The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-11-23

0A @@
own that he was the fathePOf any such
au oRspringI No man dared go before
the people advocating such q measured
Il would have been "death in the pot"
60 himI Yet that abominable measure,
actually passed Congress in 1873. that
virtually demonetiEedsilver the money
of the Constitution. Yet members OF
both houses Of Congress, OF different
parties have declared in the most EN-
phatic language that Congress never
knew Oh suspected that they were
passing an act to demoneti1e silver.
Then il they do not lie, they were de.
ceived, and we wish to be as chart
table as possible, let us admit that they
were deceived. Now just think OF it.
Men elected to the highest branch Of
the United States Government, going
70 Washington, the seat OF government
and receiving an enormous salary to
look after the bestinterest Of the dear
people" and then sit there and let such
men as John Sherman, an unprinCi
pied traitor and scoundrel, engineer
such g measure through Congress,
without the knowledge of the members
is simply ridiculousI And it should
make the members Of the House and
Senate Of 1897 hang their heads in
shame. Such men should have been
taken eff guard, and put on
again. AS far as John Sherman and
others who engineered such a measure
through, they might have had a white
skin, but their hearts were az black as
hades.
l venture the assertion, that there
has not been q day since 1873, that il
it had been left to a popular vote of the
people In the United States as to
whether they were in favor Of the free
coinage of gold and silver at the legal
ratio Of 16 to 1 or not, that two thirds
or more would have voted for free
coinage.
Yet, for all this, for twenty four long
years we have lived under this obnox
ious law, that over two thirds Of the
American people are opposed q. It
has been spreading devastation and
ruin from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
I challenge the world to show one
country or government under the sun,
living under q gold standard where the
laboring people are IN prosperous con
dition. Then, are we not fools to try
what has been ruinous to all who have
tried it before us3
England is the principal nation that
wants US to adopt and maintain the
gold standard. Why's Because rs it
has been stated time and again, Eng
land is the creditor nation of the world
and it is, therefore, to her interest to
have as dear q dollar as possible, and
as cheap labor and products Of labor as
possiblel
If I was a hog in principle and you
owed me $1,000, l would be glad if it
would take 1900 worth of property
to pay that $1,000 debt. Did you ever
see q hungry hog that would not pre-
fer two ears Of corr to one9 Never
And any man who is a creditor and
wants money made so a that it
will take twice as nPcN labor, Or the
products of labor to pay that debt, as
it would have taken at the time the
debt Yves contracted, is nothing but 3
hog in principle, although he may be q
church member or ever wea a cler,
icaI gerb. I cannot think that any in
telligent man of any party will deny
that if left to the popular vote, as to
whether we shall have free gold and
silver at the legal ratio of 16 to 1 or
not, that at least tWo.thirGs of the
qualified voters would vote for the free
coinage at the ratio stated above,
Why then are we virtually under the
gold standards There are two reasons
for this:
1. There are so many Of the men Of
both old parties sent to Congress that
are as salable as cattle.
2. There are so many party fools,
viz. men who will vote for the party
nominee even though they know that
he will go contrary to what they be-
lieve is for the best interest Of our
country. Hence, thousands Of men
voted for Grover Cleveland in 1892 that
bitterly opposed to the gold standard
Why did they do that4 Because they
were such fools as to vote for their
party nominee, regardless of the man,
or his principles. On the other hand,
thousands upon thousands voted for
Mckinley, just because he was the
nominee Of the Republican party.
How do know this9 1 know it from
the fact that several Republicans told