The Monitor-register., 1896-08-07
The Silver Doctrine of the Doubled d
Dollar.

From the New York Timesl.
Those who do not yet see clearly what
Bryan and his followers have set out to
do should study that doctrine or tenet of
the silver meu to which the Bryan party's
platform refers when it speaks of the
appreciation of gold"
This doctrine-as set forth continually
for some years past by the silver leaders.
in their handbooks, in their Congressional
debates. and finally in the recent Demo-
cratic and Populist Conventions-is that
the dollar which we now use is really
worth about twice as much as a dollar
ought to be; that it is really worth two
dollars, because it's value has been in
caeased, and therefore that its value ought
to be cut down by one half.
The speeches and arguments of silver
men are full of this teaching, that the
dollars of the United States, the standard
of our currency, have come to be worth
200 cents and should be scaled down to
,, 100 cents. And they propose to scale
them down by substituting the fifty three
cent dollar of silver.
If every many who lives by the wages
of his labor aud who has saved little
money invested, it may be, in the saw
ings bank or in life insurance or in a
building association - will think for a
moment about this fundamental doctrine
of the silyerites that the dollars be has
laid away and those which he is receiving
| for his toll are worth twice as much as
they ought to be and will buy twice as
much as he ought to be able to buy With
them, the tremendous issue of this cam
paign will be perfectly plain to him.
They have set ought to take away half
OF the value Of every dollar he owns or is
receiving, because, as they assert-and
this is notorious-it holds twice as much
value as it ought to have! 1t will buy,
they say, twice as much food as a dollar
ought to buy, and therefore half of it
should be cut off
Any man who has earned by his labor
and laid away in his savings bank or in-
vested in life-insurance company or a
building association $100 has, the silver
men say, twice as much in that 800 as
he should he permitted to have, and it is
their purpose to reduce the value of that
500 to $50 or to $53. The savings bank
deposits great majority of them being
in the Industrial centres of the East-are
S1,S1O, 597, 900; the policies of life in
surance companies, fraternal and CO.
operative associations and the like are
$13, ,O4S, 452, 664; the Investments in build
ing associations are more than $500 00O,-
000
These vast investments, upon which
millions rely, and also the veterans pen
sions of $40, 900, 900 year, Bryan and
his followers would cut down to half their
present value, because, they say, the
money was deposited or invested in dollars
which were worth twice as much as they
ought to have been Aud the wages ou
of which these deposits and investments
were saved were also, they hold, paid in
dollars having double the value which
they ought to have had. Thus those who
received them enjoyed an unjust advan-
tage for which they should now pay by
giving up half the value.
Think of all this. you who live by the
earnings of your daily toll, you who have
laid by few hundred dollars in the saw
ings bank or in the building association
or in the form of insurance policies for
your families!