The Topeka state journal., 1897-12-23
GAGE TO GOMPERS.
Says Convince Him of Error and He'll
Surrender

Washington. Dec. 2S.-secretary Gage
has written the following letter to Pres
ident Gompers OF the Federation of La
Dor:
Il have read with care the resolutions
adopted the goth instant at Nashville by
the convention of the Federation of La
Dor, which recites as follows:
g Resolved, That we declare ourselves
most positively opposed to the Gage finan-
ciaI bill recently introduced in congress by
the secretary of the treasury. 1t is a
measure that, if adopted as a law, will
only more firmly rivet the gold standard
on the people of the country and perpet-
uate its disastrous effects in every form.
" Resolved, That we pronounce the
Gage bill undisguised effort to retire
our greenback currency and all govern
ment paper money. with a view to the
substitution of national bank notes in
their stead, and thus fasten the national
bank system for years upon the Ameri-
can people,
Now, if it be true that the gold stand
ard-by which things have been measured
as to price for the last sixty years, in
this country-is inimical to the interests
of the Iaboring classes of the United
States. then I think it is inimical to all
classes. In other words, do not believe
that the exploitation of one class by an
other, either through false weights, par
tial laws a bad monetary system, can
be made to work for the permanent ben
eft of the exploiting class itself for
the general veal, even were it defensible
any ground of right or justice, which
it is not. Granted, therefore, that the
permanence of the gold standard (for
which I argue) operates in this evil direc-
ton, then your resolutions of condemna-
I I'M Y
charged either with an ignorance which
constitutes me foolish adviser or with
a perversity of motive which makes me
evil adviser.
Il have a right to disavow the charge
of perversity or evil purpose, since there
is nothing in my whole life related to
my feuowmen, either in word or deed,
from which the possession by me of such
characteristics can be inferred, much less
demonstrated.
But ignorance often unconsciously
works as deep injury as evil intent might
do, and to this sin of ignorance, if it be
a sim I must confess myself to be a pos
sible victim. This confession, however,
ought not to classify me as separate from
my felOwmeH generally, whether they be
considered as individual units or as con-
gregated in groups. Ignorance is a rela-
tive, not an absolute term, since few are
totally ignorant and none is absolutely
wise. Nor does the number constituting
the group change this fact. since the
wisdom of a group, however large, can
not be greater than that Of the wisest
man in it.
This remains true whether the subject
matter involving knowledge and judg-
ment be astronomy physics, or finance.
The condemnation, then, involved in the
resolutions referred to, is measured by
the just or imperfect apprehension of
questions relating to monetary science
held by the wisest men who supported
them.
Laying these general considerations
aside let me say to you, and through you
to the great body you SO honorably repre-
sent. that if. instead of denunciatory res
olutions. which are not argument, you or
anyone on your behalf viii show that the
views 1 entertain and advocate are other
than saIutary to the great economic body
Of which we are all Independent members.
III abandon them without hesitation. Ny
present conviction, the honest fruit
of sincere study and reflection, is
that a breakdown in our present money
standard would be a most disastrous blow
to all our commercial and Industrial in
terests. and that upon the wage workers,
as a class. would be entailed the most
serious effects of the disaster. Believing
this, 1 must so bear witness"