Evening journal., 1896-06-23
Good words From whItnoy.

Ex Secretary of the Navy william O.
whitney is firm believer In the gold
standard. He is so patriotic that he has
deferred his trip abroad Ia order to use
his influence In behalf Of the yellow
metal at the Chicago convention. In an
open letter sent to the press yesterday
he says:
Whatever the causes are ard whoever Is 20
blame. the fact Is that silver has declined, and
frse coinage now at l6 70 ia the same aa our
Offering for all the silver IN the world about
twice what IL Is seiiing for in the market. In
t0rnatiOnal exchanges have TO be paid 10 gold.
And IL would seem plain that II we, under
these conditions, opeu our mints to free cOiL-
a OF silver and gold AZ a ratio Of comparA-
tive value which Is largely at variance with
must take the entire silver surplus ourselves.
and alone maintain its parity with gold, or
else we shall 20 20 a silver basis.
If the result of the measures proposed
would be to carry US TO a silver basis 10 Is not
telt here that such a proposal would be in line
with the principles OF the Democratic party
Q Is not the joint standard with the purchas.
Ing power Of the dollars az parity with each
other, but 10 Is changing from ore standard TO
ciated coin.
Aud II is also felt. aside from the absence Of
any Democratic principle 10 sustain IL. that
you cannot have such disturbance of
values as would come from changing from a
gold TO a silver basis, without such a shock 10
confidence, the boarding OF gold and contrac-
tiOn OF your available circulating medium as
wiuld bring, la the opinion Of our people. the
worst panic and distress we h we ever seen IN
this country.
Tn creditor classes are prepared for Il. The
obligations, mortgages, railroad and other
wise, are quite generally payable In gold
Debts would still be payable in gold. but
being the poorer classes.
This movement, purporting to be in the In
tersst OF the Joint standard, comes nc most
inopportune Time, in my opinion
There has never been n time when the
prospects OF international action favorable e
the Joint standard were at All as promising AZ
Nv tna present moment. But an ill-edvised
unsuccessful attempt here would diecredi
the cause the world over.
Personally, IL is my opinion II the Demo
cratlc party goes on 10 that platform at thif
time Il will meet the most disastrous cefeRi
that any party has evet had in this country
understand 10 Ia honestly believed In anC
people think Il win bring relief frsm Their
present troubles, bat between now and
election day ttWiu be pretty thoroughly siftet
and the people Of this country Will not face
the disturbance OF values, the loss OF cont
donce. the general distress and ruin which
wOnld come 20 their business interes sta a
such change in their standard OF value al
would arise from such action. And it will
IN my opinion, overwhelm the persons whit
undertake 10.
This Is sound argument on the mono,
question and will meet with the ap
provRl Of large maj ,rity OF the Demo
Gratis Of the North and East in addition
TO receiving liberal support In tho Soutl
and West
Reports recsived thus far indicate tina
the Sllverites will control the Chicag
convention, but It Is to bo hoped tha
when the clans gather the wise counsel
OF such men as Cleveland, Carlisle
Whitney aud Gray will prevail and pr,
vent the Sllverites from frRmi ng plal
form and selecting candidates, the yer
character of which would foredoon tn
party to defeat In November.