Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-09-14
CLINTON REPUBLICANS
Continued from page A.

serve kept for the redemption of gov
eminent legal tender notes.
A House of Representatives., whicl
the people had made overwhelmingl,
Republican, as a rebuke to Demo
cratic incompetency, came prompt,
forward with two measures that Woul,
afford all the relief asked for. Thos,
measures were prepared under the abb,
direction of the chairman of its way,
and means committee, our own dis
tinguished fellow citizen Hon. Nelson
Dingley. Jr. They would have raised
ample revenues to make good all de
nciencies and meet the current ex
penses of the government. They would
have stopped the raid upon the golc
reserve and restored confidence anC
prosperity to the country They woulC
have effected a permanent saving OF
$50, 600. 900 in interest. on bond issue
If 500. 900, 600 which the Cleveland adj
ministration was then preparing tt
make.
Those measures We're promptly
passed by Republican House of Rep
resentatives, and went to the Senate
What did the representatives of the
silver trust in that body do with them
they struck out all after the enactina
clause in each bill and substituted a
provision for the free and unlimited
coinage of silver at a.Iatio of 16 to l.
That was the reSponSelof these repre-
sentatives of the silver trust to the
cry of the American people for relief
from the unhappy conditions that had
come about under Democratic rule.
With their hands upon the throat of
legislation. these money kings said, in
erect to the people of this county:
More profits for us, or no relief for
fOu.''
How long will the people of this
country submit to such arrogant and
insolent dictation from gigantic
noneyed trust that has noprinciple but
greed. and no platform but gain
HaNe not these rich and powerful mine
owners already grown fat enough off
the flesh pots of the American masses .?
las not the purchase of their product
by the people of this country. repre-
iented by our national government, to
The amount of AGO. 000.0 00 ounces at a
-cst Of $464. 900 900 under the acts OF
1878 and 1890. and at a profit that has
CrtuneS been about all the favor they
1ould decently ask from their fellow
citizens? Isn't it about time for our
'aW makers to pay some attention to
the crying needs of about 1000. 900
other citizens of this Republic? CAP
plause)
But there is another element in this
question that the agents of the silver
1ust are careful not to remind us of
1t is a well known fact that silver
IS almost always found in connection
With lead ores. Formerly there was no
way known to separate ii from the
lead, but, within a few years cheap
chemical process has been discovered
that accomplishes this result and the
bullion from this source now consti-
utes more than a third of our total an
nual production of silver Now this
silver is hy-product. The lead ore
pays all the expenses of mining and
gives the mine owner a good fat profit
The silver that he gets out of it is
practically clear gain. 1t will readily
he seen how large Il part Of the inn
mense wealth of the silver trust must.
necessarily. have come from this
source.
y government. my friends. is not a
producer of wealth. II is simply an
agent of the people for its distribution
- the maintenance of law and social
order. II is essentially a consumer.
" hat constitutes the property of the
United States? Why your property
and my property. the combined prop
erty of all its citizens Whatever ia
sorS, therefore. our government be
slows upon one class of its citizens. it
does n the expense of all classes of its
citizens. Where then will the immense
profit the silver trust hopes to secure
if a free coinage law is enacted come
from? The answer is simple,-from the
pockets and the living of the Ameri-
can people (Applause) There is alb
soutely nowhere else it can come
from. 1t will come from the wage
Garner. from the pensioner, from the
little savings in savings banks trust
and insurance companies, from the
wreck and ruin of industrial enter
prises, from the increased price of the
necessities of life: in short, from the
busy millions all over this broad land
whom it is possible to reach with a de-
based and deprecated currency CAP
plause.)
Now our Popocratic friends have
good deal to say about European dom
nation in our financial affairs. and at
tempt to arouse popular prejudice and
blind people to the real facts by de-
handing if this country is obliged to
ask the permission of Europe in order
to establish the free and unlimited
coinage of silver at fictitious value.
Now, my friends. gold and silver are
used as money the world over. One
class of nations. the most powerful and
civilized in the world, where social
order is the best established where la
Dor is the best paid and enjoys more of
the comforts of life. and where the
Christian religion rears its affairs,
measure their values in gold. Another
class of nations, where the scale of
civilization is lower, and the masses
live in squalor, nations like China and
Japan and India, where paganism
builds its pagodas, measure their values
in silver. And our Popocratic friends
invite us to part company with the ma
tons of the higher civilization, and
take our place with those of the lower
civilization.
AS an American citizen loyal to my