The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-28

thing without the consent OF England ann
we say we can have it ourselves; and he
has endcavored TO pivot this great cam
paign with its tremendous issues upon
that pinhole. (Appiause.l
hear a great deal about the great re-
sources and wealth OF this country and j
do not allow anybody TO go beyond my apS-
talking about all hat when you do not
propose TO put this wealth and power and
influence b@hind the silver dollar at ally
lApplause) AS things are now. the silver
dollars that we have are supported by the
government. and the government that sup
ports this silver bullion has issued these
mine owner-and IL has pledged its sacred
honor II would make every one OF these
silver dollars as good as a gold dollar
CApplause) And that is a powerful sup
port. Without IL disparity between these
markets and there would be some sense in
the talk which our Populistic friends In
dulge in when they speak of the power ct
this power behind their free coinage. But
they do not. They propose that that
mines may bring it TO the mint and have
1t stamped and handed back TO him as a
dollar, the government having no respon-
sibility about il. These men would reject
with contempt the proposition chat free
coinage was TO come with a pledge on be-
half OF the government to maintain the
parity OF the two dollars Applause) BUT
this feeling is well adapted 10 touch the
prevailing American bumptiousness and
well adapted to touch that prejudice
06at44oI Liz aild IN AAah SORAN 49,
But can we do this thing ourselves? Is II
n question whether We will do IL or ask
somebody's consent whether, we may or ask
tie cooperation Of somebody? Not at all.
/ will tell you what this government can do
alone. 1t can fix its money unit. IL can
declare by law what shall be the relative
value of an ounce of gold and an ounce of
silver, but IL cannot make that last dec
laration good. tApp,ause.)
1T is unquestionably fully within the
power of this government to bring this
country TO n silver basis by coming silver
dollars and making them legal tender. They
can do that. This government says: You
shall taxi one of those dollars In discharge
Of any debt owing 10 you for a dollar, not
withstanding you may have oaned gold
doIlar s put IL ea anna SAY say ont III, fai1 rnsui nr
army and navy and muster all our great
modern ships. and add the militia, and put
William j. Bryan in OF thcTn-it
cannot enforce the decree that one ounce
of gold is the equivalent of sixteen ounces
of silver. Great applause and cheering.l
and Germany can do that unless the man
kets respond. (Applause.) Why? You may
make me take a silver dollar for a debt:
but If l have bought my goods at gold
prices you cannot make me give as many
yards of cloth for a silver dollar as / have
been I'm the habit OF giving fer n gold dol
lar. Applause and cheers.) II / have Il gold
dollar in this hand and a silver one in that.
and you declare they are equal, and l can
take the gold dollar TO a bullion broker and
get two dollars for it, / know IT Is a lie.
(Great applause and cheers.) If / have
| nothing but a gold dollar, and sugar is
twenty pounds for a dollar. ! viii not give
that gold dollar fer twenty pounds OF
sugar. / will take il around to a broker
and get two dollars for it and get the
twenty pounds of sugar and have one silver
dollar left. daughter
WHAT CANNOT BE DONE.
so it is, my friends; we can of ourselves.
Of our own wisdom, declare the unit of
value. We can coin silver freely. but We
cannot make sixteen ounces of silver equal
to one ounce of gold unless it is. (Ap-
plause.) And it is not unless the merchants
take it at that rate. That is where all this
thing comes in. 1t is trade; ii is the mer-
chant; il is the man who exchanges and
deals in these things that fixes their rel
ative value, and IL you do not take the
value he fixes, the gold dollar will go
back to the gold vault and the gold will 60
out of circulation. What is another con-
sequence? In this connection these gentle
mey say, Why, didn't we win the battle
at Bunker Hill? Naughter-) Didn't We
whip the British at Yorktown? And do
you mean TO say We cannot do 1t again?'
use such a term in connection with such
balderdash-is that a nation hat can do
these great things and establish its polit-
ical independence can also be financially
and commercially free. 1t cannot be free
OF the laws or trade. (Applause.) They
can say that ten muskrat skins are equal
to one beaver skin, but that doesn't make
it so. The fur trader fixes that question.
applause and laughter.)
What is the next suggestion? 1t is, my
friends. in the case of free silver. h is
the financial and moral equivalent of a
declaration that 50-cent pieces are dollars?
They might just as well pass a law
not make it SO. would it? would be
a legal dollar; yet it wol ot buy a
dollars worth of anything. hat is the
effect of that? The merchant, would take
care of himself. A man keeps a store
down here ON Broadway. and the law is
going into operation tonight. He summons
all his clerks and buys 70 cents worth of
pencils, and before he has opened up his
store in the morning he has marked up
all that, but there are great numbers of
people. numberless people, who enlist our
interest and some of whom nkind our
sympathies. who cannot use the pencil.
Take the workingman. He cannot go To
the pay roll with a pencil and mark ii
up. He has got to consult somebody. He
has to enter into an agreement. He has
got to get some other mans consent be-
fore he can mark up his wages. Then there
is the pensioner. those who are receiving
pensions from this government for gallant
deeds done in the war and others for the
loss of beloved ones. He cannot take his
pension certificate, and where il reads s.
make it SIG. He must walt for an act OF
Congress-. and a Congress that was Popu-
.istic in character would be unsympathetic
(Applause.) He must make an appeal &c
Congress to have his pension raised 10
twice what it was before he is made equal
What can the depositors in our savings
banks, this great company of widows and
orphans. the people of small means who are
putting by a few pennies against a hard
time in life-what can they do when this
change comes? Can they take their bank
pass and where il says $40 write twenty!
Not al all. Take the men who have life
insurance. A man has providently taken. a
policy that his widow and children might
not come to want when the bread winning
hand was stricken in death: can they
where the policy reads 5000 make IL Sl0,-
900? Can the managers Of these institutions
make it right with them? No. This policy
ccerces integrity. tApplause-) However
honest a president of a savings bank may
be. however full of sympathy the president
PEELED to say: All of the loans of thi:
company are scaled down to 50-cent dol
lars. We loaned dollars that were worth
100 cents: we are now being paid in the
reduced dollar. Although our integrity re.
volts against IL our honesty is coerced and
we must pay the widow half. Applause.
THE LABORING MAN.
MY friends, these men surely do no
contemplate the irretrievable and extensiv,
character of the disaster and disturbanc,
and disruption which they are proposin:
for all of US in our business affairs, grea
and simple. Take the laboring man. how
full of sympathy they are for him. NJ,
countrymen, / never spoke a false word L
the laboring man I'm my life. Great APP
plause.) l have never sought TO reach hi
vote or influence by appeals 10 that par
of his nature that will pollute the intellec
and the conscience. i have believed. AM
| believe to-day. that any system tina
maintains the prices OF labor in this coun