The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-10
AT THE O. P. MORTON CLUB
A son OF INDIANA'S GREAT WAR
GOVERNOR MAKES A SPEECH.
Logical Reason why Sound Money
should BE Continued-A Reus-
ing Big Meeting.

| cluDrOOn1S on SnelDy street. Inc speaker
of the evening was Oliver T. Morton, of
Chicago, son of Indiana's war Governor.
The clubs hall was filed to it's fullest ca
pacity. 1t is a noticeable fact that the
| meetings of this club are always attended
by a fair sprnkling of women. They come
with their husbands and brothers, and
| sometimes come alone ana in pairs They
| add Zest to the meetings The hall is nicely
| decorated and is really pretty place. 1t
| is open at all times and has the daily pa
| pers and several magazines for those who
| care to spend a pleasant hour there dur
| ing the day or evening.
Mr.. Morton was enthusiastically received
His address was full of good thoughts and
elected much applause He caused a long
and loud laugh at one time during the
| evening over a little mistake that was aptly
turned into joke. During the entire even
! ing the meeting was disturbed by noises
and shouting on the outside, which came
/ from about a dozen hoodlums who had
| gathered the street and were continu-
ally shouting for Bryan, greatly disturb
| ing the speaker He said nothing until
| finally the noise became much worse, and
above it could be heard the beating of a
drum and shril sound of fife. The noise
came closer and finally stopped for a mo-
ment in front of the hall. Above the noise
| could be heard Mr.. Morton saying: Let
| those Popocrats yell and make all the
noise they want to; they have less than
| two months now to do it, for after Novem-
| Der they will have nothing to yell for"
Just then a noise was heard on the stair
way leading to the hall, and at the door
way appeared the banner of the c. w.
| Fairbanks Republican Club, located at Dill
| lon street and Fletcher avenue. The club
marched down in a body to attend the meet
| ing, but had given no notice of its COM
| ing. When he saw the banner Mr.. Morton
| said: What! Converted them already,
and they are coming to our meeting. 1t
| was a rough joke on the Fairbanks Club,
| but it taken in the spirit in which it
| was given. Mr.. Morton's address, in part,
| was as follows:
Mr.. Bryan poses as a social. political
| and economic reformer-an ambitious ana
| difficult role for one of limited education
| and experience. In economics he proposes,
| as a universal corrective insolvent, the free
and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio
Of I6 to lone pound OF silver TO one
ounce Of gold the market o or te
1T is needless to state that if MIR. Bryan
should be elected, and If II the hybrid party rcI
of Congress, there will follow the most
frightful commercial panic that the world
has ever seen. Conditions are such that
it would be impossible to limit it or to To-
calize it. 1t will bring desolaton, poverty
and distress to almost every household
Under the existing industrial system.
which, with its defects, is the best the world
has ever known, commercial interests have
become so interaced, the division of labor
has become so minute and intricate, that
the members OF any given given civilized d co spbo
operation of this ystem is based largely
upon credit, which is an uncertain, and at
times an eVanescent thing. Destroy 1T, and
men may StarVe in the midst of plenty.
There win be millions of idle capital and
tenn is to the body polite what the nervous
system is to the human body 1t ramifies
to every part and is the conduit of energy
Impair the central nerve, and paralysis
will ensue.
For three years we have been in a con-
dition of commercial panic. induced orig
indlly by the enormous purchases of silver
by the government and by the r., steady de-
money threatened to drive out the dearer,
according to the memorable Gresham law.
Men feared a change in the standard of
value, and do to-day. Capital will be
boarded and not used in the employment
of labor nor in the development of new
enterprises if the possessors of it, be they
large holders or small, apprehend that the
will not equal in purchasing power that
which they advance. The whole trouble
now is lack Of confidence. caused by the
free-silver agitatorS, who, standing upon
an anarchic platform, threaten TO pluck
up, society by the very roots. They are
talking the country into bankruptcy.
NO PUBLIC WORK, EVEN.
MIR Bryan processes to have great SYM
pathy for the toiling Masses AS a mat
ter of fact, he is their worst enemy. If
he should be elected it will not be a ques-
ton of an increase of wages, but of getting
any wages at all Within two months
they would be ready to turn upon and TO
rend him. He tells US that what we need
to-day is more silver, when in truth we are
suffering nigh unto death from a silver
sickness. Usually in times of distress the
unemployed may obtain work through pub
lie improvements but even this avenue has
been closed by the silver agitators. Cities
whose bonds have heret otore been sold
above par cannot borrow a dollar even
upon gold basis.
Mr.. Bryan says that the scarcity of
money is due to the appreciation of gold
that men prefer to hoard it for a rise
trade. A man who can deliberately make
a misstatement so gross forfeits all intel
lectual respect. England, which is a
single gold basis and which has per cap
tia circulation 80 per cent. less than that
of the United States has plenty of money,
a year In the Uniteu States there are mil
hons and tens of millions of dollars await
ing investment; During the twenty-four
of gold was about one hundred and two
millions of dollars. In 1890 the output had
lions and in 1894 to one hundred and eighty
one millions According to intelligent esti-
billion of dollars of gold in the next four
wears. AS to the scarcity theory there is
nothing in it.
Assuming the instability of money Mr.
Bryan says further, that a depreciatfng
standard is better than appreciting one
Were this true it would be limited by con-
ditions. If one standard depreciates rapid |
" and the other appreciates slowly, the |
latter is to be preferred. The former means |
quick and repeated changes in the stand
ard of values. wild speculation and the re- |
sulting decentralization of business; where |
as. the other hand, if the appreciation |
of the standard is gradual, contracts and |
other business relations may be adapted |
to it without noticeable loss or friction.
NO FLUCTUATING MONEY
THE most important requisite of money |
is stability of value. a standard is meas |
If you buy a bushel of wheat you |
wish to know that the size of the busheI |
will be the same on the day of delivery as |
the day of sale. This is true of money |
Gold is a better money than silver, because |
it is less likely to vary a measure of |
value. It's wide money by the civil |
lied nations of the earth, with whom our |
commercial relations are close and constant |
insures its stability both there and here |
The rejection of silver by those nations |
except as token money. because of its bulk |
Inconvenience and redundancy, makes it /
liable to violent fluctuations. When these |
minis to silver the United States will Join
lican party. and / beg TO say that it is /
characterized by sound business sense
But Mr.. Bryan says that we must have