Evening journal., 1896-08-28


now, without the passage of any free coinage
VI silver law at all it is in the power Of the
president Of the United States to bring the
business OF this country TO a silver hnsis? All
be has 60 do is 20 let the gold reserve 20, to
pay out silver when men ask for gold, and we
are there already.
10 is only because the presidents OF the Unit
ed States that we have had, and tho one we
have now has regarded it under the law rs
his public duty to 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 TO say that IL Mr.. Bry-
an 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. Three or feur years ago. when
was in New York, some one of these report
rrs who sometimes hear things that are not
Intended for them, got hold of a remark of
mine about the wild horse that AIr. Cleveland
had TO handle, and ! simply meant by that
what has been since demonstrated, that he did
not have compact or solidiflod party behind
him that the Democratic party in congress
represented every shade of every ism that had
over been propounded in the country, and that
he could not manage 1t. My prophecy has be-
come verify. They have left him. They
abandoned him, and now, as that caution was
meant to indicate, that we needed TO look ont
after our congress as well as our president
this caution is intended TO show you at this
time that we need 70 look after our president
If we would avoid the calamity of having this
country put upon the Mexican basis Of money
The silver Question.
The silver question, what is itY DO we want
silver because we want more money, a larger
circulating modiumi haven't heard anybody
say so. Mr.. Bryan ia not urging IL upon that
basis. II anybody were to seek TO give that as
reason for wanting free silver, he would be
very soon confounded by the statement that
free silver would put more gold out of crcu-
lation than the mints Of the United Statos
could possihly'coin in years Of silver, and that
instead OF having more money we would have
less. With our 600 and odd millions OF gold
driven out of circulation we Will reduce the
per capita money of this country between S8
and ~. so II Is not for more money We have
an abundant supply of circulating medium
gold, silver, national bank paper, greenbacls
treasury notes, fractional silver. We have
something like S28 per capita OF our popula-
tion. What is il, then, that creates this demand
for silverf lt is openly avowed. IL is not
more dollars. but cheaper dollars that are
wanted. 1t IS a lower standard Of value that
they are demanding.
They say gold has gone up until it has
ceased to be proper standard of value and
they want silver, But how do they want itg
I
about bimetallism and the double standard
and a great deal Of confusion in the use Of
those terms. Bimetallism is the use Of the two
metals as money where they are both used
! BY double standard they mean that We shall
have q gold dollar and silver dollar which
shall be units of value by which all property
and all wages and everything is to be meas
ured.
Now, our fathers thought that when they
used these two metals in coinage they must
determine the intrinsic relative value OF the
two so that a comparison Of the markets OF
the world would show Just what relation one
ounce Of silver bore to one ounce Of gold--how
many ounces Of silver it took to be equal TO one
ounce Of gold in the markets of the world
whore gold and silver were used and they care
fully went about ascertaining that.
jefferson and Alexander Hamilton gave their
/ great powers to the determination Of that
question, and they collected the market re-
ports, and they studied with all their power
that question, and when they had found what
1 appeared 10 be the general and average relative
value Of these two metals they fixed upon
/ ratio between them. Now what was the oh.
| iect Of all that2 Why did they lump ailq Be
cause they fully understood, unless these dol.
lars We're of the same inherent intrinsic vnl-
ne, that both OF thom could not be standards
a value and both could not circulate.
the one that is more valuable the man will
keep IN his pocket, or he viii sell 10 to bullion
broker, and everybody will use the other. Il ia
| an old law proclaimed years ago in England
! 10y Gresham that the cheaper dollar drives the
/ better one out. 1t has been illustrated in our
history repeatedly. Il has been illustrated in
| the history Of every commercial natioh in the
world, and anybody Of half sense can see why
| it is so.
The Governments Pledge.
We henr a great deal about the great re.
sources and wealth and power Of this country.
and do not allow anybody to go beyond my
appreciation of them, but what is the use Of
/ talking about all that when you do not propose
to pnt this wealth and power and Influence
behind the silver dollar at ALL AS things are
now, the silver dollars that we have are sun
ported by the government and the govern
ment that supports this silver bullion has is
iued these dollars on its own account-not for
the mine owner-and it has pledged its sacred
honor Il would make every one OF those silver
dollars as good as a gold dollar. And that is a
/ powerful support
Without It, disparity between these metals
would at once show itself in the markets, ana
there would be some sense in the talk which
our Populistic friends indulge In when they
| speak OF the power Of this government II they
propose to put this power behind their free
coinage. But they do not. They propose that
/ the man who digs silver ont Of tho mines may
| bring 10 to the mint and have 10 stamped and
/ handed back TO him as dollar, the govern
ment having no responsibility about Il. These
men would reject with contempt tho PROPOSE.
/ ton that free coinage was 10 come with p
pledge on behalf Of the government 60 mnin-
/ tain the parity Of the two dollars.
shall we now IN these times, when all the
/ Ills we suffer are durable If we only pass e.
revenue bill that viii generously repienislI
/ tho treasury Of the United States, that wild
generously protect American labor against In I
/ furious competition and bring back again fulN
prosperity to all our people: shall we now
contemplate for moment, or allow to hav
any power over our hearts and minds, thisH
/ temptation to debase our currency and put 4
in its financial position alongside Of the AsintI
Il 10 countries or our weak ana struggling sis.i
ter republic of Mexico2 Docs not every in-
stinct Of PRIDE does not every instinct Of self
| interest, does not every thoughtful affection.
ate interest IN others, does not our sense of
| justice and honor rise up to rebuke the infa.
nous proposition that this government and its
| people shall become a nation and people Of
| repudationf
Cruiser BrooIlyn's East Time.
| BOSTON Aug 2S.-The cruiser Brook
| lyn, IN her official trial, made an average
Of 2l 92-l00 knots. This gives the Messrs.
| Crainp. the builders Of the cruiser. a bo.
| nus of S3T5. 600 for the excesa of 1 ~ lyrct.