The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-09-24
6 Sect E6 AUSTIN, FRIDAY, OCT. =

Japan and China. Great applause) SO
that some other reason, rather than the
lack of volume of money, must be found
to account for the present condition of
the country. AS to the second COM
plant, that our money is too good, no
nation suffers from having its medium
of exchange of the highest and best quail
ity Great applause.) 1t has been poor
money, not good money, that has been
the cause of so much loss and ruin in
the past. both to individuals and to ma
tons. (Applause.) The oldest men of
this nation will remember that before
the war we did business on tiuctuating
money. The total number of banks in
1860, exclusive of state banks branches,
was ITO. OF this number the counter
felt detector, then in constant use. re-
ported S23 as broken, closed, failed.
fraudulent and worthless. The notes of
the people, had been received by them
for their good labor and their good prod
ucts. They We're absolutely worthless
and often of no more value than the pa
per on which they were printed. Upon
whom did this loss fall. my fellow citi-
zens? There is scarcely an old gentle
man in the audience who will not recall
that it fell on the laboring man and
farmers of the United States. Cries of
THAT'S right" and applause.) | allude
to this only to show that those who suf
fer most from poor money are the least
able to bear the loss. 1t is the history
of mankind that the valuable money that
will pass current issue is the last money
that finds its resting place among the poor
And | doubt if there is n man in the
audience who hasn't in his belongings
some of these old bank notes. have
$40 at home, myself. Such a proposition
to Il man who reasons should meet with
instant rejection. From 1860 to 1873
we did business with paper money al
together You will remember that gold
was continually at II premium. Then
when man wanted to borrow money he
J had to pay higher rate of interest than
| he has had to pay since 1879 on Il gold
basis. When we were doing business
with Il deprecated paper money inter
est was very much higher to the bOr-
rover than it is now. | can recall when
here in Ohio the ruling rate of interest
for that paper money was 10 per cent
annually, and often l per cent a month
or II per cent year. Do you remember
| that, men of Indiana, when, in the days
of the greenback currency, you paid
| from 10 to II per cent for your money?
The ruling rate here in Ohio for what
some people are pleased to call 200
cent dollar is or I per cent today.
Money can be borrowed at Il lower rate
of interest than it could have been bor-
rowed at any time from the days of
| 1860 to the days of resumtion. What
more hcalthful sign than this fact that
! dollar sound the world over can be
borrowed ut Il less rate than ever be-
fore. That money is hard to get not
,, because it is scarce, but because they
who have it keep it. fearing to loan it.
because of the unsettled condition of
the country. Money today is idle be-
cause it can not be safely invested. 1t
is neither Il lack of volume of our money
nor the quality of the money that is our
trouble. but Il lack of confidence in the
steadineSs and stability of business. The
threat of free silver is driving our money
into hiding today. The way to bring it
out is to restore confidence, and how
| will you restore confidence? There is
only one way. "A voice: Vote for Nc
kinley.' ApplauseD The way to restore
confidence is to defeat through the bal
lot the party that destroys confidence.
lApplauseD We can not restore the
business of the country so long as we
do so much of our business abroad.
(Cries of That's right.') Let us bring it