The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1897-10-07

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grains OF pure gold exceeded that Of 3112j
grains OF pure silver. the silver dollar
would become the standard and gold
would retire from our currency. and that
| the reverse OF this proposition would be
true. Now, the fact Is you can 20 In the
! open market and exchange 1922 grains OF
pure goId-or you could on the 18th OF Sep
| TENDER. when this calculation was made
for s2s is grains OF pure silver. while. on
TIE other hand. You could only eNchanse
| 3n.25 grains OF pure silver for s-2s grains
OF gold. Now. the result is that S7l.25
grains OF pure silver. measured in terms
OF gold. ape worth only forty cents. where
| as. Z322 grains OF gold, measured I'm terms
or silver. are worth $3.50. And so II is. IF
man owed an orphan child Sl.VD Dor
rowed In gold he could, In the event we
Ind free coinage at the ratio Of JIG to ].
take q thousand dollars in gold and ex-
change Il for sufficient amount OF SILVER
| bullion 10 coin $500 silver dollars, pay the
| orphan one thousand OF them. ana retain
| 81 500 as a profit on the transaction.
There is nothing new in this to be sure.
| but II Is n most rorceful statement OF old
and simple truths and in view OF the orr
repeated statement that silvr dollar IS
| worth as much as gold dollar
statement which without qualification Is
well calculated to mslead Mr.. Pattersons
| explanation is timely.
Mr.. Patterson then went on 10 show the
impossibility of maintaining what Is call
ed the double standard, with two metals
whose value could not be absolutely fix
ed at a given ratio. and then pointed out
that gold had been retained as the money
metal of all civilized nations because it
was the preferable metal and because its
largo production had made II available
The truth is" he went on. THE gold
countries are the only countries in the
world which have a large per capita cir
culatlon.
Tnere is not a silver-standard country
on earth that has as much as five dollars
per capita in metallic money or in paper
money redeemable I'm specie. This is be-
cause money follows prosperity, not pros
perity money. as the Popullsts would have
YOU to believe. This thing of prosperity
bowling with It's hat off TO money is alb
surd The truth is that money is obse-
auious TO prosperity and goes wherever
a people flourish The poor and impover-
ished countries and badly governed coun-
tres never have per capita circulation
10 amount to anything. because money
can not be employed proftably there. It
Is only countries which are progressive
and are advancing I'm the ways OF civili-
zation that secure a large volume OF
money. Then again the fact is there IS
not gold-standard country on the globe
which does not use silver largely in its
circulation; whereas there is not a silver
standard country which uses gold at all.
Silver-standard countries probably have
a larger population than gold-standard
countries and yet the gold-standard
countries enjoy all the gold and have
more silver in circulation than all the
silver-standard countries combined.
Again, there is not government on
earth where Christianity and civilization
are I'm the ascendancy, where schools and
| colleges abound. where science, philosophy
and the arts flourish. and where men and
women are comparatively happy that Is
not on a gold standard"
These are facts against which there IS
no argument.
In conclusion, Mr.. Patterson referred
to the political status Of the sound money
Democracy and said that the men who
belonged TO that organization could not
in their Judgment and without doing vio-
lence endorse Bryan and the Chicago plat
form and never would. on the other
hand they could not and never would
cast their lot with the Republican party.
But said he, 10 the silver Democrats,
we have many things in common. We
have memories. traditions and heritage
of great names. Come back to us on any
platform adopted by the Democratic party
down to the Chicago Convention of 1896,
and we will unite with you in the upbuild
ing and regeneration OF a triumphal De-
mocracy. Come back and stand with us
on the platform Of 1876. on which Samuel
j. Tilden was nominated, and we will
lock shields with you and stand shoulder
TO shoulder I'm the accomplishment OF De-
mocratic aims and purposes.
And 10 this every honest Sound Money
Democrat will say amen and amen. Es-
pecially is this true Of the Sound Money
Democrats OF the South. Their home is
in the Democratic party, all their asso-
Citations, political and social, and all their
interests are with their old Democratic
fellows. Taunts and threats and abuse
cannot drive them into the Republican
party nor away from their Democratic
moorings. Select any platform adopted
by a National Democratic Convention
since 1873, and Sound Money Democrats
will meet their brethren on IL ard stand
with them there forever.
is this not reasonable? And IS II not
unreasonable that the silver contingent
should discard every platform from 1873
to 1896 and insist that the one platform of
1896 which departed so far from Demo-
cratic princip ies should be made the test
Of Democracy?
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