The herald., 1897-02-09

cally, honestly and patriotically as was
the silver contest of 1896 upon the part
of those who advocated the Chicago
platform. Nothing has occurred to damp
en- the ardor of these American citizens
| Hundreds OF thousands of them made
great sacrifices, and deliberately aban-
doned political associates with whom
they could ro longer conscientiously act,
| knowing that no personal avantage
could possibly accrue to them. These
men Will not waver. On the other hand
the gold people spent millions upon mil
lions to win the contest. That their
managers Systematically stuffed the
registers and ballot boxes is generally
believed. The absurdly increased vot-
ing strength of Indiana and Ohio is
! subject of familiar and significant com
ment After this enormous outlay the
gold people find themselves meeting an
unpurchased phalanx of honest and de-
termined Americans, and it is not to be
wondered ct that they look upon the
prospect as gloomy and ask themselves
whether, after all. their vast disburse-
ment has been good business"
Besides. many honest men, many of
those who could not pay their mort
cages and other debts, were deluded into
| the support of the Republican ticket
upon the promise that good times must
| follow the accession of the new combi-
| nation to power. THE moment" sal1
these willy gold men, that it appears
certain that Mckinley has been elected,
| money will become, not only plentiful
! but cheap. Interest will go down. and
all will be prosperous" But the election
| has come and gone. Some months have
| passed. Business remains depressed;
money cannot be had; the mortgage In
| sists upon gold, which the products of
| farmers and other debtors cannot real
| ize. In other words, the good times
have not come. The contrary state Of
! affairs prevails. So obviously have the
| moneyed classes failed to redeem their
| promises that it is certain that If the
| question were reSubmitted to the Amer
lean people today, the judgment would
be reversed, Nor is there any reason to
| suppose that the future will weaken
| the silver cause. Mr.. McKinley's lead
| ers do not pretend that they will do any
| thing for silver unless it is accomplished
| through the proposed monetary COM
mission The recent discussion in the
| senate proved the futility of this meas
| ure. No one made a suggestion justify
| ing in the slightest degree the hope often
| expressed by pretended bimetallists that
| another conference would bring about
| general acquiescence in the bimetalic
| program Indeed several prominent
| senators of the Republican and gold per-
| suasion announced their belief in the
| gold standard. Those senators who be-
| lieved in true bimetallism supported the
BILL because they did not wish to give
the other side an opportunity of assert
| ing that the failure of the policy was
due to the interference of silverites.
This support. however. was accorded
| in the presence of an explicit declaration
that the commission would be a favor.
| and that the result which has always
attended such enterprises would again
| be manifested. Thus the full respon-
sibiity has been put where it belongs.
and Mr. McKinley's administration can
| not excuse the impotency of any COM
mission which may be appointed or it's
abortive proceedings, because of any
factional or other opposition in this
! country.
During the debate which preceded the
passage of the commission bill much was
said by the more positive gold people re-
gardlng the alleged unfortunate condi-
tons surrounding the Spanish-Ameri-
can states. whose governments it was
asserted. are conducted upon the free
silver theory, and a comparison was in
stituted between the wage rates of those
countries and our own. No bmetallst
has ever claimed that all countries
accepting the silver standard or operat-
ing upon silver basis. are the most
prosperous. Many considerations other
than silver influence prosperity every
| where. Some of the Spanish-American
states are upon the gold standard. So
of other countres-Egypt and Portugal,
for instance. But we do contend that
Mexico and other silver using states
have profited by the appreciation of
gold-to which appreciation we have
contributed ard are continuing to con-
tribute so much While our internal
affairs, our mode of living. the wages
paid our people, are more satisfactory
than in Mexico or elsewhere, yet this
condition has been brought about, not
because Of but in spite of the gold
standard, and now, while wages have a
i a..
| waVerS, the movement in Mexico in both
instances is upward. That country is
progressing in directions where ad
vancement is not perceptible here. ]
quote the following from a letter of
| President Daz: ITO show the falling off
in the con sumption of foreign merchan-
disc it may be said that the year prior
to the increase of foreign exchange on
silver our customs collections a the
ports of entry amounted to s22 000,0 900.
| The next year they We're $14, 600, GOO. In
the fiscal year ending in 1890 our impor-
tatons exceeded So. 100000. In the fiscal
year ending in 1895 they were slightly in
excess of $34. 900, COO. On the other hand,
| our expectations increased. In 1s90-91
they amounted to S63 600 900, and in 1894
95 to $50 coo, 900. There was nothing in
the nature of a commercial panic con-
sequent upon the sharp advance in sill
yer exchange.
"Our nj .rchants are conservative and
careful, and bank and business failures
are happily rare in Mexico under any
! circumstances. AS to wages and the
conditions of laboring men, considering
the nature of work and classes of indus
try. they compare favorably with those
in other countries The demand for
skilled labor has grown with the great
increase in the number of mills and
manufactures. This demand in all
| 1,b i-e q
exchange has not impaired the value of
our dollar as applied to the purchase of
articles of home manufacture. It's buy
ing power is unchanged in this respect
and prices for domestic merchandise and
produce vary only according to the sup
nIy and the demand Heavy invest
ments of foreign capital in Mexican en-
terprises have been made since the ap-
probation Of gold elsewhere"