The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1896-08-20

who singly are endeavoring to sus-
tain themselves under single sill
yer standard forbid us to enter upon a
voyage upon. ! was about to say, untried
waters, but no-upon a voyage which we
can plainly see other nations are making
at the present time where we can plainly
view rocks of distress, the shoals and
quicksands Of their course from the secure
mainland upon which the American people
now stand and from which our opponents
are attempting to lure them by false lights
and false alarms. (Applause.)
We must take the facts exactly as
they are. We are not building Utopia. We
are administering society and human con-
cerns-society, being perfectly concrete,
Infinitely practical, somewhat selfish.
shall, therefore, appeal to the enlightened
selfshness of this audience to know whether
they will assist in bringing about that which
think l can prove will result from the
endeavors Of the gentlemen who are at
tempting to mislead them.
The world Is divided, just as sharply as
1t Is by oceans and mountain chains, be-
tween the gold STANDARD countries, who
employ, concurrently with gold, more silver
money than all the silver countries contain
or circulate, and the silver standard coun-
tries which have no gold currency
at se,o ALL .ouG Anpauss This say wt THAT the
Guiding the United States (and l call
them gold countries for the purpose, not of
definition, but Of clearness of eXpression),
employ and circulate more silver than all
the silver countries Of the world employ,
contain or circulate
l make another proposition. l appeal
to history and to contemporary facts, which
no man can dispute, that every free coinage
country is on silver basis. Isn't that SO?
(Cries Of yes) make another statement for
you to think of, for shall not here elaborate
it, am going to get to the figures pretty
soon-every gold country uses gold and
silver in amounts nearly equal by many
nations. Isn't that so? Cries of yes.) Isn't
that so in the United States? (Cries Of yes.)
In France? Voices, yes.) l make another
statement for your calm and cool reflection,
that no silver standard country has any
gold money as currency whatever ZAP
plause.) Don't take my word for It, Go
and investigate this subject. l say that
no silver country has any gold whatever as
currency, and you can search from Mexico
to Cape Horn and find that this statement is
correct. Within the last two years Chill and
Venezuela have been preparing, so the
newspapers state, to suspend or limit the
coinage Of silver and to coin gold.
Another statement, and l make 1t upon
sense of responsibility, after an exhaus-
tive examination of statistics, investigation
and records, that in every silver standard
country wages are pressed down to the
minimum of wretched subsistence. 1t is so
in Mexico; 1t is so in Japan; it Is so in
South America. / say that in every silver
country wages are pressed down to the
very minimum of wretched subsistence. ZAP
plause.)
Now, if 1t is true Il will not go into
the reasons for it). but If it Is true as
concrete, absolute fact, that no silver coun-
try, no country which has adopted the sill
yer standard has any gold in circulation
whatever. I say that it follows that the
only practical biu1Rt2llism on the planet Is
by the nations with Esich the United
States has classed itself, and 1t Is this BIZ
metallism in the United States which the
new Democracy and Populism are endeav-
oring to destroy by substituting silver
recommendation. Applause) The bimetal-
lism which this country and the nations OF
which I have spoken enjoy is the bimetal-
lism Of fact and actual enjoyment, extend
ing to that full extent which human judg-
ment, human experience, human apprehen-
sion-call it what you will-teach the pro-
portion to be in which the metals can he CO.
employed in degree that one will not de-
stroy or drive out the other and that both
can co-exist and work together. (Applause.)
For there Is an unquestionable dividing
line-I shall prove it further along, al
though it Is not necessary to prove it to
men who have read history, even cursorily-
there Is a dividing line beyond which you
cannot pass In the employment Of the metal
Of less value without its driving out the
other and entirely supplanting 1t. And
I say that he who insists that the United
States shall or can, acting alone, coin sill
cratic and POpulistic platforms, Is not BIZ
metallist, he is a silver monometallist, who
after spending years in attacking what he
deems the dark idolatry OF monometallism,
ends by immolating himself upon its altar.
(Applause.)
|. Let me right here-not exactly in the
logical connection-throw out thought
which, to me, has great deal of conse-
quence. 1t Is represented that gold has be-
come tyrant; that its power has become
omnipotent, absolutely selfish and cruel;
that it has become q metal which great
combinations, perhaps of nations, perhaps
of capitalists hoard and gather for the
oppression of mankind. Now, let me call
your attention to one fact. The free coin
ers assert, when they are told that the in
creased output of gold is going to tend
very much, and by natural processes, to
solve this question, that from One-half to
one-third of the gold annually produced in
the world goes into the arts. This state
ment Is probably an exaggeration. 1t is
probable that One-quarter of the gold Of the
world produced annually goes into the arts,
and it has been doing SO for centuries. Con-
slider for q moment what an enormous ag-
gregate. this is two billions, perhaps three
billions Of dollars worth exist In the shape
of golden ornaments, thousands of dollars
of them are in this room tonight. Now, I
want to ask you this question; If there is
q gold famine, If the power of gold is so
absolute and tyrannical as it Is claimed,
IL its possession in the shape of coin gives
it's owners such despotic sway over the
destinies and fortunes of his fell
low men, how is 1t that this
enormous amount of dormant gold,
perhaps one fourth of all that Is in exis-
tence has not shown the least tendency yet
to going into the melting pot to be turned
into coin?
But we hear great deal about the de-
monetization of silver and one would think
to hear our free-coiner friends declaim, that
silver has been entirely demonetized, that
by some malign influence the money func-
lions Of silver throughout the world have
been entirely abrogated. 1t Is a very catch
ing phrase. 1t has been a very catching
assumption, for I will not call 1t an argu-
ment.
Now. say, my fellow citizen, that, prop
erly considering the facts, that statement
IL inaccurate, not to say untrue. ! assert
that silver has never been demonetized In
the sense In which that charge has
been made. (Applause) Demonstration
means to divest Of standard value
as money, and say this has not been
done with any dollar Of silver coin
that was ever coined at any mint. Gap
plause)
1t is true that many nations who have
approached the DANGER line of which l