The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-10-15

the audience arose and received him
with great enthusiasm. lie said IN
part: .,,:., ,,o,,;,,,
"lt has been said already this evening
that our friends who met in this city
some months ago to represent the demo
cratic party do not appreciate the prln-
ciplcs which actuatc us i'll tins move
mcnt. 1t was very natural that tney
should not. Personal advancement has
been the sole object of the movement
held in this city in July last, whilst the
movement which eliminated in Indian
apolis was based entirely upon princl-
pie.
call free silver. Some call it free coin
age. but generally our populistic friends
call it free silver. They are not agreed
on the term, but it simply means that
the owners of silver bullion if that act
becomes IL law. shall by taking it to the
mint have it coined free of expense to
them. hut ut the expense of the people
of the United States, and for every %
cents worth of that silver they receive
one legal tender dollar. Now that is for
the benefit Of the holder of silver and
those who hold the silver are the miners
and the wealthy who can buy. They
say that everything that occurred since
1873 in financial matters is due to the
crime of 1873. as they c,dl it, the repeal
of that portion of the act which coined
the silver dollars. There was not IL dol
lar of specie. either of silver or of gold
then in circulation. There was very lit
tie in the country anywhere. There was
Il good deal of paper money in cncnla-
ton, but not at par. 1t was ut large
discount. At one period it took So
in paper to buy one dollar either in slvri
OF in gold and that is the period which
our friends insist shall be brought back
by the legSa ton of congress when the
populists obtain control of the govern
mcnt. There was ut that time in this
country altogether, including paper, only
Il little over $I0O,OOO,0OO. What have
we today? They say half of it is strick-
en- down: we have more than double that
amount today. We had not ut that time
Il single silver dollar in circulation III
this country. We have tried this qucS-
ton of paper money both in the north
and the south. We tried it on the other
side. We issued more paper money than
you had in the north think about ST.
UOOOOO,O0D of paper was printcd-it was
Il flood the very thing desired by our
populist friends. There was plenty Of
money. | want TO apologize to any popu-
list friend who is here. ! ought to say
that is not their theory. Their theory is
that products and merchandise rose in
value. the money remaining the same.
never deprecated ut all. and will say
that the price of things that you people
have to buy will go up amazingly.
There will be no change in the price of
money at all, but everything else will 30
up enormously III price. that is their
theory. He says that if you coin free
silver. have unlimited coinage of silver
at the ratio of Is to |, it creates an uni
limited demand ana therefore the prices
will 90 up to the value of the gold dollar.
That dollar is now equal TO Il gold dollar
if that is what lie is after. Is he going
to be any better off after trying this eX-
pertinent. even if it succeeds, is he going
to he any better than you are now if the
object is TO raise it to that value you
have now and we run the risk of destruc-
ton of every interest i'll the country to
attain what we already have today"
In conclusion Gen. Buckner said: Il
wish to say to the people of Chicago
something that brings them good news
from my state. We are gaining
strength constantly. We will get very
rcsuectahe vote in the state of Ken
lucky. and we will, believe, in illinois,
There are men. those who believe with
my distinguished leader and myself. that
the preservation of life and integrity of
the democratic party is the one thing
essential to the perpetuity of our insti-
tutions and whatever else may happen
that we should maintain its existence
and show ever to our enemies that us
principles have such vitality that the
party refuses to die. even at the behest
of those who pretended to be its
friends"
Col. John Z. Irish. the eloquent Cali
fornian. was the next speaker. He at
tackled the Chicago platform. plank by
plank and discussed the financial ques-
ton at length.