Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1897-10-07

~ II u N 8itp from SILVER orthodoxy
to Fiat ~Money-BIand shows His Lean
ing-scratch "A Bryanite and You Find
a Greenbacker Under His Skin.
Mr.. Bland, too, is showing hat TO
the orthodox silverite the descent to the
Avernus OF greenbackism is easy. Il
am in favor of a large volume of
money, declared this free coinage
apostle i'll a Labor day speech at Paris,
Mo. Il would first have silver and
gold coined, free and unlimited, at the
ratio Of is to /. If that does not furnish
a sufficient circulating medium, would
Issue Iogcr la9uCy, and | would have
that paper money like the old green
backs-redeemable III nothing and good
legal tender Tor all debts, public and
private.
1t will be noticed that Mr.. Bland in
time Of peace would go farther in the
way of note issue than the Republicans
did III time of war, when the wealth of
the country was only a quarter what it
is at present, when expenditures We're
far greater than they are now, and when
only small amounts of gold and silver
Were in the country The Republicans,
under the stress of those adverse condi-
tons, issued greenbackS, which We're to
be a legal tender for all obligations ex-
cept duties ON imports and interest on
the public debt, but the intention was TO
redeem them in gold at the earliest
practicable moment, a pHrpose which
the Republicans made good by the re
sumption act of 1875, which went into
operation in 1879. Bland, however,
would make the greenbacks legal tender
for all sorts of debts whatever, and
would have them ''redeemable in moth
ing''-that is, he would have no coin
of any sort behind them, not even 80
cent dollar silver. They would be sim
ply and absolutely fiat money and moth
ing else,
Heretofore Mr.. Bland has been CON
sidered an honest money man to the ex-
tent that he would pay 80 cents or 40
cents ON the dollar. Almost all the 9th
er Popocratic chieftains have, at one
time and another, ranged themselves
with the fatists Bryan, for example,
did this when he supported Weaver i'll
1892, and nobody took any especial no
tice of it, for Bryan has always been a
Populist and nothing else. Bland, how
ever, despite his affiliations with the
PopuliSts in 1896, was considered to
have a little of the old Democratic in
stincts and traditions still in him. AS
was popularity supposed, he was in the
Populists, but not Of them. His Labor
day speech, however, shows that he,
too, has gone over to the rag money
men. The change of base was natural,
Of course, for the difference between
O which is three-fifths fiat and that
which is all fiat is one of degree only,
and of a very small degree. Bland's
shift of ground completes the metamor-
phosis of the Popocratic party. Scratch
"a Bryanite Of any part of the country
and a greenbacker will be found under
his skin. There will be no silver issue in
1900. The difference between a 20 cent
dollar-the Bland coin will probably be
down to 20 cents before the next nation
al conventions meet-and a ne cent dol
lar is too slight to count. The old
rag money party which Republican gold
resumption smashed in the early eighties
will be resurrected in 1900 by the
elements which put up the Chicago
ticket of 1896. This folly will be crush
ed easier than was last years lunacy.-
ST. Louis Globe Democrat.