The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1897-09-16

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making gold the standard and coming
! silver on government account circulate
both metals in large quantities, approach
ing thus more nearly to true bimetallism
than those which by the free and unlimit-
| ed coinage Of silver at a ratio widely
dlHerent from the commercial ratio of the
two metals obtain only silver monometal-
ism. The condition of the people of the
countries maintaining the gold standard,
or what the trainers Of this platform term
gold recommendation, is one Of vastly
greater prosperity than that of the peo-
pie of the countries maintaining the silver
standard. There is more money per cap
ita, better wages, better homes, more COM
forts OF life, more education and more
general intelligence among the people OF
! the gold standard countries than among
/ those of any Of the countries having the
silver standard. Mexico which is prob
| ably the 5most prosperous of the silver
standard countries, has a total of $4.95
per capita for it's people, the South Amer
lean States per capita Of less than 81
aside from the uncovered and deprecated
paper, China 1888, the Central American
States $500, while Germany has $17.59
| per capita, Great Britain SPOTS per cap
ita, United States $2257 per capita, Meth
erlands $24.25 per capita, and France
$35.77 per capita. Recommendation" has
indeed Cooked fast the prosperity of an
industrial people in the paralysis OF hard
times" wherever it has been established
by the process proposed by this platform,
viz: the unlimited coinage of both met
ais at a ratio widely differing from their
relative commercial value.
Gold monometallism Is a British policy
and has brought other nations into financial
Eervitude to London.
It is also a German policy, French
policy, Belgian policy, an Austro-Hun-
garian policy, Netherlands policy, a
Danish policy, Russian policy, Gillian
policy, Peruvian policy, a Japanese pol
icy, and in fact the policy of the most
enlightened and progressive nations the
world over. If the United States were to
abandon her present system and under
take greatly enlarged use Of silver with
out the cooperation Of other nations she
would abandon the company of the most
intelligent, enlightened and prosperous
nations of the world and join the ranks of
the weakest and least intelligent nations,
all of which are Fastening to adopt the
gold standards as rapidly as possible.
1t is not only un-American but anti-Ameri-
can. and it can be fastened on the United
States only by the sitting of that spirit and
love of liberty which proclaimed our politi-
cal independence in 1776 and won 1t In the
war Of the Revolution.
The spirit and love of liberty which
proclaimed our independence in 1776' and
which is still strong in the minds OF the
people of the United States is not in favor
of reducing the citizens of this country to
the level of poverty, degradation, ignor-
ance and practical enslavement which
characterize the condition of the masses
i'm the few remaining silver standard coun-
tries Of the world to-day. The only at
tempt to ''stife the spirit of love Of lib
erty" ever made in the United States be-
gan in 1861 by the very party and the
very leaders who are now proposing to de-
grade the working people of this country
to level of those least intelligent and
prosperous on the face of the earth.
We demand the free and unlimited coinage
Of both silver and gold at the present legal
ratio of 16 to / without waiting for the aid
or consent Of any other nation.
A policy which all the intelligent nations
of the world have abandoned since the
enormous production of silver has brought
it to a ratio of "a to / with gold and the
divergence still increasing. The product
of the silver mines of the world since 1873
is practically one-half as much as that
produced from the mines of the world in
300 years preceding that date, as shown
by the highest official authorities.
We demand that the standard silver dol
lars shall be full legal tender equally with
gold for all debts, public and private.
1t is now "a full legal tender for all
debts, public and private" except where
such men as William M. Stewart, John p.
Jones. Arthur Sewall, John P. Altgeld,
John r. Mclean and other silver leaders
deprive it of its full legal tender value by
making their contracts and loans and
rents and interest payable by the poor in
gold only. Every one of the 45O,OOO,OOO
standard silver dollars which we now
have is a full legal tender for all debts,
public and private, and the party which
asserts even by implication that this is
not the fact intends either to discredit
those dollars or to deceive the people, or
both.
We favor such legislation as will prevent
for the future the decentralization OF any
kind Of legal tender money by private con-
tract.
An excellent plan; but the fact that the
leaders of the party proposing this now
refuse to follow that plan in their private
affairs, casts suspicion upon the gOou
faith of this public assertion.
We are opposed to the policy and practice
Of guaranteeing to the holders of the Obliga-
tions Of the United States the option re-
served by law to the Government OF re-
deeming such obligations in either silver
coin or gold coin.
Every holder of obligations of the Unit
cd States can receive his pay for them in
silver if he desires or in gold if he desires
IF the Government were to insist on pay
inc in one metal to the exclusion of the
other It would Immediately discredit its
obligations and at the same time injure
the standing of large share of the money
which it has itself issued and promised by
;mnlication or in words to keep as good as
the best. While these obligations call for
navment in s'coin," that term, when the
acts authorizing the bonds were passed,
related only to that which was the equiv
alent of gold in value and purchasing pow
err. and to attempt to take advantage of
the fact that the metal Of which a part
of this coin is now made has in the mean
time deprecated in value, and force coins
of that particular class upon the holders
of those obligations would be dishonest
and would lay the Government liable, as
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