Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-10-16

ers and repudiators, and then they
will tell you before they get through
that they are as good free silver men
as you are. They simply haul in theil
heads and lengthen out on the short
side and shorten on the long side, and
they are all right. And then they tell
you it is simply a scheme of the miner
and they make big talk about the
mine owners and tell you that nobody
else will be benefited. They tell you
that it is only fifty cents in silver and
the miners get dollar for it, and then
they will haul in heads and lengthen
out the other side and tell you that it
is poor miserable dollar and won't
increase the price OF silver cent. II
is about the most ridiculous PROPOSE
tion | ever knew intelligent men to en-
gage in. Why, gentlemen, / don't
know that | can make speech, but il
| could not make better goldbug
speech than those fellows make, l
would get off the stump.
SOME REFERENCE TO COINAGE HISTORY
Now We have come to the history OF
the silver question: In 1892 Con-
gress passed law making the coin
age OF gold and silver the money OF
this country. 1t is given in Carlisle's 3
little book, and that law simply pro-
vided that gold and silver at the ratio
of ID to l should be the money of the
United States. Now we had bimetal-
lism and unlimited coinage of silver
at fixed ratio from that date to 1878.
Now they tell US that if we had BIZ
metallism and free coinage, that
prices fell from 1914 to 1919. Prices
did fall, and the laws of the country
were for bimetallism.
We find according to Mr.. Carlisle's
statement that from April 2, 1892, to
January 81, 1884, that the production
of silver in this country was so small
it was regarded as Insignificant.
| Bimetallism with no money in the
country. That is nice proposition.
| Accuse us OF having bimetallism and
they didn't produce enough silver dur
ing all that time to repair one of the
Chinese gods. From 1884 to 1874 the
production was $4,000 per year and
from 1914 to 1857 it was $4,000. We
did have bimetallism so far as the law
| was concerned, but We didn't have il
in fact; there was no silver to make
money out OF. We had some silver in
circulation but it was simply in for
eign coins made legal tender and we
had to do the best we could.
Mr.. McCleary of Minnesota-some
of you have read his works no doubt
is considered the highest authority
upon the gold side. He says the
price OF wheat has decreased because
OF the decrease in the cost of produc-
ton; that the old way was more ex-
pensive; that now it is cut with ma
chine and threshed with a steam
thresher, and it consequently has re-
duced the cost Of production.
Some of you old gentlemen will per-
haps remember, if you lived in Ohio
or Pennsylvania during 1880 or 1910,
OF how you used to SOW the wheat
amongst the stumps and how you
would get down and cut it with a
sickle and thresh it with a fail and
then sell it for two bits bushel; the
costliest manner in which it could be
produced. And he says it is cheaper
! now because of the cheapness of pro-
duction. We didn't have money in
the country-there were no railroads
to haul it to the seaboard or to take it
to the markets where it could be sold.
You see that it is a business PROPOSE
ton and we can account for every
thing in perfectly natural way, if you
just 60 to bedrock. 1t was not cheap
because We had bimetallism nor be-
cause We didn't have it, but because
the conditions made it. cheap. And
the conditions are making it cheap
now. not the cost Of production.
THE RECORD OF M'KINLEY UPON THE
SILVER QUESTION.
In 1873, silver was demonetized. l
don't care how-it was demonetized.
1t remained so until 1878, and we had
panic during that time. Silver was
considerably discussed in 1876 and
1878. On the 5th day of November
1877, there was a bill passed Congress
which was known as the Bland bill.
1t provided for the free and unlimited
| coinage at the ratio of 16 to l; 4I21
grains standard silver to the dollar
made u full legal tender for all debts
public and private. That was what
was known as the Free Coinage
bill. 1t passed the House of Repre-.
sentatives by q vote of 163 to a.
VIM. Mckinley poted for the bM-free
and unlimited coinage of silver. If it
means repudiation now, it meant re.
pudiation then. If it was sound
money then, it is sound money now
If am repudiator because l believe
in the free and unlimited coinage ol
silver, then William Mckinley set the
example for he was leader in my
party. There was another significant
measure then that passed, known as
the Mathews Resolution" Senator
Mathews introduced resolution
called the concurrent resolution in the
Senate. 1t reads:
| That all bonds of the U. S. are PAYABLE
in silver dollars of the value OF 4l2ls
grains each and to restore such as a full
legal tender for that purpose is not in
violation of public faith or in derogation
OF the rights of creditors.
That resolution went before the
! Senate and Senator Edmunds offered
an amendment which reads like this:
That all the bonds of the United
States are payable in gold dollars and
! that to pay them in any other money is
violation of public faith and the rights
of creditors.
The gold resolution failed to pass by
a vote OF Al to Is and the silver reso-
luton passed by vote of 43 to 90.
Forty-three Senators voted for the sill.
yer resolution. There were lots of
anarchists" in those days. Thirty
four Senators made speeches covering
the whole question, so they evidently
knew what they were talking about.
That silver resolution declared that
bonds and debts OF the United States
were payable in silver dollars, and it
passed the House on the 2Sth of Jan.
uary, 1878, by vote of 1S9 to 70
Van. Mckinley roted for it and yet to-
day he denoHnces the men who favor