Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1897-01-09

that the proposed system of coinage did
not mean repudiation in any degree, but
meant simply more money, higher prices
and increased prosperity.
There were many citizens who knew
hetter, and who in my humble judgment
should have done better, who closed their
eyes to the platform and voted the ticket
on the ground of regularity.
There were others who followed the
Questionable advice of Mr.. Bryan, and voted
for him whilst pretending to vote against
hlm. Being advised to do so by the pres
ldential candidate of n great party they
dld not deem it unbecoming to manhood to
wear Mckinley badges and cast Bryan
ballots: they cared nothing for his money
IDEAS, but they voted for him because
they. were led by the declarations of the
platform and by the utterances of the can
dldate himself to believe that his election
promised immunity to the lawlessness
which so often accompanies the great
strikes set on foot by union labor These
were not In favor of free silver, but voted
for free riots.
But our people are neither anarchists nor
repudiators-, There are but few who are
inclined to lawlessness. and but few who
nave any debts to repudiate.
The Outgrowth of Protection.
"a review of the past is interesting, but
our course in the future. The idea of de-
nouncing an executive officer for the
proper discharge of his official duties will
probably never again find its way into the
platform of great party, but the causes
which gave rise to that lapse of patriotism
still exist in that policy which seeks to in
either by. means of Il protective tariff, or
by the direct payment of bounties at tie
expense OF all other forms of enterprise.
have learned to regard it as automatic
that it is not the duty of government to sup
port the people or to make them rich. But
1t is its duty to leave to every citizen an
equal and unincumbered right. by his own
honesty, energy and economy to earn a
support for himself IN any branch of in
dustry for which his surroundings and ca
pacities may have best fitted him: and the
lines which mark the limit of duty in this
respect also mark the limits of power
Most of these unlawful combinations
called trusts, formed for the purpose of
increasing the price of the common necessa-
ries OF life by destroying all competitors
could themselves be most easily DESTROYED
oy openlng the gates of our commerce to
worldwide competition.
rms mistaken policy, which by law
furnishes n direct protection and support to
the few, teaches the many to look to the
same source for like protection and sup
port. and failure to receive it breeds dis
content and socialism, tends to extinguish
the fires of patriotism and unfurls the flag
of anarchy.
We can best be taught to rely upon our
selves for support when the government
shows us that it supports nobody.
Free Silver Dead.
1T is not probable that any great party
will again ask the free and unlimited COIN
age OF gold and silver at any ratio differing
from their relative market value.
An Improvement in the business affairs
of the country will show to our people, as
nothing else can show them, the fact that
1t was not Il scarcity of money that caIsed
the present hard times for we have more
money available for circulation than we
ever had before in the history of the coun-
try, and great deal more than is being
used; that 1t was not an increase in the
number of dollars, but greater certainty
as to the value of those we already had
that was needed to induce that investment
of capital which produces activity in busi-
ness. gives employment to labor and in
creases the consumption and price of the
products of the factory and of the field
1t is not the circulation of money that
makes business active, but 1t is activity of
business that makes money circulate.
l. Il doubt the propriety and success of any
international agreement looking to the un-
limited coinage of both metals at any ratio
other than such as corresponds to their
market value. Such an agreement would
doubtless increase the demand for silver
and thereby, temporarily at least. enhance
its selling price, which would inure to the
beneht of those who have silver to SELL but
in the end their relative value must he de-
termined by the supply of each, and the
relative cost of production. Any other con-
clusion must rest on fiatism, and fiatism is
nonsense.
If five nations declare by law that 16
grains OF silver are worth as much as one
grain of gold when in fact they are worth
only half as much, this united declaration
would not make the falsehood true, any
\ IL.
| joint assertion of five great powers might
enable the falsehood to temporarily pass for
truth. but sooner or later its falsity would
| be exposed, for the first of all gospels is
that lie cannot endure forever.
Gold Standard Upheld.
ut seems that the best possible system
| of bimetallism consists in maintaining the
| gold standard with the limited coinage of
| silver on government account, supported by
| the unequivocal pledge of the nation to
maint 1in the parity of the two coins This
| has given us the use of both metals as
money at the same time for the last nine
| teen years and is the only system which
| has ever furnished actual bimetaIlism in
| the markets.
The sound money Democrats. by Dlacinc
the welfare of their country before party
success, have secured the triumphant in
dorSement cf the presidents conduct in
maintaining the supremacy of the law, and
| the emphatic defeat of the propositions
that looked toward reputation
| BY the judicious exercise of the balance
| of power which we hold in our hands. we
| hope in the future to remove every snecies
| of class legislation, secure equal rights for
all, special privileges for none and pre-
vent any further attempt at debasinE our
currency and dishonoring our nation
| Succeeding in this. we will have safely
piloted the ship of state between the rock
of Republican paternalism on the one
hand and the whirlpool of socialism on the
other, out into the open sea of peace and
plenty, where God grant she may ride for
I IL Il, 10.