Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-09-02
THE SILVER QUESTION.
Rev. Theodore L. CuyIer Discourses on
It's Moral Aspects.

Unless | mistake the signs of the
times, the principle of universal suf-
fragc will be subjected to a more severe
strain this year than at any previous
time during the present generation. Ihe
Civil war imposed but a slight strain;
slavery was a sectional institution, which
went down under the superior forces of
the free states; and the preservation of
the nations life appealed to all classes,
rich or poor, educated or ignorant. The
humblest hodcarrier in an Eastern city,
and the toughest miner in Western
camp, could understand why the flag
should be fought for and the Rebellion
suppressed. The issues then were plain,
distinct and simple.
The great, burning question which is
to be submitted to the suffrages of thir
teen millions of voters this year is one
that requires some study and intelligence
to comprehend it, and an honest con-
science to decide the moral issues in
volyed. The currency question is far
more vital than high or low tariff, or any
policy towards foreign nations. 1t fixes
the value Of every dollar that the shop
keeper puts into his till, every dollar
that the housewife carries to market,
and every dollar that is put into the
contribution box on the Sabbath. Dis
honesty in the currency taints every
business transaction in the land. I'm
happily there is no question on which
lACLC dIC I1OIc pldUSIDlG SOpulSlIlGS CuI
rent and more demagogueish appeals to
unreasoning prejudice. The silver in
terest, also, is immensely powerful, and
its propaganda have sown its Specious
literature broadcast There is hardly a
barroOm or grocery in the South, or a
saloon in the vast West, in which tracts
or papers cannot be found in advocacy
of ''cheap money! or 1.-The dollar of
our fathers or ''the poor mans coin,'
or some kindred financial farrago. 1t is
not surprising that the free silver lun-
acy is widely extended and deeply seat
ed.
Politics and finance belong to the do
main of ethics, and there are some moral
aspects of this free silver agitation for
all good citizens. One of them is the
current delusiOn that there can be dOu-
bic standard of values. This is as alb
Surd and as immoral as the use of two
yard sticks in dry goods store, or two
kinds of a multiplication table in a count
ing room. Yet thousands of ignorant
voters in every Southern and Western
state are made to believe that both a
gold and a silver standard are possible
and are desirable.
o. Another immortality connected with
this free silver crusade is the temptation
which it offers to the debtor class to dis
charge their debts in a cheap" currency.
1t is q very attractive idea to man who
is heavily in debt that he may pay off
his obligations in a dollar that is only
worth 30 or 60 cents. That the same
sort of deprecated currency may be
passed off on to himself does not seem
to enter his thick skull. An unstable
standard of values is a constant incen-
tive to dishonesty. 1t bases the credit
system on a qulcksand.
81 One of the worst features of free
silver demagoguery is its attempts to eX-
cite hostility between classes. According
to the lingo of these crossroads poll
| ticians, gold is the money of The rich,
the silver is the money Of the poor la
| borer: therefore, silver should be thrown
| into the most enormous circulation, what
| ever be its value Whereas the most
! cruel fact connected with this delusiOn
! is, that under a deprecated currency and
! in a time of financial panic or depression,
/ the poor laboring classes are uniformly
! the Seyerest sufferers. If the reckless
| experiment of a free coinage of silver
! should be carried out, and a widespread
/ panic should ensue. | should not feel half
| as much pity for the so-called "goldbugs
! of Wall street" as | should for the poor
negro on a cotton plantation or a poor
carman in the streets of st. Louis. If
anyone wants to see the incendiary at
tempts to array one class against an
other, let him read the recent address
of the Populists, issued from st. Louis
after the Republican convention had
| wisely declared for the existing gold
standard. That address mingles it's eulo-
gies of Senator Teller with the shame
| less statement that the existence of a
| gold standard IS "a tyranny more grind
ing than that of czars or emperors," and
that 1.-The common people will be in no
better condition than that of the black
| slaves before emancipation During the
next four months we may expect a del
uge of this misunderstanding nonsense
| among the more ignorant classes in all
parts of the land Universal suffrage
puts q ballot alike into the hands of the
intelligent and the ignorant of the wise
! and of the foolish, and this fact involves
| the necessity of the most constant pa
tient and thorough enlightenment of the
masses of our cOuntrymen on the simple
A, B, G principles of honest currency
One of the most dangerous symp-
toms just now is the rapid spread Of the
POpulistic hereses in regard to the
| standard of values, the functions of gov
eminent, and the sacredness of national
! honor. These immoral ideas have in
fected many members of both the old
parties as well as become the cardinal
doctrines of the new party. We had
a melancholy exhibition of this in the
United States Senate when senator
from North Carolina introduced bill
that really involved the reputation of
national obligations! This measure was
denounced by Senator Hawley of Con
necticut as the "most Ubiquitous and dis
| Srace1ul measure ne naQ ever known 10
be introduced into that body" Yet this
same disgraceful bill actually passed the
Senate. receiving the unanimous votes
of the free silverites in the Republican
Democratic and Populist parties! That
the highest legislative body of our land
which once echoed to the lofty patriotic
eloquence of Clay. Webster, Wright,
Seward, Sumner and Edmunds-should
stoop to such an ignoble travesty of legis-
lation is enough to make every American
blush for his country.
We hear great deal about the duties
of Christians in purifying municipal gov
eminent, and about the application OF
christian citizenship to the role of the
"Endeavor society" and not one syllable
too much in either direction / submit
whether this free silver mania, which
is overrunning the land and rupturing
everyone of the parties mot excepting
the Prohibitionists). ought not to be pu1
under the keen lens Of Christian con
science. and looked at squarely as a
question of Christian ethics. An intel
ligent democracy. ruled by reason and
conscience, may be the best of govern
ments But universal suffrag e-umder
the pressure of hard times" and sub,