The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-08-28

VOO,OOO III the lOlQ.
But aid not Intend TO follow this ques-
tion further. / am quite as much, how
ever, opposed to cheapening the Ameri-
can workingmen and working women as
i am 10 cheapcning our dollars. / am
quite as strongly In favor of keeping
days works at home as / am gold dol
lars. IL II could be known tonight that
the gallant soldier that typical young
American, that distinguished and USE
ful statesman, William Mckinley OF
Ohio would certainly be elected presi-
dent, how the bears would take TO cover
on the Stock Exchange tomorrow. My
friends, as a Republican, am proud OF
many things. but / can sum up as the
highest satisfaction l have had in the
party and Its career that the prospect or
Republican success never did disturb
business.
In connection with this financial mat
ter, do we all realize how important the
choice OF a president is? Do you know
that AS the law is now, without the pas
sage OF any free coinage OF silver law at
all, IL is In the power Of the President OK
the United States to bring the business
OF this country TO a silver basis? All he
has to do Is to pay out silver when men
ask for gold, and we are there already.
Ii is only because the Presidents OF the
United States that we have had and
the one that we have now, have regarded
1t under the law as his public duty 10
maintain the gold basis, maintaining
that parity between our silver and gold
coins which the law declares is the policy
OF the government, and because he has
had the courage to execute the powers
given TO him by the resumption act TO
carry out that declaration Of public law.
/ undertake, therefore, 10 say that if
Mr.. Bryan, or a man holding his view,
were in the presidential chair, without
any legislation by congress we should
be on a silver basis in "a weeks time.
The silver question:; what is it? DO
we want silver because we want more
money, a larger circulating medium? L
have not heard anybody say So Mr..
Bryan is not urging IL upon that basis.
IL anybody were TO seek 10 give that as
reason for wanting free silver, he
would be very soon confronted by the
statement that free silver would put
more gold out OF circulation than the
mirts OF the United States could pos
sibly in years of silver, and that instead
OF having more money we would have
less What is IL then that creates this
demand for silver? II is openly avowed:
1t is not more dollars, but cheaper dol
lars that are wanted. 1t Is lower stand
ard of value that they are demanding.
They say gold has gone up until ii has
ceased 10 be proper standard of values.
and they want silver. But how do they
want it?
Now, my friends, there is great deal
of talk about bimetallsm and the double
standard, and great deal of confusion
In the use of these terms. Bimetallism
IL the use of these two metals as money,
where they are both used. BY double
standard they mean that we shall have
a gold dollar and a silver dollar which
shall be units OF value. by which all
property and all wages and everything is
to bo measured. our fathers thought
that when they used these two metals
i'm coinage they must determine the In
trinsic value OF the two, so that a COM
parison of the markets Of the world
would show Just what relation one ounce
OF silver bore to one ounce of gold. They
fully understood that unless these dol
lars were OF the same inherent intrinsic
value that both of them could not be
standards Of value and both could not
circulate.
So nice were our people about this in
trying 10 adjust IL, that they went into
decimal fractions. We say 16 to /. In
fact. that is not the ratio. IL is
15.9SS plus. Now that is the actual
ratio. II is so near 16 that we call
IT l6, but the men who made our
silver dollar and our gold dollar
were so nice in their calculation that
they went into decimal fractions into
thousandths TO adjust il accurately.
Now what do these people propose TO
do? To take any account Of thousandths?
NO. w men the markets. OF the WOTIu ilN
the relative value of silver, or gold at IL
ounces OF silver TO one ounce of gold,
they propose TO say l6 Well, my friends,
there has been nothing more amusing,
and yet | fear that with the thought
less ii may have been In some measure
misleading, than the repeated declara-
ton OF Mr.. Bryan that everybody ad-
mitted that bimetaliism was a good thing
there is no debate on that subject and
that the debate of the campaign has
come down 10 this fine point The Re-
publicans say that we cannot have this
good thing without the consent of Eng
land and we say we can have it our
selves and be has endeavored TO pivot
this great campaign, with its tremen-
dOus issue, upon that pinhOle.
But can we do this thing ourselves? 1t
is a question whether we will do Ii or ask
somebody's consent, whether we may or
ask the cooperation of somebody? Not
at all. l Will tell you what this gov
eFnment can DO alone. II can iiN-itS
money unit. 1t can declare by law what
shall be the relative value OF an ounce
OF gold and en- ounce OF silver, but il
cannot make that last declaration good
II is uaquestlonably fully within the
power of this government To bring this
country TO silver basis by coming sill
Yer dollars and making them legal
tender. They can Go that This govern
ment says you shall take one of these
dollars in discharge OF any debt owing
to you for a dollar, Notwithstanding you
may have loaned gold dollars but it can
not say, and enforce it's decree If YOU
should call out the regular army and
navy and muster all our great modern
ships, and add the militia, and put Will
lam j. Bryan III command OF them-it
cannot enforce the Ctcree that one ounce
Of gold iS the equivalent OF 16 ounces Of
silver. Not only that, not France and
England ard Germany can do that. un.
less the markets respond.
SO ii is, my friends. We can OF our
selves OF our wisdom, declare the unit
CT value. We can coin silver freely but
we cannot make IL ounces Of silver equal
tn one 0A.C. ~ gold unless II Is. And IL is
not, unless the merchants take Il at that
rate. That ls where all this thing comes
In. Ii is tre de; IL is the merchant; IL is
the man VINO exchanges and deals I'm
these things that fixes their relative
value, and n you do not take the value
he fixes. the gold dollar VIII go back to
the gold vauit and ,hc gold viii go out
of circulation What Is another conse-
4. d,