The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1897-11-26
If Bryan Had Been Elected.

If Bryan Had Been Elected.
1t was common thing after the pres
idential election to hear people who were
on the Bryan side say, "Well, ii is prob
ably fortunate thing. The banks and
other elements Of the money power would
have organized terrible panic and upset
verything-created chaos and made the
people believe it was all in consequence
of Bryan's election. 1t is all for the best
maybe
We don't subscribe to any such fatalist
doctrine We never believed that any bad
act was for the betterment of things.
There is no probability that anything of
the kind would have happened. In
truth it could not have happened" but
would have to have been deliberately
planned. 1t must, to happen, have been
deliberate, diabolical act on the part of
the gold ring. Whatever that ring"
may lack in the virtues that adorn man.
kind, they are not fools. Who would
have suffered by raising Cain in business
so much as themselves And what could
they have gained? The President would
have been against them for four years.
He would have brought all the power of
the Government to tell against them
They could not haye inflicted punishment
on the masses more severely than they
had been suffering. No. The election
would have cowed the fercest ofthe gang
They would have lost hundreds of mil
lions by such panic and there wasn't an
iota to be gained by the cliques. In place
of fomenting panic their efforts would
have been all put forth to prevent one.
A word of encouragement to business
from the President would have had more
power in checking, than all of Wall street
and the chambers of commerce through
out the country could have worked of
mischief had that element been so blindly
disposed. But nothing of the sort would
have happened. The very reverse was
by far the most likely. In place of con-
tinued dull times and falling prices with
| no sign of improvement ahead, such as
the Mckinley policy is melting out to the
people year after, conditions would be
improving and the prospect ahead bright
ening as the sky brightens with the dawn
of day. The election of Bryan would
have served notice to the whole world
that the United States had declared in
unmistakable terms for the free coinage
of silver, the same as of gold. That
meant more money. The certainty of
more money going into circulation always
had and always must have all invigorating
influence on business. And such in
huence is permanent, not spasmodic like
the speculative business fever caused by
bank credit.
But Congress would have been against
the Presidents policy. Not nearly so
much as might be supposed Suppose,
however, Congress had refused TO concur
with the President i'll regard to reopening
the minis to the free coinage of both
metals. 1t is pretty clearly established
that there is all sufficient law already
empowering the administration to resume
the coinage of silver dollars. The Bland
Allison act restored the legal tender to
the silver dollar and ordered the coinage
of 100000 to 81, ooo, 600 per month.
The so-called Sherman act further ordered
the purchase of a, SOC, 900 ounces of silver
monthly, and the same to be coined into
legal tender silver dollars. The purchase
clause of that law was repealed but the
legal tender and the coinage parts remain
i'll force. The law authorizing the free
coinage of silver is far clearer than the
law which Cleveland claimed gave him
the authority to inflict upon the country
the sale of $262 600, 600 of bonds. The
Republican Congress acquiesced In Cleye-
lands strained construction of law to
benefit the rich money class, and would
have. had to fly in the face of their act to
deny the right conferred by palmer
statute to confer an inestmable benefit ON
the laboring and industrial class.
with the reopenlng OF the minis to the
free coinage of silver business would have
bounded forward like steed that knows
its rider" Confidence, the confidence
that is born of more money going into
circulation, would have fallen on the
people like the dews of heaven. Not in
trust spots like the Mckinley brand of
confidence, but an animating spirit which
would have thrilled simultaneously the
whole nation with healthy prosperity.
The election of Bryan would have
meant all this and vastly more. The
Republican "bimetal international" flap
doodle play which died under the wet
nursing of Mckinley would never more
have been spoken of by the goldites, had
Bryan occupied the presidential chair.
No Wolcott commission would have
been sent to Europe to disgrace the
nation further had Bryan occupied the
White House. Were Bryan the occupant
of the White House in place of Mckinley,
we firmly believe that business all oveY