The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-15

United States, with an apology for fifty
dess OF Liberty placed upon a deprecated
coin. When We put the American eagle on
a piece OF metal we ought 10 put him there
with every tail feather spread rampant for
the glory of his country. we cannot afford
to Mexicanize American manhood. Amer
ica'f muscle or American money.
THE REAL ISSUE
1t is contended by the advocates of free
silver that this is IAN issue between the
gold standard and bimetalism. Nothing
could be further from the truth 1t is an
issue between a monetary system. which
VIII give us silver alone and the existing
monetary. system. which gives us Il practice
al nlrnetallsm Every gold-standard coun-
try of the world has in circulation side by
side gold and silver and paper The United
states, Great Britain, Germany, France
ana All OF the great commercial, industrial
and progressive nations make gold the
standard, and under it give 10 their people
Tor daily use gold and silver and paper. all
equal in purchasing and debt-paying power.
ana every dollar interchafgea BILE with
every other dollar
IN the gold-standard countries of the
' Woria; with their joint use of gold and sill
Yer. there is more than five times as much
m IN circulation per capita as there Is
The United States under the existing stand
ara mas In CIRCULATION more than ST. per
dree-silver nation. has in circulation but
$3.50 per CAPITA all in silver wortb ~. ~
p , tl5he ABOUT % cents on the dollar
Two cents since the Chicago convention
wa, was nele ana the people of Mexico are pre-
pairing for still further fall in the value
after our November election
THE CRIME OF '7a."
But they tell us that our Congress twen
ty-three years ago committed great crime.
They call it discovered, the effects OF
which were not felt or known until more
than nineteen years after its commission.
What was the crime of 1873? 1t is alleged
that silver was then demonetized / ask
every man in this audience when he goes
to his home to examine all the silver dol
lars In his possession, and unless he ex-
plores the hiding-place of family keep
sakes, unless he finds the dollar which
grandma laid away after the first baby
had used it for teeth-cutting purposes, he
VIII not find one single dollar which bears
date prior to 1873. There is not to-day
one silver dollar in actual circulation in
the United States which bears date prior
70 ioI5 The older men in this audience
in circulation from 1861 to 1878. or. for that
matter, until 1873 an American silver dol
ar lar. Every one of the 4Ss 100000 which have
been given to the people for their use have
been given them since the so-calIed crime
OF 1879, and under legislation which pledges
their integritv 'n ans sove hin TO maintain
the SILVER dollar. or the silver certificate
which comes into the hand of labor shall
De as good, Shall buy as much, as the gold
dollar laid away in the vault of the CAP
1taist. All this talk about gold being the
rlcn mans money and silver the poor mans
money des not and cannot apply in this
country, but does apply and will apply in
every Iree-coinage country in the world.
1ng before all of the audience had left
declared that in his belief opening our
minus 10 the free and unlimited coinage OF
would m 10 ta1tr "A
vance the price of silver from IS cents per
ounce its present bullion value, to $l29 an
ounce It's coinage value. in gold
Is there anything in history or the ex-
perience of mankind to justify such be-
chance the business and PROSPERITY Of This
country and of its 100000 people to the
belief of any man. however distinguished.
when that belief is in direct opposition to
the accepted Judgment of mankind? AS Mr..
Foraker has so well said. Can we afford
House?' ~
The free coinage of silver by other coun-
tries has never yet lifted its purchasing
of government has never yet Increased the
value OF the metal upon which it has been
mains silver. 1t will pass current among
all peoples, not on account of the fiat OF
any government but on account of the in
trlnslc value of the coin itself
TO REDUCE 1T ONE-HALF.
But is Mr.. Bryan sincere or honest in his
alleged belief? Sic promises the East that
silver will appreciate to s1.29 per ounce in
gold, thereby to alley their fear of the in
evitabie contraction and financial panic
which would result from change to de-
preciated currency; and in the Middle and
Western States, Mr. Bryan and all his fol-
lowers tell the people that the present gold
dollar has appreciated in value until 1t is
worth 200 cents, and the mission of his
party is to restore the dollar of 100 cents.
Put it as you please. let the present dollar
be called 10O-cent dollar or a 2O0-cent doll
lar, his promise and that of his party is to
reduce its present value cne-half.
He also promises the farmers of the West
a double price for all their products which
he tells them will certainly result from the
free coinage of silver, and which can only
result because of the substitution of dol
lar worth only half as much as the dollar
now in use.
One belief or the other must be a dishon-
est belief. If our farmers, are to receive
be because the dollars they receive are
worth half as much as those now In use.
If free coinage of silver will lift the price
of silver the wide world over TO S1.9 an
ounce in gold, then there Is no cheapening
of the dollar, no increase in the price of
products, no scaling down of our in
debtedness, no settlements of debts at half
price
viii the opening of our minis to the free
and unlimited coinage of the worlds prod
uct of silver double the value of all the sill
yer money Of the world and of all the silver
.iAoI Sttii PAOuhSSu LioiH year 10
year? The proposition is preposterous upon
the face of it. That law of the United
States will double the value of four thou
sand millions of silver money now in use
throughout the world is absurd; and if the
silver advocates are right in their theory
that all our ills because of the appre-
citation of money. what a frightful crime
they are proposing against the silver stand
ard money! For If they are correct the
doubling OF the value of the money of those
will precipitate upon their unof-
Tending people all of the depression. stag
nation and ills which they so loudly bewail
in the United States.
NO HAZARDOUS EXPERIMENT.
One thing is certain. When our minis are
opened TO the free and unlimited coinage
of silver the value of the silver bullion of
all the world must rise to the gold standard
of the great industrial and commercial
countries, or the coin value of all our sill
yer moneys must go down to the present
value of the silver moneys of the free-coin-
age countries. Which is it to be? Are we
to lift Mexico Japan, China and South
America to our standard or are we TO fall
TO theirs? The very hazard of the expert
ment is enough to paralyze all business. de-
stroy all confidence. stop all enterprises,
limit all manufactures. curtai all credits.
increase all interest rates and make in
creased manufacture or investment an abb
solute impossibility.
What is the free and unlimited coinage Of
silver? The silver advocates say IL is SIM
piy placing the stamp OF government upon