Birmingham state herald., 1896-09-30

permanent prosperity cannot be had until bimetallism is esta blished, they would continue the fight, assured of an over Whelming victory in 1900. The leaders of the silver cause know that it is war to tAe death, and that if they do not win it is for them political oblivion, and at the same time they believe it is the only hope of bringing cheer to the great producing classes and a prosperity to the country that will reach all classes and occupa tions.
 Silver will win one great victory; it will win this year or four years hence The people are determined to return to the money of the fathers, and 1t would seem to be the wisest possible thing for them to let us make the experiment, as our friends so call it, and be done with it.
 What merchants and manufacturers and bankers need most is repose and set tied cond tions that will enable them to look ahead for months and not have their time. as now, more largely engaged in devising schemes to meet their obliga- tions than in looking after the develop ment of their business.
 The election of Mckinley cannot settle anything. It means four years more or Clevelandism. additional issues of bonds, tinkering With the tariff and depressed conditions.
 The election of Bryan, even from the gold standpoint, means a bold and de- cided change fromathe present system ana 1dlf ana honest llldl Ol tue NiitueS of free coinage.
 To me it seems that nothing can be more fatal to the permanent establish ment of the gold standard than Mckin- leys election, and nothing more fatal to free coinage than Bryans election-if it does not bring back prosperity to the country; and so confident am I that it will do this that am devoting every en- ergy have to his success.
 Bryan Will Bring No Panic.
 All this talk about great panic follow ing the election of MT. Bryan is pure non sense. Did any man ever see panic in any country on earth. where the volume of money was increasing and prices ad- vancing? And prices always advance when the volume of money increases. Contraction is the prolific parent of pam ics. Bryan's election would bring boom instead of a panic. The men who hold the money of the country would rush over each other to invest in land and stocks and bonds and products. We know that three-fourths of our money now Tn the United States is in silver-silver ceftln- cateS and currency, that would, unuer free coinage, be redeemable only in sii- yer Every man and every bank and trust company would know that thls money would not increase Tn value, put diminish as compared with property; that the increasing volume of money would increase prices of land, stocks and prop erty and therefore none would hoard thls money, but be swift to hunt for invest ments, so that they would get the beneht of the rise in property and not sutier the decline in the purchasing power of mon ey. Those who own gold might continue to heard it as they are now doing, put the holders of all other forms of money constituting $1 ,000, ,000,000 of our money, would not hoard dollar, as they are now doing, and this universal rush for invest ments would make such an activity in trade and business as has not been wit messed for many years
 One thing is very certain-inancial con- ditions cannot be worse than they are now. Any change must be for the better, but McKnleys election would not mean any change, for he is the lneal successor of all of Cleveland's financial policies, and his administration would be a repetition of the last four years.
 Captain Johnston then entered into an argument to show that free coinage had always been democratic doctrine and that it would restore prosperity to our coun- try, benefit the great producing and la boring classes and instill new life into ev- cry Industry.