The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1896-09-24

man was at standard height. could anybody
tell what that meant? Could anybody tell
whether that meant he was as tall as the
chairman or as tall as his hve-year-old son?
Instead of enlightening people as to the
height OF a person it would plunge . nan
into greater confusion than yer as 10 his
size. when we discussed ii in that light.
Now, my friends, ! recur gain 10 this
Confusion of Terms
between value and price. Mr.. Bryan cl''Ts
that he can increase the price OF Corr'odi-
ties by this change in the stand1ri. He Is
telling the truth. When he says tat he
can increase the measure Of 7alue he says
that which Is not true, ne says taat which Is
impossible. No power on earth, by ~leg'sla-
tion or by governmental decree, Ctn add
one dollar in value to that table, aid lear
In mind, as / said before, we ARE hot de-
batting now with Mr.. Bryan me Question
whether gold or silver should be the stand
ard of value. That is apparently an I'M
important question. The battle that is GO
ing on in this country today : not as to
what shall be the standard, bet it is that
the standard shall not be changed for the
purpose of dcfrauding any man.
Why, there would be no harm In provid-
Ing that on and after this date silTer dol
lars should be coined and issued and al
lowed TO take their chances providing that
all existing contracts were settled in the
coin which was current at the time the
| contracts were made. There is the gravest
harm, there Is a crime, there is a dishOn-
esty involved in declaring that you can set
tie in a debased coin a debt which has been
contracted in an honest coin. You will see
that by the mere change In the standard
but little harm could be done. Ii, for in
stance, the legislature here Of the State Of
Minnesota should decree that on and after
this date the yard measure should consist
Of eighteen inches, why nobody would be
hurt by that. When You come to buy your
cloth for Il suit of clothes you would buy
just twice as many yards as you would buy
| to-day and you would pay the same amount
for it. If the legislature decreed that the
yard measure should consist of seyenty-two
inches for all future contracts, nobody
would be hurt. because whe2 you come to
buy q suit OF clothes you would buy just
half as many yards as you buy to-day, and
YOU would pay just about the same. But
If the legislature should provide after you
had agreed and paid for ten yards of cloth
of thirty-six inches each, that the yard
hereafter should consist of eighteen Inches
and that existing contracts should be set
tied in the new measure. then you would
be dcfraUded out of half the cloth for which
you paid. CApplauscl
And this is just precisely that form OF
cheat which Is tempt In the attempt
to change the standard of value, SO that
debts contracted In dollars worth 100 cents
might be paid In dollars worth 3 cents.
Now, my friends. 1t Is well that | should
remind you here that every person In the
"NA'A 10 III oh WY NV pN''''
for the prosperity Of his trade. No nation
can be independent Of any other nation,
even In its monetary affairs or even in Its
military establishments. Suppose there
should be maSsed on the other side of the
! Canadian border five hundred thousand men
with their guns pointed toward this land,
and forts were being built and sig rs OF mill
tary activity were visible everywhere,
would we remain with an army OF thirty
thousand men? Wouldn't we from the very
menace imnlipd nv the aYiSrpncp ~ a hnstila
army beyond our border organize an army
equal to that on our side and prepare to de-
fend our territory from any menace that
might be implied In a large military estab-
lishment on the Canadian side? Would any
man be considered a patriot going around
the United States and declaring we must
disband our army, that We must be indie
pendent OF any foreign government? Could
France disband her army while Germany
maintains hers? Could any one government
be oblivious to the acts Of another govern
meht which is n rival or competitor either
In military affairs or in commerce.? Eng
lands claim to all her Influence and power
which she Yields throughout the world TO-
day came simply from the fact that in 1896
she established
The Best Coinage System
the world has ever known. She has estab-
ilshed the soundest money and she has
maintained II. Now, there were gentlemen
like Mr.. Bryan travelling around through
England in 1906. She was not commercial
ly AS important as France, and the process
OF clipping coins, carried on first by the
king at the mint and afterwards by the
people In the various walks Of trade, had
so disorganized the money that a person
could not tell what a shilling was worth;
1t might be worth twelve pence, il might be
worth nine pence and 1t might be worth
eight pence. Every one that got money
that was good and sound took particular
pains that 1t did not remain goo! and sound
4 UnFv lnnU Nhit [ .nI L..
and so every man was engaged In passing
a coin n little poorer than the coin In the
possession Of Ills ncighbor. And II came TO
pass that all trade practically came to n
standstiHl; 1t was impossible to do business.
A man would so TO the mtTket place and
sell his horses at Il certain price: but when
he came 10 get his money there always was
a dispute as to the quality Of the money
which he should receive. One hundred
pence collected In Bristol was worth half
as much as money collected i'm some other
part Of the kingdom. and the whole trade
of the country was absolutely paralyZed, as
our trade is to-day. Theirs paralyzed by
actual bad money, and ours paralyzed by
the threat of bad money.
My friends. when Mr.. Bryan tells us that
we must oppose England in the CONNER
cial competitions of the world with weapons
inferior to theirs. he talks as intclligcntly
as If he should denounce the building Of
the Massachusetts and the other great en-
gincs of war because the Constitution and
the Chesapeake did not have any steam
motive power or rifled cannon. He declares
that we must contend for commercial SUI
premacy that In the commercial competi-
ton We should use the weapons of our
fathers. and that Is about as absurd as that
we should use the weapons of our fathers in
a contest for territorial integrity. IL we
had 10 fight cgain for the Integrity OF our
soil l wonder IL Mr.. Bryan and Mr.. Bland
and the other Populistic patriots would
make it a question of patriotism that we
should send our soldiers 10 the front with