Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-08-14
THE OTHER CREEDS.
THE SILVER AND THE POPULST
PLATFORMS.

THE SILVER AND THE POPULlS7
PLATFORMS.
! They All Agree as to silver and OF
/ Quite n Number of other PROPOSE
/ tiOns-NO Cause for IL Want o
Harmony, If Individual selfish
ness Is barred.
! In order that our readers may un
derstand the exact positions OF tn,
allies for financial reform, We publish
the platforms OF the respective partie.
in full, for information and compari
son.
The National Silver Party, in con
vention assembled, hereby adopts the
following declaration of principles:
First, the paramount issue at this
time in the United States is indisputa.
bly, the money question. 1t is between
the gold standard, gold bonds and
bank currency on one side, and the
bimetallic standard, no bonds and
government currency on the other.
On this issue We declare ourselves
TO be in favor of a distinctively Ameri-
can financial system. We are un-
alterably opposed to the single gold
standard and demand the immediate
return to the constitutional standard
of gold and silver by the restoration
by this government, independently
Of any foreign nation, of the unre-
stricted coinage OF gold and silver as
the standard money at the ratio OF 16
to l, and upon terms of exact equality
as they existed prior to 1S73-the sill
yer coin to be full legal tender,
equally with gold, for all debts and
dues, public and private; and we favor
such legislation as will prevent for
the future the demonstration Of any
kind of legal tender money by private
contract.
We hold that the power to control
and regulate paper currency is in
separable from the power to coin
money, and hence that all cur
rency intended to circulate as money
should be issued and its volume con-
trolled by the general government
only, and should be legal tender.
We are unalterably opposed to the
issue by the United States of interest
bearing bonds in time OF peace, and
we denounce as a blunder worse than
crime the present treasury policy,
incurred by \ Republican House, Of
plunging us into debt by hundreds Of
millions in the vain attempt to main
tain the gold standard by borrowing
gold, and we demand the payment Of
all coin obligations of the United
States as provided by existing laws, in
either gold or silver coin at the option
Of the government, and not at the op-
ton OF the creditor.
The demonstration OF silver in
1873 enormously increased the demand
for gold, enhancing the purchasing
power and lowering all prices meas
ured by that standard, and since that
unjust and inexcusable act the prices
of American products have fallen,
upon an average, nearly so per cont,
carrying down with them proportion
ately the money value OF all other
forms of property. Such fall OF prices
have destroyed the profits of legiti-
mate industry, injuring the producer
for the benefit OF the non-producer.
increasing the burden of the debtor,
swelling the gains of the creditor,
paralyzing the productive energies of
the American people, relegating to
idleness q vast number OF willing
workers, sending the shadows OF des-
pair into the homes Of honest tOilers,
filling the land with tramps and
paupers, and building up of colossal
fortunes at the money centers.
In the effort to maintain the gold
standard the country has within the
last two years, time Of profound
plenty, been loaded down with $780,
100000 of interest-bearipg debt un-
der such circumstances as to allow .
syndicate OF native and foreign bank
ers to realize profit of millions on a
single deal. 1t stands confessed that
the gold standard can only be upheld
by so depicting our paper currency as
to force prices Of our products below
the European, and even below the
Asiatic level, and enable us TO sell in
foreign markets, thus aggavating the
very evils of which our people 80 Bit
terly complain, degrading American
labor and striking at the foundations
OF our civilization itself. The advo-
Gates OF the gold standard persistently
claim that the cause OF our distress
is over-production. that we have pro.
duced so much that it has made us
poor, which implies that the true
remedy is to close the factory, aban-
don the farm, and throw a multitude
OF people out OF employment, doc
trine that leaves US unnerved and dis
heartened and absolutely without hope
for the future.
We affirm 10 be unquestioned that
there can be no such economic para
dox as over-production and at the
same time tens of thousands OF our
fellow-citizens remaining half-clothed
and half.fed, and who are piteously
clsmoring for the common necessities