The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-08-07

of discussion throughout the country ant
among Us.
We in Maine have got to make up oul
minds on the subject sooner than any
other State in the Union, and our YER
dict VIII be Of great Importance to ths
country. ,
1t is worth while then that We shoulc
discuss to some slight extent the grea
principles which underline the issues q
this campaign. Do not understand 6na
l purpose to make the currency question
perfectly clear to you; I don't know
enough to do ii. Whenever, during this
campaign, you see man talking ~, &C
about 1t doesn't quite understand IT,
and the man who is talked &c
Doesn't quite understand II
you will know that the question OF our
reney is being discussed. (Applause.
You see have borrowed the old ScoUcl
story for the purpose of telling you
mat currency is the metaphysics OF polit
mas given good deal of time to the SUD
Jeot ana written very good book on IL,
says that currency bears the same rela-
| olon TO political economy that squarlne
the circle does to geometry and perpet'
uHl motion to mechanics. Those who
know the most about all these matters
are the least certain and say the least
|
them are the most certain and say the
most. (APplause.) / don't know how
1t 10 possible for us all at once to contend
with the various degrees of Ignorance
which exist; don't use the word ignor.
ance in any naughty or superior fashion
| mean by it
| LACK OF INFORMATION.
| had letter today in which q man
told me of an incident which occurred
in the eastern part of this State, whore a
young man had been explaining the cur.
renoy for some time very well, but an old
| gentleman arose and said he wanted &c
ask ono question, and that Is, "Do you
believe that any man would refuse tl
have sixteen silver dollars instead of one
| gold one?" Applause You see where
| you have got to commence in order to GO
| up.
| In the first place I think we ought to
| remove certain elements Of passion and
| feeling that have been connected with
| this debate. / suppose that II I have
listened once I have hundred times to
| tina declaration in Congress that silver
money was stealthily demonetized.
WELL now. myself in the House Of Rep
resentatives produced the volume Of the
| Congressional Globe which contained the
| debates on the change in 1878, and there
were 1875 columns made up Of speeches
| that were actually made on the subject;
and it was up twice, and I think three
tiIaes. And yet they say it was done In
q corner. Then they have declared 1t
was done by an emissary from abroad,
and they even went to the extent of Civ.
| ing the name of Mr.. Ernest Seyd. Mfr.
| Ernest Seyd was always q silver man,
| and was not here when the thing was
| done. (ApplauseO.
1t has also been said that this was a
| steal by which we were called upon to
furnish more costly metal, and there
more out of us, ard it was all plot
with that intent.
The answer Is simple and conclusive.
In the first place we had not, prior to
1873, had a single dollar of
GOLD OR SILVER CURRENT
in this country, and we did not have any
for five years afterwards. And there Is
another faot-pretty importsnt one-and
that Is that in 1878 the silver which
would have made Unlimited States
| standard silver dollar Of 4121s grains,
was worth three cents on dollar more
| than gold dollar WAS. This was setting
| up standard that was three cents on g
| dollar lower than the one which you say
ought to have been retained. I thinh
| then we may safely eliminate from ou1
minds any notion that any fraud OF
| wlckednoss was practiced.
| And the only question Is, which system
| is the best for this country; which will
produce the best results. At the worry
| outset ! want you to undertand preoisely
| what Is proposed. You will hear great
deal.of talk about bimetallisn. The sys
tenn which is proposed by tho Chicago
metallism is un entirely different affair
What is the object Of bi-metallismp The
object of it Is to give to the currency
greater stability by spreading 1t ovel
| more surface. A very common illustra
tion of 1t is this: If you have lake any
where itais ths subject to all the peculiar
incidents of the region in which 1t ia
This rainfall may lift 1t, that drought
| may lower it. Now if you want per
feotly stable surface you have got to gel
| it by some appliance outside Of that lake
! Suppose you can join 1t to another LAX,
| In different climate which is differently
affected. If you join them perfectly to
| gether then there will be the same leve
| in both LAKES, and the disturbances IL
one. lake will be oounterbalanced by th,
| disturbances in the other lake, and tht
|
That will be ell perfectly true, providing
your two lakes do balance-and you ge
| a more stable currency.
| Now there is some reason and sense ir
the idea that the whole world, II they
took gold and silver at proper ratio
could preserve greater level Of prices,
| firner and more stable level Of prices
| This no single country can do.
But il one of the lakes was very violent
in its fluctuations, think the part o.
common experience would be to leave II
out, or. if that luke was not big enough
to have a proper effect. In short under
| some circumstances the two lakes might
be worse than single one might be-
However, that is question of legitimate
discussion. But in this case 1t is no,
proposed to have two lakes 1t Is pro
| posedsto say that we have two lakes, and
shift from the one we have to the one
| weshave not (Applause).
| Lot lis see if the history of this country
shows us anything upon the subject.
REAL BI-METALLIsM
has never yet had a perfect trial NEAR
international bi-metallism-and that il
the kind we must have because, as ssii
4