Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-05-01
ELMA, la. APRIL "a, 1896.


EnIToR PLAIN DEALER:
In the issue of your paper after the
debate you intended to answer the
arguments made by the speakers on
the negative" and in your remarks l
see clearly the ''error of your ways"
which l shall propose to point out
and have you publish same with
your reply, and with your approval l
would like to carry on this discussion,
but must have your assurance that
you will confine yourself to the ques-
ton and seek to avenge no personal
prejudice, nor make any attempts at
ridicule etc.
In your reply to my argument
about the apples and oranges being
units of value you virtually admit
that the proposed free coinage of
silver at 16 to would give the people
but single standard of silver and
yet you continually make a plea for
bimetallism. Not only that but the
uninterrupted experience of man
kind and confirmed by the authority
and testimony of every great writer
of political economy in every
language of the earth, admit that it
will give us single standard of the
cheaper metal. Now if the proposed
change will not give us a double
standard as it will not, and l
challenge anyone to name single
country in the world enjoying the
use of both gold and silver under free
coinage, at ratio less than the
market ratio. Then if you wish to
be honest with your readers and
with the public, cry and work for a
single standard of silver, and do call
things by their right names. The
people can not stand this masqurad-
ing, even though your purpose is
good in intentions. Now in answer
to your question l must say that
neither gold or silver is crop which
can or may fail, because we can see
by looking over our statistics that
\
at an enormous rate in the last
three years from $30,OO0,O0O in q
think 1889 to over 1920 00O.000 in 1895,
and this ratio of increase of produc-
ton is still going to continue accord
ing to the best authorities. When
we look ut figures presented by
South African, Australian, Siberian,
and Colorado gold miners. The
financial experience of our country
during the past is not due to our
gold standard of our money, only,
perhaps in this way, all people who
held securities, stock, or even paper
or silver money, began to see the agi-
tation in our congress. and senate
began at once to convert their money
into gold and either hoard it or in.
| vest where there was no reasonable
chance of their property depreciat-
! ing in value.
Now, you believe in substituting a
cheaper or so cent dollar for no other
purpose than to scale u debt. There
can be no other motive, because rea
son tells us that, no matter what
kinds of dollars we have, it will not
and can not change the relative va
, ues, that is. it will not change thu
ratio of value between q bushel O
oats and pound of oatmeal. nor be
tween q bushel of wheat and u sacl
:, of flour, nor bushel of flax to gal
Ion OIL 1t will leave the relativ,
values of all commodities a man ha
to sell or buy the same. Its only vir
tue will be to subvert all existing
a contracts and rob every creditor jus
f as | illustrated in my argument a
Cresco. Now, can you produce al
argument to prove that it is just L
legislate III favor of class? And, a
, ! you say we have had legislation tina
= favored class in the past twent
! years. Very we'll, let us suppose 70
: argument sake, admit that the dolla
: has appreciated. if SO then it too
= nearly 20 years 20 appreciate it Nov
:, you propose as sourd policy to d.
. preciate in the passage o. q single &C
q of congress the appreciation Of Z
q years. Now if any debts were cor
tracted during this time they wer
not running longer than an averag
!, period of five years. Let us suppos
: you take q lake steamer and wish t
sail from lake Erie to lake Outarit
which is about 175 feet lower tina
lake Erie. Now if you sailed down o
9 the canal you could by degrees lie
= the boat down the 175 feet, with til
aid of locks, without any injury
the boat. But could you take tina
same boat and plunge it over the fal
e without dashlng it to pieces? No
e you see the proposed change woul
H be all the difference between sailin
down the stream and plunging DYE
the falls
e But I question whether there eve
IS was time in the history of TIL
Is country when it was easier to pay
debt than during the last 20 years c
the last years. Interest rates al
vs. low and will remain low as long g
Il there is confidence that full value wi
y be repaid.
And my own personal experienc
=. on 240 acre farm our receipts wel
over $2700. of course if prices wer
= higher we would have made MOI