Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-26

think Of rather than bring a misery great
er than war. pestiience snd famine. B.
Ruin Wrought by Gold.
Can you imagine the. meaning of these
words? No, my friends, the Imagination
csnnet conceive, the tongue cannot de-
scribe all that is wrapped up in those
words Can you think Of all the wars of
the past? When you remember that from
the time that Cain killed Abel until now
history has been Attle mere than q record
Of warfare.
Can you remember all those wars, and
can you add In one great sum all the mis-
cry that those wars have caused, and then
can you think Of the pestilsnces which
have visited the earth. Ind tho misery that
they have brought. and then can you
think of the famines that have afflicted
mankind from time to time; can you add
into one great sum all the misery caused
by these three dread destroyers Of the hui
man race. and then think that the consum-
nation of the conspiracy Of those who
stand behind the gold standard would
bring more Of misery than all of these?
All, my friends. 1t Is because we believe
that that prophecy was true; 1T L. because
we believe that no language can overstats
the Infinite distress that the gold standard
means to the whole human race; it Is be-
cause we believe that no power on earth
will prevent the advocates Of free coinage
from preaching that gospel wherever they
can find those to hear 1t. Some Of our op-
ponents say that they are afraid that we
cannot maintain bimetallism alone We
reply to them that we have waited for
twenty years for other nations to help US,
and If We are going to restore bime tallism
We have got to restore 1t alone, because
others do not come to our assistance More
than that, we believe that the assertion of
American independence will do more to
bring about International bimetallism than
servile dependence upon our enemies to
hri ny 20 Tltyr nVyn
| we need Is a restoration of confidence
Whenever the confidence man is abroad in
a community the man who has the least
confidence gets Off with the most money.
And I am very much afraid that the con-
fdence man Is abroad in this campaign.
Must Have a Basis to Rest On.
My friends, confidence must have a basis
less we shape our financial policy to suit
| the pleasure of foreign nations they will
| not loan us any money. We reply that as
long as we shape our financial policy ac-
cording to their pleasure we will always
be borrowers and can never be money
ioaners ourselves. Confidence must rest
upon a substantial basis. Suppose that a
man in your community gives out his notes
until every body has them and then some
body tries to collect note and finds that
the man has no property behind his notes;
how can you restore confidence in that
man? How can he inspire confidence in
the community? Just in one way, and that
is by putting property behind the notes
that he has out. My friends, how are you
going to restore confidence in the United
States by legislating value out of the prop
erty upon which notes rest? You have
tried it and you have found that bankrupt
cieS have increased year by year, and the
only people who have prospered are those
who own investments payable in dollars or
money they are making out of the ex-
tremitieS of the government.
II you want to restore confidence you
have got to restore prosperity to the great
masses of the people, and talk as much
about good property as they have been
talking about good money. Money can be
too good 1t can be SO good that you can
lcng for it and pray for it, but cannot get
hold of it. Remember that whenever you
make money dearer, when you increase its
purchasing power, you have simply driven
down the value Of other things. and If those
who own money and who hold contracts
payable In dollars are willing to SO leg
is!ate as to make their property more valu-
able, how can they appeal to those who
own property and owe debts to join them
in that sort of legislation have asserted
L assert again-that without the aid of the
moneyowning classes the gold standard
would not stand for one day in any nation
under the sun. 1 assert. that behind the
gold standard in this country the only po-
tent force consists of those who hold fixed
Investments and those who as brokers
profit the greater by greater bond issues.
The Laboring Mans Position.
They tell the laboring men Of this nation
that they ought to support a gold standard.
The laboring men have never found the
tinanciers of this nation the men who have
exerted themselves to Improve the coradi-
ton of the laborfng man. AS rule, the
men who have spent their time trying to
break down labor organiZations--the only
protection that the laboring man has had
these are the men who now come to the
help of the laborng man. I ask you If you
ought to expect blessings from those from
" HON you have only received cursngs in
the past.
l notice that one of our opponents the
other day said that the old soldier would
be opposed to free coinage. They gave the
impression that the financiers are very
much interested in maintaining a gold
standard for the benefit of the soldiers;
but, my friends, these men forget that all
Of the soldiers lived during the war, and
that during the war the soldiers knew that
the financiers made their bonds payable
in gold and left the soldier to offer his
| life upon the battlefield.
More than that my friends, do not be-
lieve that the soldiers who are willing to
offer their lives if need be in behalf Of their
country are today going to join in a con-
spiracy to enslave seventy millions Of free
PEOPLE by fetterirg them to gold standard.
Our opponents, at least some of them, have
been appealing to the ministry. l have
noticed some of these advocates of the gold
standard have said that the preachers, that
the teachers In religion. should favor the
gold standard because their salaries were
so small. that they did not want them re-
duced. Well, now, l willing to concede
everything that is right to our opponents,
but must confess that there Is one argu-
ment which they might make that would
appeal to some ministers, If there were any
ministers who were in the business Of min
istry merely for the dollars and cents there
were In it. l say there is one argument-it
is an argument that I cannot answer-and
1 give it to you for all that it is worth.
The gold standard makes hard times. Hard
times drive men out of employment 1dling
is conducive to crime. Therefore, the gold
standard by increasing the amount of
crime increases the demand for ministers
to put down immortality If there is any
other reason why a minister should favor
the gold standard I have not heard it, and
even the most astute of our opponents
have. SO far as I know, never urged the
reasons which 1 have suggested to you.
Free silver Not n Disease.
My friends. there is this general principle
that you can use in governing your course:
You may rest assured that in the long run
any policy which brings prosperity to the
great mass of the people will be shared by
all the people. If you cannot see just what