Omaha daily bee., 1896-05-17
nation, which needs it's gold, will tell you
that the gold standard Is all right. Gap
Mr.. RosEwGTER's CLOSING SPEECH.
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In his closing speech Mr.. said:
l want MIR. Bryan to answer me, now.
How many men who have money to loan can
make a profit on 1t except by loaning II?
They can make money only by the interest
upon the money. We all know that since
England established the gold standard eighty
years ago, the price Of money has steadily
gone down from something like 6 or Z per
cent to 2 or 3 per cent, so that the income
OF the great portion Of the money-loaning
class is greatly shrinking, instead OF being
greater, by reason Of the loans they have
made.
In the first portion Of his speech Mr..
Bryan said something must be done, ana |
repeat 1t now. in conclusion, that something
must be done, and that Is to stop all this
foolish agitation about creating something
out Of nothing, and paying debts with
shadows and imaginary rainbows. He admits
here today that he does not know whether
silver will go mp to S1.29. He admits. then,
that the man who brings silver to the mint
will get dollars that are not worth a dollar.
He admits furthermore, that all OF these
silver dollars will not be exchangeable for
gold. but for silver only. Now, then, all
you who have no silver at all, no mines, no
plates, no spoons at home, to convert into
dollars, | would like to know how you are
to get any Of those dollars that he expects
TO coin at the mint of the United States?
(Applause)
But he says this great American nation
needs the aid of no other nation on earth
and 10 able to hold up the silver of the
world and restore it to a parity OF 16 to |,
when he knows very well that all the
nations of the earth could not do 1t. All
the nations Of the earth tried to hold up
silver when 1t went down from 1O1a to IA,
when il went down to 14b, to 10 and to 16.
The French empire, the republic of France,
the Belgian government, all the governments
in Europe, tried that game, but they couldn't
do 1t.
DISASTROUS TO AMERICAN PEOPLE.
But he tells us that paper money was
our primary money in 1879. In the empire
of Russia today they have precisely the
kind of money that we had then. They
call this money and credits rubles. They
have 1864. 900, COO Of credit rubles, and these
credit rubles are legal tender for all debts
and customs, and yet will not exchange with
80 cents on the dollar. They have some
thing like $3.50, 600, 900 of gold accumulated
in the Russian treasury, but that belongs
to the car and Is not In the reach of the
common people. Only recently they have
established a system of banks, by which
any man who has gold may deposit the same
in any of Theses banking institutions and re-
Ceive gold in return, or rather gold GER
t%ifcates, exchangeable for gold, but gold
money does not circulate. And. therefore,
Russia is one among the lowest in the
civilized nations among the commercial ma
tions of the world. Her peasantry, paid
with this deprecated currency, live
in a state of serfdom and slavery. upon
potatoes, cabbage and tea. That is all they
have. These people are about as impover-
ished as those in Mexico; not far above
the Japanese, and Mr.. Bryan wants the
people of the United States to go down to
the level of the Russian and Japanese.
Japan is making preparations to raise
the standard of money to gold. The people
of the United States are asked to go back
to silver. Why, 1t is preposter0us, and in
closing, fellow citizens, l appeal to you
to exercise your reason and judgment, and
form your judgment in the light OF past
experiences rather than upon future option,
for this is nothing more than gambling in
the future. and Mr.. Bryan's attempt to
inveigle this nation into a gambling scheme
on silver would be the most disastrous game
the American people have ever played.
Great appIause)