The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-22
CONSTRUCTORS AT WORK.

tent Of the great conspiracy to change
the money standard of this country
and put us upon the Chinese basis.
1t is made perfectly clear that the
states in which silver bullion is pro-
duced have devoted their whole polit-
tcal influence to securing the right to
force their product upon all other peo-
pie by legal tender act for twice it's
market value. Their first open point
was the United States senate, where
the undue preponderance they OBJ
tanned, gave them a powerful leverage.
Having used this to block legislation,
they then set about establishing a sim
liar situation in the country at large.
The whole campaign has been thor
oughly planned and carried out with
great skill by the agents Of these mine
owning communities, who have so
much to gain that they need not stick
at any expenditure of effort or money
4 to carry their point. 1t is made plain
in this manifesto that these people are
engaged in purely commercial UNDER
taking for their own benefit They
care nothing about party names or
party fortunes. These Republican SEN
ators were as cold blooded in their
detection from their own party as
they are callous about the woes which
they propose to infiict upon the coun-
try. They address themselves with
Go -
Gratis and Populists, and are ready to
act with any and all of these who may
gather to the standard of depreci-
ated money.
We have scanned their address earn
estly in the hope that it might contain
what every document put forth on
that side thus far has so conspicuously
lacked, some argument or statement
of principles about which debate might
gather, and upon which investigation
might lead to some different conclu-
sion. We find only the reiteration Of
those propositions that have been al
ready abundantly and repeatedly dis
proved. For instance, Mr. Teller and
the rest Of them set their names to
the statement that bimetallism means
the equal treatment of both gold and
silver at the minis of the nation''l
This is unworthy Of any intelligent
and honorable man, because itsevades
money Democrat would object to equal
treatment for gold and silver at the
minis of the nation. Let gold and sill
yer be taken there and made into
coins freely at their commercial value,
and nobody will object. What is OPP
posed is the proposition to treat them
unequally by overvaluing silver 100
per cent through the establishment
Of an arbitrary and fictitious. ratio to
be fixed by legislation.
Then Mr.. Teller and his associates
say that the current financial policy
means "the shifting to gold alone, as
dens of commerce and credit
formerly borne my gold and silver"
They follow this with their stock
deduction that there is approximately
as much silver as gold in the world
This means the halving of the stock
of primary money and the doubling
Of the burdens and the purchasing
power Of gold. No one Of them has
ever given attention or answer to the
fact that there are in the United States
today $430, 900, 900 of standard silver
dollars alone which are an unlimited
legal tender. What prevents this from
being primary money!" Who has
ever proposed to take away this legal
tender quality? Would there be one
dollar of the nearly 500, 0O0, 900 of sill
yer in circulation in this country with
drawn if the free coinage proposition
were defeated? Here is where the
dishonesty of the argument comes In.
In point of fact the volume of so-called
primary money" is q wholly incon-
siderable affair. If no doubt had been
cast upon the convertibiIity of our
currency by the free silver crusade,
and If our monetary system were free
from the menace of the greenback
and the treasury note, nobody would
know or care whether there were
s1OO,OO0,OOo or $1,000 of gold in the
United States treasury. The question
would never arise.
Most conspicuous Of all in this adj
dress, as in most Of the free silver
speeches, because it appeals to preju-
dice against reason, is the clap-trap
talk about independence Of Great
Britain and the declaration that 1--WE
are old enough and big enough to fix
upon financial policy for ourselves"
This alone would stamp the silver cru
SADIE as demagogic. Possibly, we are
old enough and powerful enough to de-
clare that our people should use horse
cars instead of trolley lines, but why
should we? That twelve inches are
equal to one foot is a fact commonly
accepted by the people Of the United
States. Ought we to fire the country
with enthusiasm to declare that either
eleven inches or thirteen Inches, or
some other inches than twelve, are
equal to a foot. in order that we may
show that the United States is free
from the domination OF Great Britain?
Could anything be more supremeIy