The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1897-02-04
LETTER TO NGERSOLL
FROM THE CAUSTIC PEN OF HON
CHARLES BONSALL.
He Jumps on the Great Infidel for the
writing of a Campaign Document
ard sugges's Ee Write Book,
nrhe Mistakes Of Ibgorsoli."

SalcU, Ohio, Decembef 1870.
Colonel Robert g. Ingtrscll, New York
City
Sir-HavirR been reader and ad
mirer your lectures on reform t1pioS,
for more than quarter Of century,
esperillls those In denunciation Of sthf
stealthy and criminal act Of 1878
demonatlzing silver l was naturally
very curious 20 know upon what
groungs you could justify yourself in
teking the stump against Mr.. Bryan,
and In favor tf McKinlry and the
single gold standard duriug the recent
political contest. Accordingly, l pro
cured a copy Of your speech which Mark
Hsnna's committee put out as cam
paign document. On the first page Is
printed your name and picSure, and
the words Inspires to loyalty The
Financial Issue Treated in Mastery
Manner"
The said speech COL tsins, on the one
hand, more falsehoods and ahsurdities,
and on the other, more truths absolutely
inapplicsble to the issue and against
the party you were trying to defend,
than any / read during the campaign.
You undertake to Justify your sudden
and remarkable change of heart and
thought, by declaring that the debts
which existsd in 1875, when you de-
nounced silver demonstration as robbery,
"have all either been paid or outlawed. u
The statement Is false; but suppose
1t were true. How are you going to
get over your more recent denuncistions
of the crime Of 1s73-even as late as
1898? Have all the debts that existed
then, "been either paid or outlawedf
You declare that Mature, and not
law, creates money" and that "the
man who says that law makes money,
Is absolutely incapable of reasoning on
any question" Indeed Can you pro-
duce a single dollar" or piece Of
money that Is not such by the fat of
lawP What is the supreme testP Legal
tender and that alone. If 1 sue you
for a debt Of $40 and get a Judgment in
the court, and you offer me $40 bank
note, ten trade dollars" ten pieces Of
gold each 90 $40 grains weight, with
out Uncle Sans stamp, or ten pieces of
any other concrete substance, thu ugh
each one contains a dollars worth OF
materisl, the court says 1 may refuse
them, because they are not money.
But IL you tender me $40 greenbaok
or ten standard silver dollars, the court
says l must accept either, because
EIT6ER is MONEY; BEING LEGAL
TENDER.
The Supreme Court Of the United
States, ia the test case as to the con-
stituticnality Of the greenbsck as abso.
Lutte money-Knox vs.. Lee ct al.-reu-
dered by Justice Strong, among other
things, declared that "Jhe gold or silver
thing we call dollar is in no sense
a standard Of a dollar; it is a repre-
sentative Of IL. -" Value is an, ideal thing. "
You said that ou1 Of the issues Of
the campaign was whether there is
an appeal from the Supreme Court to a
mob" BY which understand you to
mean that the protest Of Mr. Bryan
and his supporters against the decision
of the Supreme Court on the Income
Tax law, was the protest Of mob"
and yet you ay squarely in the face Of
the Supreme Court decisions on the
great, fundamental question Of consti-
tuticnal money; and If there is any
thing In the parity" of your reason
ing, you confess to have Joined "mob"
yourself. We're william Lloyd Garrison,
Stephen Foster, Wendell Phillips,
Parker Pillsbury, Oven Lovejoy and
h. G. Ingersoll "mob" because they
affirmed the injustice Of the Dred Scott
Decision?
But let me quote from few other
men who differ from you on the money
question;
Aristotle said that Money is such,
not by nature, but by law"
Plato said, THE best money for any
nation is that which has the least value
In any other nation" II you have
read the writings of Hon. Henry Q.
Carey on this subject, you can but
know that, 10 analyzing Plato's
aphorisn, he showed oonolusively that
a domestic, non-exportable, legal tender,
government paper system of money
was the most stable, soundest and best
for the mass of the people, that we
ever had. Crippled as IL was by the ex-
ception clause at the diotation Of the
gold gam blers Of Wall street, 1t gave us
the best times we ever had, and during
its undisputed sway, we had no 'panics"
or srampp." These abnormal products
made their appearance only after the
government started on its journey to
what you "goldbugs" are pleased to call
"honest money
In addition to the great men quoted as
being diametrioally opposed to your
absurd theory that Nature alone makes
money" 1 might mention such Gin
capable thinkers as Ricardo, Buckle,
Mill, Eranklin, Jefferson, Cernushi,
Blaine, Wendell Phillips, and in the line
of publications, the Britannica, Apple
ton and Chambers Encyclopedias. Such
are few of the characters of history
whom II. 6. I1gersoll, during political