The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1896-10-31
RIGHT OF CONTRACT.
70 BE ABRIDGED BY BRYAN
AND HIS PARTY.
Attempt to Mako Illegal Contracts Pay
able In Gold an Attack Upon Free
dom of Contract - Would Hamper
Business and Commerce,

<Che Chicago Trade Journal Of Oct.
discusses a part Of the Chicago plat
form which has not thus far received
The attention which it merits-that
part which proposes to take away the
tight of private contract. The Jour-
nal says that mo industry of any size
ian exist without the use of contracts,
agreements for the purchase, sale, de-
livery of and payment for goods. 1t
Is hardly necessary to point out what
this means in the cordage business"
1t then explains how rope manufac-
turers make contracts with brokers,
and bankers with foreign growers of
manila or sisal, for their raw materi-
ais. Having made these contracts, they
are in a position to make contracts
with large jobbers and rope dealers.
Continuing, the Journal says:
CONTRACTS are necessary to the sue
cussful transaction of business upon
any scale above that of the very small
retail trade, where goods and money
pass between buyer and seller stimuli
taneously. Mr.. Bryan would, if presi-
dent, give his approval to laws which
would prohibit business men from
specifying what they shall sell their
goods for or what they shall pay for
goods, thus seriously restricting the
right OF contract. His first nomination
in Chicago-was based upon his &C.
ceptance Of platform which contained
the following plank hn
I'VE demand that the standard silver
dollar shall be a full legal tender,
equally with gold, for all debts, public
and private, and we favor such legis-
lat1on as will prevent for the future
the decentralization of any kind of legal
tender money by private contract.
His Populistic nomination in St.
Louis carried with it this plank:
1--WE demand such legislation as will
prevent the characterization of the law
full money Of the United States by pri-
vate contract.
POSSIBLY the United States supreme
court will uphold such legislation--it
sustained the validity Of the legal ten
der act-and-what? Mr.. Bryan does
not tell the people whom he addresses
trtdaily. When he gets near the sub
ject. 1t Is only to say something like
this:
when any one tries to give you an
object lesson with the Mexican dollar
tell him that the Mexican dollar is
not legal tender in this country, and
that our silver dollar is, and under
free coinage will continue to be, and
no one will be allowed to contract
against it.-W. J. Bryan in Newark,
Sept. %.
"This not only shows the purpose of
the man, but also gives an INTELLIGENT
man very clear conception of Mr..
Bryan's skill as logician. II he knew
! anything at all about commerce-the
lneblood of which he so glibly talks of
interfering with-he would know that
tho execution Of his plan would cause
an instant cessation Of commercial &C.
tivity, which would be followed by a
resumption upon a restricted and an
tiQue basis. Methods which the CON-
mercial world discarded generations
ago would have to be brought into use
| for carrying on business under the con-
| ditions which the adoption of Mr..
Bryan's two absurd propositions would
impose.
Where would the hemp come from
for next years binder Irvine to tie the
farmers wheat? The United States.
where silver dollars worth less *han
100 cents would be legal tender, could
not furnish the material. All urices
now quoted are for gold. No matter
how much farmers wanted Irvine. when
1t was no longer possible to make a
contract to pay gold or its equivalent
! for hemp, they would have to 20 with
out 1t until some cumbersome method
OF bartering was devised to get around
the law. OF course, in time the hemp
would be secured and the farmers SUD-
piled, but the new way Of doing bust
ness would be more costly. In the end
the consumer pays all the costs. Hence
the farmers would have to submit TO
higher prices for binder Irvine, as for
everything else they buy. And yet Mr..
Bryan claims to be the particular friend
Of agriculturists!
1T Is to be hoped that the business
men Of the country will carefully con-
slider what the proposed interference
with the right to enter into a contract
to pay any kind of money would result
In and then vote for a candidate for
president who will preserve the free
dom of commerce."
Ex-GOv. ROies and Jia I4;.o.1 No..