The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-09-04

clause of the Sherman law. we cannot
with safety engage in further experiments
In this direction.
The Double Standard.
On the 22d of August, 1891, in a public
address, said: eff we could have an in
ternational ratio which all the leading ma
tions of the world would adopt, the true
relation be fixed between the two metals
and all agree upon the quantity of silver
which should constitute dollar, then sill
yer would be as free and unlimited in it's
privileges of coinage as gold is today. But
that we have not been able to secure and
with the free and unlimited coinage of
silver adopted in the United States at the
present ratio we would be still further
removed from any international agree
ment We may never be able to secure it
if we enter upon the isolated coinage of
silver. The double standard implies
equality at a ratio and that equality can
only be established by the concurrent law
of nations 1t was the concurrent law of
nations that made the double standard;
it will require the concurrent law of ma
lions to reinstate and sustain it,
1t Favors the Use of Silver Money.
The Republican party has not been. and
is not now, opposed to the use of silver
money as it's record abundantly shows.
1t has done IL that could be done for its
increased use with safety and honor by
the United States acting apart from other
governments There are those who think
that it has already gone beyond the limit
of financial prudence. Surely we can go
no further, and we must not permit false
lights to lure us across the danger line.
More Than Amy Other Country.
We have much more silver in use than
any country in the world, except India or
China $500 000,0 600 more than Great Brit
ain; $3.50, 900 900 more than France; $780,
600, 900 more than Germany; 1925, 1000, 600
less than India, and 1926, 100000 less than
China. The Republican party has de-
clared in favor of an international agree
ment, and, if elected president, it will be
be my duty to employ all proper means to
promote it. The free coinage of silver in
this country would defer, if not defeat, in
ternational bimetallism, and until an in
ternational agreement can be had every
interest requires us to maintain our pres
ent standard. Independent free coinage
of silver at ratio of 16 ounces of silver to
l ouhCO VI SOlu WOulu lHSlIO UllO opCOuy
contraction of the volume of our currency.
1t would drive at least 500,000,000 of gold
dollars which we now have permanently
from trade of the country and greatly de-
crease our per. .canita circulation. It. is
not proposed by the Republican party to
take from the circulating medium of the
country any of the silver we now have, on
the contrary it is proposed to keep all of
tho Si1vnr in Loft or q
parity with gold by maintaining the
pledge of the government that all of it
shall be equal to gold This has been the
unbroken policy of the Republican party
since 1878. 1t has inaugurated no new
policy 1t will keep in circulation, and as
good as gold, all of the silver and paper
money which are now included in the cur
rency of the country. 1t will maintain
their parity. 1t will preserve their equal
ity in the future as it has always done in
the past. 1t will not consent to put this
country on silver basis which would in
at ratio of 16 to i. 1t will oppose the ex-
pulsion of gold from our circulation.
Farmers and Laborers Suffer Most.
If there is any one thing which should
be free from speculation and fuctuation
1t is the money of country. 1t ought
never to be the subject of mere partisan
contention. When we part with our la
Dor, our products or our property, we
should receive in return money which is
as stable and unchanging in value as the
ingenuity of honest men can make it,
Debasement of the currency means de-
struction of values No one suffers so
much from cheap money as the farmers
and laborers They are the first to feel
its bad effects and the last to recover from
them. This has been the uniform expe.
rience of all countries and here as else
where the poor and not the rich are the
greater sufferers from every attempt to de-
base our money. 1t would fall with alarm
ing severity upon investments already
made; upon insurance and their policy
holders; upon savings banks and their
depositors; upon building and loan asso-
Citations and their members; upon the saw
ings of thrift; upon pensioners and their
families, and upon wage earners and the
purchasing power of their wages.