The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-09-25

knowledge of financiers on the money
question. You will find it in a speech
made at the time the legal tender laws
were being discussed. He said: No
body knows much upon the question of
finance, not even those who are most
familiar with it so far. Sir, declare
to-day that in the whole number of
learned financial men have consulted
/ have never found any two of them
who agree and, therefore, it is hardly
worth while for us to plead any very
remarkable degree of ignorance when
nobody is competent to instruct us;
and yet, what is the fact? / can state
to you, Mr.. President, that one day /
was advised very strongly by a leading
financial man at all events to oppose
this legal tender clause; he exclaimed
against it with all the bitterness in the
world. On that very day / received a
note from a friend of his telling me
that we could not get along without it.
| showed it to him and he expressed his
utter surprise. He went home and the
next day telegraphed to me that he
had changed his mind and now thought
that it was absolutely necessary; and
his friend who wrote to me wrote again
that he had changed his mind and they
were two of the most eminent finan-
cial men in the country. 2a
There you find testimony, not of
a Western man, but an Eastern Sena-
tor, that even fnaueiers did not seem
to agree on the money ques ton or ON
financial question and that the two
men advised him different ways on the
same day and on the next day changed
their minds. / call your attention to
this because our inancIeFs speak with
all the assurance of men who receive
their knowledge direct from some
higher source. The fact is the West
eTn farmer who has been pinched by
the gold standard has a clearer opin-
ion of what the gold standard means
than the TAan down here who has lived
so as not to suffer from the operation
of this system. (Applause.) They tell
us necessity is the mother of inyen-
ton. Necessity is also that which
prompts to an investigation of all evils
we find. Those who suffer from evils
must investigate their cause and by
removing the cause remove the evils
Never in the history of the world has
reform come to mankind from among
those who were not benefited by that
reform Why? Because, my friends,
those who are now suffering do not
consider the condition and do not in
vestigate and therefore are not the first
to learn. Another reason why [ am glad
to come here. Here you have great in
surance companies. Insurance COM
panies are taking an active part in try
ing to continue the gold standard. It
is not worth while for these insurance
companies to consider the interests
of the rest of the people OF this coun-
try. These companies collect their
premiums paid by the people and then
these collections are loaned back to
the people. 1t is not worth while for
these insurance companies to consider
the interests of the people who furnish
them all the money they have, and pay
all the interest they receive. If You
say the insurance company is trying
to look after the interests of the people
who hold policies, l ask is it not posi-
bic these men who have sense enough
to pick out a good insurance house,
have sense enough to know who to
vote for without being instructed by
the heads of insurance companies?
(Applause) Remember these insur-
ance companies receive premiums far
more than they pay out on losses and
therefore a dollar which grows larger
all the time is of more benefit to the
insurance company than it is to the
policy holder. If these insurance COM
panies presidents think the people can
be deceived by this pretense of unset
fishness on their part, they have a
lower opinion of the intelligence of the