Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1896-05-28

VoS6&&A6
Let Us work for Our own Interest and
Let England Take Care of Herself.
The Republican party in it's platform
promulgated at Minneapolis, 1892, con-
corning finances, said:
The American people from tradition
and interest favor bimetalllsm, and the
Republican party demands the use OF
both gold and silver as STANDARD
money, etc.
What is bimetallism? Muhlman in
his book, page II, says:
A bimetallic system of currency, to be
completely effective, must in the view of
those who advocate it, include two es-
sential features: l. An open mint ready
to coin any quantity of either gold or
silver which may be brought to it; 2.
The right on the part of a debtor to dis
charge his liabilities, at his option, IN
either of the metals at a ratio fixed by
law.
Senator Sherman, in a speech made
in the present congress Congressional
Record, page 2444) says, in referring to
the advocates of free silver coinage:
"What do they want? Do they want
to make the dollar cheaper, or do they
want to cheat the creditors on debts
which were contracted on the gold
standard? It seems to me this is dis
honest proposition"
The New York Evening Post says:
"There are some people "a diminish
ing number) who hesitate to avow them
selves in favor of the single gold stand
ard, although they are opposed to any
change from the present system. There
are others (also diminishing number)
who think that because certain limit
ed number of silver dollars are in circu-
lation,:,we have bimetallism or the double
standard in this country. This is a
totally false conception, as false as 1t
would be to assume that we have pa
per standard because we have limited
number of paper dollars or greenbacks
in circulation. The gold bugs have no
change of standard in contemplation.
They are satisfied with the present post
ure of affairs, 80 far as that goes. The
expulsion of everything but gold as real
money took place in 1878 and continues
undated"
This position is endorsed by Senator
Sherman who is today regarded as the
leading republican of the country. He
has not always held to this idea, how
ever, for on July l., 1876 in the Senate,
referring to Germany IN demonetizing
silver, said:
'The enormous effect of the law in
Germany, and as a consequence, the
partial demonstration of silver coins,
suppose is felt by every man, woman and
child who buys or sells anything. A
struggle for the possession of gold at
h4% 4o0
because anybody could see that if $4,000,
100000 of silver coin was demonetized
and S3.5O0,OOO,OOO Of gold coin made the
sole standard, it would enormously add
to the value of gold, and the bank Of
England and the Imperial bank of Ger
many at once commenced grasping for
gold in whatever form. Therefore, what
we have observed. recently is not so
much q fall of SLIDER as it is a rise of
gold, the inevitable effect of the de-
monetization of silver"
And yet, Senator Sherman and every
other gold standard man in the country
stoutly maintains that gold has not ap-
preciated, but that silver has depreciat-
ed, and about the only argument they
offer in answer to the free coinage Re-
publicans is to call them ''lunatics" and
Stree silver cranks."
That eliminating silver from our coin
age as standard money limits the
amount of circulating medium is borne
out by the best authors on economic
science the world over. Leon Fauchet,
in Researches upon Gold and Silver
says:
eff all the nations of Europe adopted
the system of Great Britain the price of
gold would be raised beyond measure,
and we should see produced in Europe
a result lamentable enough"
And this is just what has occurred,
and how aptly and truthfully it express
IS the situation here in the United
States. Before French monetary con-
vention in 1869, the late M. Wolowski,
said:
''The sum total of the precious metals
is reckoned at fifty milliards, one half
gold and one-half silver. If by stroke
OF the pen, they suppress one of these
metals in the monetary service, they
double the demand for the other metal
to the ruin of all debtors"
At the same time, Mr.. M. Rouland,
governor of the Bank of France, said:
ave have not to deal with ideal theo.
ries. Two monies have actually cock.
listed since the origin of human society
They co-exist because the two together