The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1896-10-16

vote, it would not be adopted by an
overwhelming majority. If the
proposition were to be submitted t.
the votes of the people of this
country at large, whether'the silver
dollar should be recoined and silver
remonetized, Notwithstanding the
prophecies, the predictions, the
animadversions of those who are
opposed to it, l have not the slight
est doubt that great majority of
the people, irrespective of party,
would be in favor of it and would so
record themselves. They have de-
clared in favor of it for the past 10
years, and they have been juggled
with, they have been thwarted,
they have been paltered with and
dealt with in a double sense. The
word of promise that was made to
their ear in the platforms of political
parties has been broken to their
hope. There was majority in this
body at the last session of congress
in favor of the free coinage of silver.
The compromise that was made was
not what the people expected nor
what they had right to demand.
They felt that they had been tritied
with, and that is one cause of the
evaporation that was expressed in
the verdict of November 4.
L am not prophet nor the son of
prophet, but | say to those who
are now arraying themselves against
the deliberately expressed judgment
of the American people, judg
ment that they know has been de-
clared and recorded; L say to the
members of this body;I say, 50 far
as 1 may do so with propriety, to the
members of the executive of the
nation, that there will come time
when the people will be trifed with
no longer on this subject. Once,
twice, thrice, by executive in
tervention, Democratic and Republi-
can, by parliamentary proceedings
that [ need not characterize, by va
rious methods of legislative jugglery,
the deliberate purpose of the Ameri-
can people, irrespective of party has
been thwarted, it has been defied, it
has been contumaciously trodden
underfoot, and repeat to those who
have been the instruments and i'm
plements, no matter what the i'm
pulse or the motive or the intention
may have been, at some time the
people will elect a House of Repre-
sentatives, they will elect Senate
of the United States, they will elect
President of the United States,
who will carry out the pledges and
execute the popular will.
| oho1l onr1iollxy annnnrt tho
amendment proposed by the Senator
| from Nevada. In doing so not only
follow the dictates of my own judg-
ment, but l carry out the wishes of
the great majority of my. constitu-
ents, irrespective of party or political
affiliations. I have been for the
free coinage from the outset, and |
am free to say that, after having OBJ
served the operations of the act of
| 1878, / am more than ever convinced
of the wisdom ofthat legislation and
of the futility of the accusations by
which it was assailed. The people
of this country that L represent have
lost their reverence for gold. They
have no longer any superstition
about coin. Notwithstanding all the
declarations of the monometallists,
Notwithstanding all the assaults that
have been made by those who are in
favor of still further increasing the
value of the standard by which their
possessions are measured, they know
! that money is neither wealth nor
capital nor value and that it is mere
| ly the creation of the law by which
| all these are estimated and meas
ured. ~
Doubtless, Mr.. President, you
search the Scriptures daily and are
therefore familiar with the story of
those departed politicians of Judea
who sought to entaugle the Master in
his talk BY asking him if it was law
full to pay tribute to Caesar or not.
He, perceiving the purpose that they
had in view, said unto them, "Show
me the tribute money" and they
brought him a penny. He said,
Whose is this image and superscrip-
tion?" And they replied, CAESARS. y
And he said, "Render unto Caesar
the things that are Cbsar's and unto
God the things that are Gods"
/ hold, Mr.. President between my
thumb and finger silver denarius,
or penny" of that ancient time,
bearing the image and superscrip-
tion of Caesar. 1t has been money
for more than 20 centuries. I'm
perial Caesar is "dead and turned to
clay" He has yielded to a mightier
conqueror, and his eagles, his en-
signs and his trophies are indistill-
guishable dust. His triumphs and
his victories are a school-boys tale
Rome herself is but memory. Her
marble porticoes and temples and
palaces are in ruins. The sluggish
monk and the lazy lazzaroni haunt
the senate houses and the Coliseum
and the derisive owl wakes the
echoes of the voiceless forum, but
this contemporary disk of silver is
money still because it bears the
image and superseription of Caesar
And, sir, it will continue to be
money for 20 centuries more should
it resist so long the corroding cankel
and the gnawing tooth of time. But
if one of these pages here should
take this coin to the railway track
and allow the train to pass over it
in one single instant its functions
would have disappeared, and il
would be money no longer, because
the image and superscription of Ce'
sar would have disappeared.
Mr.. President, money Is the crea.
ton of law, and the American peo'
pie have learned that lesson, and
IL 4 49, "a 80