The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-09-27


er for myself. But IN all he searca ever
made for money power have never yet
discovered IL except where I saw q pair
OF orswny hands az work making some
thing useful for the family OF mankind.
Great applausee
Il have received . great many letters.
some anonymous. some signed. and even
3 few printed. since had the good or III
fortune 10 make speech N Madison
Square on this question. and every one
OF these statements. which assumed 10
give me information as 10 how j change
II the monetary system is going 10 enrich
every body and increase the rate 81 wages.
opens up with the statement that Eng
land "a now trembling lest we so 10 a sill
yer standard and damage her commercial
prestige.
Statements Of Enxland's Fear.
When gentleman makes a statement
OF this kind he winds NO his statement by
saying: These are cold facts ard not po-
Hrical Congregations IAughter.)
Vow. / never knew where England was
trembling. or how she was trembling. I
never knew OF any gentleman who put his
hand on her 10 find out how she was
trembling. but IL she is * must be with
merriment at the men who are proposing
TO compete with her fer the markets OF
the world by using an inferior money 10
that with which she has accomplished the
Industrial conQQeSts OF the world ZAP
rlausel There Is nothing new IN this
statement II used 20 be made in Eng
land in 1896. Now. before that time-and
IL you will pardon ne. Just for A brief his
torical statement of the method in which
England's commercial greatness was es-
tahiished. you will see upon the spot the
hoiiowness and the folly of this particular
feature of PopuIistic eloquence.
Before 1S~ England was not an I'm
portsnt commercial country, not nearly
as important as France. She VAS then
suffering from dssorderei coinage. pretty
much as we ara suffering today. not be-
cause gentlemen Of the Popg,istic persas-
sion had got possession Of the treasury and
controlled the financial legislation Of tae
country, b&it because the people among
whom the coins were current used 10 clip
them. and after clipping piece OF a coin
would proceed 20 pass it as a good coin.
Weakness of Royalty.
Now, every king when he assembled the
throne was little prone 10 that practice
on his own account. tI4sughter.) When il
came 20 the coinage of the precious metals
and the king happened TO be enoa rraSse5
he solved the difficulty by increasing the
sedgnicrage that was paid at the mint. That
Is to say, he increased the quantity of
the coin which ne took for himself. ard
when the subjects saw the king. who was
he'd 10 DO Incapable OF wrong, practicing
such a game as that. why, the subject
thought 1t was presty good game and he
should initiate Il. and he DID, and the re-
suit was the whole coinage OF England
Was in state Of absolute disorder. 4
hundred pounds collected in one part OF
the kingdom would nos weigh more than
fifty pounds collected In another part. IL
was impossible 10 say what a shilling was
worth II might be worth ten pence, or
nine pence. or eight pence: Il was never
worth a shilling. * was never worth twelve
pence.
When men came to trade. after they
had arranged the basis on which they
would sell their horses. their batter, their
eggs by the market price, then a new
dispute arose as 20 the character OF the
money that they would accept. and all
trade finally came TO a paralysis from tho
distrust OF the coinage that existed every
where Throughout the country.
Problem fer a Parliament.
wow. at that time parliament under
took TO deal with this most important
question. and forthwith there was foosened
upon the English people food OF eda-
Gators. a food OF orators. all OF whom in
sisted that the way TO reach prosperity
was TO cut down the coin, to make Il a
poor mans money, 10 reduce the circu-
lating shilling to the level OF the smallest
clipped coin that was in existence. and one
of the most remarkable OF the pamphlets,
which were circulated everywhere. thrust
into tho hands OF the members Of pariia-
rnent. is referred 10 by Lord Macauiav IN
the twenty-first chapter of his history in
the following words. which viii read to
YOU: In one of the most curious aud
amusing of these he says. 'l4oafis and his
ministers that is, Louis XIV. OF France,
are Introduced as expressing the greatest
alarm lest England should make herself
the richest country in the world by the
simplest expedient by calling . pence a
shilling. and confidently predicting that II
the old standard were maintained there
would be another revolution tApplause)
Dig Tn Moss-Grown Arguments.
Now. thu. was the Populistic Eterature
OF 80 years ago. They yank into the plat
form about which they talk so much the
plan for land bank. Mr.. Bryan was no
more eStravagant In his assertions that
deoased coinage would mean prosperity
and good coinage revolution than Mr.
Cha mhrrlain. who az one time had fol-
lowing IN England sufficient TO dominate
the majority In both houses OF parliament
but the English people committed this
whole question not 10 farmers who didn't
farm 0aughter). not TO lawyers who agi-
tate agricultural conditions CaughtnrN
not 10 journalists who have made the FARM
ers' grievances their own, but to eminent
philosaohers-,Ssr Isaac Newton who dis
covered the law of gravity, ami Prof.
Locke. who was The author OF the essay
on the human understanding Now. both
OF these eminent men concluded that you
could have but one coin for standard.
and they also concluded that IL was abSo-
l1tely necessary that the clipped debased
CONS that were circulating through the
channels or commerce. expeIling a good
Nr.~s ~ s-Fs @.~4vt a
good coins issued for them.
Now YOU see al once ladies and gan
tegnen. taat man with a ds-has sod coin
would never give II up 10 the Mat unless
he found profit In doing g. He would
rather take his chances IN passing IL out
Ia the ordinary channels OF trade
And 50 the movement. rising | believe
70 height of craftsmanship nevsr before
witnessed IN the Alstorr OF civilization
blazlnS Il way for all civilization 10 trs1s-
tate hereafter. announced that they would
give good. sound. whole coins for every
clipped coin that within certain period
Vas surrendered at the minis.
Britain's Former Deba-ed Coin.
And they did H. and our OF coinage n,
about As.oon.esao the government actually
paid cut about Is. a.e0 90 70 make up a a.
REGENCY between the clipped. debassi coins
which they received and the good cos,s
which they ISSUED. And that expenditure
was the greatest. The wisest and the best
investment ever made by civilized ma
ton. judged by the fruits and conae-
quences which II produced tapplausel. for
from thas irv.ant England became the IN
;ernational depository or the w0ffl~sIrupIy
and plainly because II was the only coS.n.
try IN watch a deposit % money could be
made with "A rsa s0na bic certasaty fhas
whenever IL VAS called for the same cor,
~roal3 bs returned In which the deposit
had been made. tApplsassD