The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-05


interests and the number and volume of
its business transactions. Money is a nee
it has been called "a tool of exchange" It
may be made of any material-shells. cop
per, .wampum. iron gold. nickel or silver;
provided always that ii will be accepted
money by ali the people who have use
for it. 1t circulates-that is. passes from
one to another in the channels of trade
receives it knows that it will not lose it's
value while he has it. and that when he
thing else. If it circulates freely every
where without question. it is good tool
of exchange, and business will be brisk.
If confidence in its permanent value is i'm
paired. il circulates slowly, and business
will be slow. Money is the life blood of
business, and sound, healthy business con-
ditions depend upon its purity. After many
centuries of experience, civilized mankind,
without regard to climate. latitude or longt-
tude, have agreed that the best materials
to use for money are silver and gold. SO
long as gold is scarcer. harder to get and
valuable than other metals which can be
got more easily and at less expense. Gold
greater value than any other money metal.
To get at the relative values of gold and
ounces of one should be given for ounce
of the other, has been a difficult matter.
To do it exactly is not possible. The best
that can be done is to get as near to 1t as
practicable Each nation must determine 1T
for its oYn people, but it must be done ac-
cording Go law and rule which wise men
of all nations recognize and act upon, and
that rule is that the coinage or mint ratio
SHALL nearly possible coincide with
the commercial ratio the metals have in
the markets of the world. This law and
rule has been sanctioned by Isaac Newton
Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and
every leading statesman of every civilized
nation, and it was never seriously chal-
lenged until. twenty years ago, the owners
of silver mines began to denounce it.; and
now Democratic candidate for President
and a Democratic platform declare in eff
feet that Newton, and jefferson, and Ham
ilton knew nothing. and that wisdom re-
sides alone with the silver mine owners
and with the PETERS, Tillmans, Altgelds
and organs.
For barbarous or half-civilized peoples it
makes very little difference what the laws
money; but as soon as one nations com
merce touches the commerce of another it
torical instance will show this, though
there many others teaching the same
lesson When the Dutch settled Man
haitian island they found it convenient to
adopt the currency system of the Indians;
so they had three kinds of money-strings
of beads made out of oyster shells, called
law fixed the ratio-so much wampum
beaver for so much silver. After awhile
trade with their Dutch neighbors. They
began the free coinage of wampum the
the oysters and manufactured wampum
from the shells. They. bought what the
Dutch had to sell and paid them with
wampum: but when they sold the Dutch
their wooden nutmegs and clocks and
onions they accepted nothing but silver in
payment. AS result the silver all left the
Dutch and went to the Yankees, while the
Dutch found themselves the owners of
nearly all the wampum. There was a case
where GreShamS law operated. The val
liable money disappeared and there was a
glut of cheap money, to the great disgust
ted free coinage. And whether with wan
pun or silver the rule works just the same
The fact that the Dutch laws made wam-
pun a legal tender did not help the Dutch
To suppose that we shall be able to retain
our our gold coin when cheap silver is coined
Nation to Keep what Silver dollars we 81 have awe
on parity with our gold dollars is the only
thing that makes them worth more than
81 cents. This is great burden on the
government, but. with laws that will give
US as much revenue as we had during Re-
AS matters now stand Mr. Cleveland's adj
ministration, with an empty treasury can
barely keep up the governments credit by
uortgaglng the future and issuing bonds
OTHER EXPERIENCES
We had an experience in this country
with cheap money once, which many Of you
will remember, and most of you have read
about it. Instead of silver and gold. we
had wildcat money, which was something
ike Wampum. / have some OF it here is
sued by the Gramercy Bank of LAFAYETTE
and the State Stock Bank of Logansport
We had them all over the State This was
free-banking wampum, and it cheated the
people just as free-coinage silver will cheat
them These bills had one value here an
other value in Ohio. they were worth stiu
less in Pennsylvania, and finally became
absolutely worthless. They were worth
just what the people you offered them to
thought the stocks upon which they were
based We're worth. And with free silver
your dollar will be worth just what the
silver in 1t is worth, and not cent more
The only way to uphold the credit and
honor or the Nation and to promote fair
dealing is to limit the legal-tender silver
currency to the point where without in
creasing the national debt, the parity now
existing between gold and silver can be
maintained.
TO issue silver under a free-coinage law
would promote rascality. We have enough |
or 1T now. do not share the opinion of
some that the man or woman or corpora
ton that lends me money at nv reauest |
becomes the enemy of the human race
when the time for repayment comes If /
borrow another mans money and lose 1t |
a rascal If l try to cheat him out of any
part of his money
There is complaint that money is close |
and hard to get There is plenty of gold
ana silver and paper money in the land |
Why is it not in circulation? 1t is because |
platform that if they come into power they |
will enact law that will compel a man |
who lends a thousand dollars for a year to |
receive five hundred dollars in full pay
ment. The man who has money wishes to |
use it, and he will use it whenever he is |
assured that the existing values of money |
and money obligations will, not be impaired |
Everybody knows that the bulk of business |
is done on credit, and when the man who |
lends is sure that he will get his money /
back, with lawful interest, when it is due. |
will lend freely.
L close as / began by reminding YOU that
men and nations can only prosper by Civ
ing heed to the lessons of experience. |
When boy | had a pet raccoon that used
to come into my bedroom in the summer
nights. He wished to investigate the light
ed candle. He put one paw into the flame
and took it out suddenly; ne repeated the
result. Not satisfied he stuck his nose
into it and singed his whiskers which
seemed to satisfy his curiosity. Have we |
not experimental with the Democracy |
enough?