Now,
what was the object of all that? Why
did they lump it 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. Gap
plause)
"As things are now the silver dollars
tnat we have are supported by the gov
ports this silver bullion has issued these
dollars on it's own account-not for the
mine owner-and it has pledged it's sa-
cred honor it would make every one of
these dollars as good as a gold dollar.
(Great applause.) And that is power
full support. Our Populistic friends pro-
pose that the man who digs silver out of
have it stamped and handed back to him
as dollar, the government having no
responsibility about it. These men
would reject with contempt the PROPOSE
ton that free coinage was to come with
pledge on behalf Of the government
to maintain the parity of the two dollars.
Applause) But this feeling is we'll
adapted to touch the prevailing American
bumptiousness and well adapted to
touch that prejudice against England
which many have, but can we do this
thing ourselves? Is it question wheth-
er we will do it, or ask anybody's con-
sent whether we may, or ask the coop
Grafton of somebody? Not at all. I
tell you what this government can do
alone. It can fix it's 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.)
1t is unquestionably fully within the
power of this government to bring this
country to silver basis by coming silver
dollars and making them legel tender.
They can do that.
take one of these dollars, but it cannot
say and enforce its decree-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.
Great applause and cheers.) 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 it is. (Applause.) And it is not
unless the merchants take it at that
rate.
ssWhat is the next suggestion It is,
my friends, in the case of free silver,
what Isl the financial and moral oOuiya.