The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-07-24
GEO. FRED WILLIAMS
Puts the silver Argument as Efficient
as Any One Has Done.

Geo. Fred Williams had a signed
editorial in the Lawrence, Mass. Sun
Sunday in which he said:
I'm the first place our present money
system is a failure. 1t brought us il
| 1898 to pauic, in which one quarter
of the railroads were brought to the
hands of receivers, and many hundreds
of millions were lost to the industry
and labor of the land We confidently
expected that the repeal of the silver
act. would remedy the evil; we had
a slight show of improvement. and
then matters grew worse, until the
whole country Is in despair. Prices,
which have gone steadily down for
twenty years, have fallen faster in the
last three years than ever before gold,
with is our greatest necessity in this
emergency. is leaving the country by
constant drain upon the treasury ::
and it is clear that the gold standard
is under such terrible strain that
another panic may result, which will
involve the failure of the gold stan
dard, ami we shall then arrive at a sill
yer standard, whether we wish or not.
There is no hope in the present sit
uation, and it is difficult to see how
system, which is topping under the
administration of President Cleveland.
can be expected 10 stand and be
strengthened under such man as Mr..
Mckinley.
The Democratic party offers tn
remedy of free coinage of silver. No
man can say exactly what the results
of free coinage at this time will be, as
the problem is really new in the
worlds history.
But the highest financial authorities
agree that the steady fall of prices for
twenty years is due to the demoueti
cation of silver by the great nations
of the world between 1870 and 1880,
and that only the restoration of silver
to IFS former dignity as money metal
will rescue us from the downward
course of prices, which, of course,
means BANKRUPTCY.
AS appears in the Republican ;.lat
form, the desirability of bimetalism
is admitted, but it is claimed that the
United States is not strong enough
single handed To- lift the price of silver |
to the price which it is exchangeable !
for gold at lG to |, namely 81. 29i4 |
an ounce.
The Democratic party says con- /
fidently that the opening of the minis !
Of silver will restore the status of 1878, |
and give the whole world the acknowl !
edged boon of bimetalism. The Re /
publican party says that we must !
wait until the great nations of Europe !
Join in the effort, but it is perfectly /
clear that England will refuse SO that
there is no prospect of international
agreement until by the adoption of
'ree coinage in the United States, Eu-
'opean nations are driven to do il.
1t seems to me that this country can
,nly gain by the free coinage of silver,
md | have cofidence that there would
BE TO permanent premium upon gold
~ reason of il.
But even if the silver dollar should
% at some discount, the process of
sealing debts would be much healthier
han the bankruptcy of the whole
country under the present system.
is bad for creditor as well
IS debtor. while possible loss through
slight fall in the value of the dollar I
would be gaia to the creditor if 1t
with it general presently,
higher prices and higher wages.
The prostration of industry is a
0ss to everyone, and revival of bust
ess must be obtained by some l
Method. or general misery will result.
| am disappointed and shocked by
be violence which characteriZes {
be words of those who support the {
old standard; their talk is the most
busive known since the war. Never I,
leless, we must go on with argument, ,
nd may eventually arouse the business '
len of the east 10 realizing sense =
nat it is false monetary system Z
hich is running them. {
As it seems to be admitted even by
old monometallists that rising prices .
ill attend the free coinage of silver, ,
nd that business will revive under it. .
am willing to risk my opinion
gainst theirs that this return of pros h
crit. will be not only apparent, but
al; not only temporary but per i
lament. y
| advise all who agree with me to
SIX all thinking men to suspend judg
ent till they hear the full argument.