The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-08-22
A Dollar as True as a Bushel.

A Dollar as True as a Bushel.
In his remarks to IA delegation of
working men at Canton on the Both
ult. Major Mckinley said:
\ disordered currency is fatal to
industry, frugality, and economy. 1t
fosters the spirit of speculation and
extravaganza. 1t is the most effect
ual of inventions to fertilize the rich
mans fields with the sweat of the
poor mans brow.
That which we call money, my
fellow citizens, and with which val
ues are measured and settlements
made, must be AS true as the bushel
which measures the grain of the far
mer and as honest as the hours of la
Dor the MAJ who tolls is required to
give. The one must be as full and
complete and as honest as the other.
Our currency of today is good-all
of it as good as gold and it is the
unfaltering determination of the re-
publican party to so keep and main
tain it forever.
1t will be observed that he SAYS "a
d~isordered currency is the most eff
Client of inventions to fertilize the
rich mans field with the sweat of the
poor mans brow A little further
on he says that our currency today
IS good all of it as good as gold
Our currency being good-as good
as gold (which he seems to regard as
the infaIlible test) and it having been
AS good AS gold ever since the first
day Of January, 1879, according to
his philosophy, the rich man has had
10 advantage during that time, and
the poor mans lot has been happy in
the highest degree. But how does
that philosophy square with the facts?
When in all the history of the ma
ton has the wealth of the few and
the poverty of the many increased as
as during the last twenty years? 1t
is nov strictly in order for Mr.. Nc
kiniey TO cast his eyes at the multi
mi%llicnaires in great money centers,
then take IA glance at the vast armies
Of unemployed, ill-fed, i'll clad and
suffering who live in the very shad-
ov of the formers palatial abodes,
and having obtained a fair apprecia-
ton of the difference in their relative
conditions, tell us frankly what is the
matter. We had a high protective
tariff all the time until August, 1894,
and have not a very low tariff now.
From January |, 1879, until today
our money has all been Gas good as
gold" and yet, subject to brief spas
modic revivals, "hard tines has
been the cry, the burden of debt has
steadily increased, business has been
sluggish, the country has been full
Of homeless tramps, poverty has
steadily increased, while the rich
man has grown fatter and fatter as
the years have gone by.
Again we ask him, what is the
matter? Is it to a continuance of this
good money feast that he invites
us: VIII he be kind enough to la,
aside just once his high favored rhet
oric and show MS specifically how thu
gold standard is beneftting the coun
try, and how free coinage would
make the poor mans condition wors,
than it is today? We demand thu
specifications. We always knew tina
Mr.. Mckinley believed in .goot
money" rs he understands the tern
that IS, money as good as gold
1t is quite astonishing, however, t,
learn from his own lips hat he ais,
wants money AS true as the hushe
which measures the farmers grain"
How the gold standard answers I,
that description it would no doub
puzzle him to explain. The bushe
measure of today will hold precisel,
the same quantity of wheat, or o
anything else, that it would in 1873
not IA kernel more nor less, Tha
is IA true measure. No one will dis
pute it. But how about the uol'
dollar: Does Major Mckinley thin
that it measures the same quantity O
wheat or of anything else as it did i
1913? If he does think so. it simpl
proves hls ignorance, and he ought t
do a little reading. If he does nc
know that IA gold dollar has reall
. twice the exchange value that it ha
in 1873, he should never refer to til
$1,000, o . ..-.:l / -