The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-09-30
SSIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.

an object lesson for those who doubt
the capacity Of the people for self
government The money question Is
the most difficult to understand, and
.e most important OF all political
and economic subjects. 1t is at the
foundation of civilization itself.
There are two inventions Of man
without both OF which civilization is
impossible. One is money; the 9TH
er, language. Money enables each
member of society to avail himself OF
what others produce Language
makes the knowledge OF all accessible
to each. No individual can live for
any considerable length of time
without availing himself OF the labors
of others. In isolation neither Ian
guage nor money has any use or val
ue. No tribe of aborigines has been
found which did not have some kind
Of money. The impractlcablllty OF
exchanging commodities for commod-
tiles forces men who associate togeth-
er to establish representative OF
value, or medium of exchange. It
may be sticks, shells, or anything else
which the tribe selects, and by agree
ment or law of the tribe makes
measure of value and medium Of ex-
change. In all cases money IS the
creation of law or agreement or Gus
tom, which the tribe or nation obey.
The money in any tribe or nation
which is used as medium of ex-
change is in effect demand for all
the property, and all the property OF
a tribe or nation is demand for all
the money in circulation. The value
of each dollar depends apon the num-
Der of dollars, or other units of mon
ey, in circulation compared to the de-
mand, the same as the value OF chick
ems or eggs depends upon the supply
of chickens or eggs.
From time immemorial the most
civilized nations have used gold and
silver as money. The reason why
these metals have been SO long used
for that purpose is that they are IN
destructible in quality, easily 's!visl-
bic, and lin,i;ed in quantity. When
mines are productive m'>ccy IS plen-
tiful -aa.:: ,cii,iIizatiou advances; when
! tne mines are closed, money is scarce,
and barbarism follows In 1873 the
mines of gold and silver were pro-
ductiye and had been for more than
twenty years, and the civilization OF
the world was in most prosperous
condition. The indebtedness of the
world at that time was estimated at
about hundred thousand ulilllon.
rhe dealers in money and bonds
wanted to make the property which
they had more valueable. They re-
solved to demonetize one OF the met
ais, which would reduce the supply
OF money, and by that means in
crease the value of money and bonds,
which are money futures. Without
consulting the American people, they
secured Legislation which excluded
silver from the mints of the United
States and Europe. Previous to that
time, persons who bad either gold or
silver could take il to the mint and
have it coined into money. This
privilege had existed among the more
civilized nations for thousands OF
years. 1t was accorded by the con-
stitution aud laws of the Tnited
States, and enjoyed by tie people
until the passage of the ,arint act in
1873. The demonetiziug of silver
threw the entire demand for money
upon gold ~aloue, ard in the last
twenty-tnree years has doubled tae
purchasing power of gold. The
Democratic and Republican palties,
IL all their national conventions pre-
vious to the present year, declared
that they were in favor Of the res;o-
ration OF silver to the place it occu-
pied as a money metal previous to
1878; but whichever succeeded at tie
election used the Ell ire powe: OF tie
government to destroy silver IS .
money metal, and Adhere! to tae e Ii
standard. The Populist an-I Silver
parties came into existence as Il pro-
test asains; the action OF the two old
parties in uiaiutaluiag TIE gol'i stan
dara. 1t is II curious fact that tie
people, at every election, supposed
that they We're voting for the reSto-
ration Of tie coinage laws OF the bet
ter days of the republic when they
we're voting either the Democratic or
Republican ticket. They could not
believe that their trusted leaders
were deceiving than when they de-
clared that they were IL favor of the
coinage laws Of Hamilton, Jefferson
and jackson. The. creation of the
Populist party and the discomfort
OF the people could not be ignored.
The bondholders and dealers in mon
ey controlling the commercial trusts,
the banks and the professional poll
ticiaus, ali insisted that the subter-
fuge should be thrown off, and that
both the old parties should declare
ir favor of the English gold standard.
The republican party complied with
the command of the gold syndicate
of Wall and Lombard streets, and
declared that it would maintain the
gold standard as lors as England
and other creditor nations desired.
This was regarded by the people as
plea of guilty. The masses of the Re
publican party, who believed in the
right of the United States to main
tain an indepepaeut financial policy,