The Coconino weekly sun., 1896-10-08
NO MONEY IS TOO GOOD.
Maj. Mckinley Recalls the Days of State Banks and Wildcat
 Currency.

Maj. Mckinley said to delegation
 from Indiana which visited his home on
 September 23:
 l believe in America for Americans
 native-born and naturalized. (Applause.)
 l believe in the American pay roll.
 Laughtcr and applausc) And 1 do not
 believe in diminishing that pay roll by
 giving work to anybody else under an
 other flag while we have an idle man
 under our flag. CTremendous applause.)
 Four years ago the laborcr was agitat-
 ing the question of shorter hours. We
 then had so much to do. I have heard
 no discussion of that kind for four years.
 (Laugbter and applause) But I have
 never heard of the lahoring man dis.
 cussinS the desirahility of having short dollars. The complaint-the chief cause
 Of complaint of our opponents is first,
 that we have not enough money; and,
 second, that our money is too good.
 haughter) To the first complaint 1 answer that the per capita of circulating
 medium in this country has been greater since the so-called crime of 1873 than it ever was before (applausc), and that it
 has been greater in the last five years than it ever was in all our history. (Crics of That's right.D We have not only the best money in the world, but we have more of it per capita than most of the nations of the world. (Applause.) We have more money per capita than the
 United Kingdom per capita; than Ger. many, than Italy, than Switzerland, Greece. Spain. Roumania, Servia, Aus. tria. Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Den mark, Russia, Mexico and the Central and South American states, and more than Japan or China. Great applause So that some reason rather than the lack of volume of money must be found to account for the present condition of the country.
 To the second complaint that our money is too good, it would seem to be enough to say that the money of any country cannot be too good; and that no nation ever suffers from having it's medium of exchange of the highest and best quality. Great applause.) It has been poor money-not good money-that has been the cause of so much loss and ruin in the past, both to individuals and to nations. (Applause.) The older men of this audience will remember that be- fore the war we did business with an un- certain and huctuating currency known as state bank money. Many of these banks and their notes were absolutely sound: but for the most part they were subject to a discount. The total num- ber of banks in 1860, exclusive of state bank branches. was 157O. Of this number, the counterfeit detector," then .in constant use, reported S32 as broken, closed. failed, fraudulent and worthless" The notes of these banks were in circulation among the people and had been received by them for their good labor and their l good products. They were absolutely l worthless and of no more value than the | paper upon which they were printed. Up on whom did this loss fall. my citizens? There is scarcely an old gentleman in this !! audience who will not recall that it fell l upon the labOr.ng man and the farmers | of the United States. (Cries of That's | right.") I aIlude to this only to show that those who suffer most from poor | money are the least able to bear the loss. | Ii is the history of mankind that the least | valuable money which will pass current | is the money that at last finds it's resting l l2ace among the poor people and when | the crash comes, the loss must be borne | by them. And l doubt if there is man | in this audience who has not among the | belongings of his family or the family of | his father some of the old bank paper as a reminder of what they lost. "A voice: 'I have S10 at home myself.") l cannot | imagine any interest that can be per subserved by having poor mon. cy. The bare suggestion of such propo- siton to a man of reason meets its in. stant rejection.
 If the New York World wants to bring either of the current Democratic