The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1896-10-24
sENA OR rILLIaN,s spEEoy
A Plain and Logical Presentation of tht
Money Question.

$, lima at an open air meeting in trout
~ the court house last night. The tirin
le of few anvils announced the tim
and place of the speaking, and th
Bryan club marched from the Baldwin
opera house through some of the prln
cipal streets of the city, without musl
to herald their coming, carrying tw'
dozen torches and d number of trans
IS pdrancies, and arrived at the cUur
'- mouse promptly at 7:30. A large crowd
ID estimated at from SO0 To 1000, had Us
sem bIed. and when Senator Tillmar
: mounted the platform he was greeted
: by hearty cheer.
The senator devoted little time to
Introductory remarks, simply refer
ring to his trip across the continent
, and regretting that a joint discussion
could not have been arranged between
himself and r. SchOonmaker, then
entered upon discussion of the pres
ent issues upon which the American
people will be called TO decide on Nov.
Sd.
The tariff, the senator held, was OF
secondary consideration, since any
change in present schedules was i'm
possible under present. conditions, with
I senate firmly determined TO do some
ching TO increase the circulating me-
dunn Of the country before iuiiictins
further burdens of taxation upon the
people. AS to protecting American
industry, the speaker held he was IN
accord with the most radical protec-
zionist, provided the protection was
accorded to all classes alike. and could
| be extended TO the farmers as we'll as
the manufacturers; but the farmers,
who are the real and primary producers
of wealth, he declared. were entitled to
fist consideration.
Hardly had the senator spoken fifteen
minutes when the Mckinley parade
passed along second street, only
block away, with their band of music,
throwing rockets and yelling for Nc
Kinley, and his audience displaying
much enthusiasm for their champion,
Bryan, caused such confusion that he
was forced to cease speaking for a
time. To the interference he simply
remarked that Mark Hanna was pay
ing for the noise that was passing by.
This remark called for more cheers
for Bryan, and some one in the crowd
hallooed "hurrah for Mckinley" To
this intruder the senator asked, "To
which Mckinley do you refer; the one
who in 1890 was as true free silver
man as I, or the Mckinley who today
is wearing Mark Hanna's collar ~
Nothing further was heard of McKin-
ley during the meeting.
Taking up the financial question, the
senator held that whenever any COM
modify was made scarce, its price must |
necessarily increase. Money is only a |
commodity used to measure values, the
yardstick as it were, by which the
price of all other commodities is fixed,
and when money is made scarce, either |
by legislation or otherwise, its price |
must advance, or in other words the |
prise Of other articles must fall. This |
he held was the state of affairs that !
exists today and has existed every
since the demonetization of silver. By /
the characterization of silver by thea
Latin Union and the United States, |
one-half the primary money OF those
countries had been stricken down; .
that is, its office of money of final re- /
demption had been taken from it, |
therefore the supply of money had !
been reduced one-half; the demand I
had increased, and corresponding |
decrease in tho value of the products
of labor had resulted, as "a result the
holder of money had been enabled to ,
get more in return for his property, |
while the producer of other commodi-
ties was compelled to take less for the
results of his labor.
To illustrate the effects of the con-
traction of currency, the speaker said:
Suppose this audience were to set
down to a table to eat. All should be
supplied with bread and two plates of
butter, enough to supply all, one plate
of white, one of yellow. If the white
butter Were taken away, there would
either be only enough of the yellow
for half the people. or each would be
only half supplied" This, he held,
was parallel to the financial condition
that now exists. Half the primary
money was lacking since silver was
demonetized, and since the supply of
gold had not doubled, one-half the
people must either go without money
or the whole would be only half sup
piled.
His answer to the assumption that
silver dollar under free coinage, would
be only a half-dollar dollar, was refuted
beyond contradiction. He illustrated by
presuming that before him were three
dollars, one of gold, one of silver and
one of paper. Burn them all, the Iaper
dollar would be utterly destroyed,
because the stamp of the government
was obliterated, the gold dollar would
remain unchanged so far as value was
concerned. Why is this. The gold
dollar would remain the same only be-
cause the owner could take the bullion
to the mint and have it recoined; half
the value of the silver dollar was de-
stroyed because the owner could not
have it recoined, and all the value of
the paper money was gone because the
promise of the government to pay had
been destroyed. Place silver on an
equality with gold by allowing the
owner of the burned coin to have it re-
coined and is value would not be
affected by fire.
Throughout, Senator Tillman's
speech was plain, forcible discussion
of the financial question. While it
was not couched in the language of
the trained elocutionist, it was such
a statement of facts as any one could
comprehend. Every word he utters is
spoken with such earnestness as to
convince his hearers that he is honest
in his convictions, that he believes
every word he says. Those who ha1a<
L. l. L.