Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1896-02-21
kept in peculiarly favored localities;


Whereas, Such fall of prices has de-
stroyed the profits of legitimate indus
try. injuring the producer for the
benefit of the on-producer, increasing
the burden of the debtor, and swelling
the gains of the creditor, paralyzing
the productive energies of the Amer
lean people, RELOCATING to idleness vast
numbers of willing workers, sending
the shadows of despair into the home
of the honest toiler, filling the land
with tramps and paupers and building
up colossal fortunes at the money CEN
ters; and
Whereas. In the effort to maintain
the gold standard the country has,
within the last eighteen months, in
time of profound peace and plenty, been
loaded down with $l62 ,000, 900 of addi-
tional Understanding debt under such
| circumstances as TO allow syndicate
OF native and foreign bankers to real
ize a net profit of $40 900 900 on a single
deal; and
Whereas, Another call is now pend
ing for a further gold loan of 800, 00O,-
900. which, but for an outburst OF popu-
lar Indignation, would also have been
negotiated in the same secret manner
and through the same syndicate; and
Whereas, 1t stands confessed that the
gold standard can only be upheld by so
depicting our paper currency as TO
force the prices of our products below
the European and even below the
Asiatic level, in order that We may
sell in foreign markets, thus aggravat-
ing the very evils of which our people
so bitterly complain, degrading Amer
lean labor and striking at the foun-
dations of our civilization itself; and
Whereas, The advocates of the gold
standard persistently claim that the
real cause of our distress is over pro-
duction-that we have produced so
much that it has made us poor, which
implies that the true remedy is to
close the factory, abandon the farm and
throw a multitude of people out of en-
ployment-a doctrine that leaves us
absolutely without hope for the future;
and
Whereas. The difference of exchange
between silver standard countries and
gold standard countries is equivalent to
a bounty equal to the difference be-
tween the value of gold and silver, in
favor of the products of silver stand
ard countries exported to gold stand
ard countries, and corresponding
tariff against the products of gold stan
dard countries exported TO silver using
countries; and
Whereas, The cost of production 9TH
erwise in the old world, and particular
ly in China and Japan, is far less than
the cost at which similar products can
be produced or manufactured in this
country by American labor without re-
ducing our farmers, miners, mechanics,
manufacturers and other industrial
workers on the level OF Chinese coolies;
and
Therefore, Be it resolved, That over
and above all other questions of policy,
we are in favor of restoring to the peo-
pie of the United States the time hon.
ored money of the constitution-gold
and silver, not one but both-the
money of Washington and Hamilton
and Jefferson and Monroe and Jackson
and Lincoln, TO the end that the Ameri-
can people may receive honest pay for
an honest product the American debt
or pay his just obligations in an hon
est standard and not in a standard that
is appreciated one hundred per cent
above all the great staples Of our coun-
try; and TO the end further that silver
standard countries may be deprived OF
the unjust advantage they now enjoy in
the difference in exchange between gold
and silver-an advantage which tariff
legislation alone cannot overcome.
We therefore confidently appeal to
the people of the United States to leave
in allegiance for the moment all other
questions however important and even
momentous they may appear, to sun
der ii need be, all former party ties and
Affiliations, and unite in one supreme
effort 10 free themselves and their chill
dren from the domination of the money
power "A power more destructive than
any which mas even been fastened upon
the civilized men of any race in any
age. And upon the contamination OF
their desires and efforts we invoke the
gracious favor of Divine Providence.