The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-05
CURRENCY REFORM TALK
REPRESENTATIVE M'CLEARY. OF
MINNESOTA, WAS THE SPEAKER.
This District Owes 1t to Cause of Hon
est Money to Return Mr.. over
street to Congress.

Minnesota, proved himself to be an orator
before a critical audience in Tomlinson
Hall last night. 1t was not, however. in
fowery language that he commanded
| attention, for he made no pretentions in
this direction, but his homely, earnest
presentation of the money problem con-
WINGED all present that he was profound
student of the question and a master of
theory and practice in modern coinage and
circulation of money. He paid no attention
to the war as campaign issue, but con-
! fined himself almost exclusively to the
| presentation of the many monetary prob
| lens now under consideration by the voters
Of the country. AT the close of his remarks
| he devoted about five minutes to the ar
raignment of the Democrats who stirred up
trouble among the people because of fancied
war horrors suffered by the soldiers, but
| his talk in this direction was contemptuous
| in tone and conveyed the impression that
| the subject was not worth discussion ex-
cept through the regular channels of inves-
tigation.
| In the audience was delegation of two
| hundred members of the Marion Club, ac-
companied by the University of Indianapolis
Band, which, on entering the hall, played
! THE Star-spangled Banner to tremendous
applause AS soon as the tumult had sub
! sided Addison c. Harris arose to make the
Introductory speech. Said he: 1.-THE Amer
lean people know what they want, and they
know also how to get it. They decided in
1886 that they wanted an American way of
administering the tariff, and they got 1t.
| They wanted a nonfluctuating standard of
money and they got it. They now want
! this standard which has given such general
satisfaction to remain the standard of the
settled the financial question as much as
it could do so. and the only thing left to
clinch the matter for all time is to elect
a Republican Congress. Americans do not
want cheap money, but the best there is in
the world, plenty of it and every dollar as
| good as gold.
In his discussion of the war, Mr.. Harris
said that Bryan, the leader of the silver
! forces in 1896, was in position of
more usefulness than he had ever occupied
before to his knowledge. Said he: THE
papers have reported that Bryan was 60
ing to Washington for the purpose of en-
/ tering the campaign, but when he heard
that the Indiana Democrats had nominated
gold Democrat on top of his Chicago
platform. and refused to nominate a silver
leader of the party he made up his mind
that he didn't want to 60"
! MR. M CLEARY'S SPEECH.
The speaker then introduced Representa-
tive McCleary, who said:
Il know that three-quarters of the APP
plause with which have just been greeted
was given in appreciation of the good ad-
dress just made by Mr.. Harris. The other
one-fourth l accept with thanks as a well
come extended by lndianians to man from
minnesota. l am glad the room is not fuller
than it is, it indicates to me that most
or the people in this district have made I'M
thelr mind as to what they want and how
! they are going to vote There is more
over one danger in campaign speeches. and
that is that 1t tends to inculcate in the
MINDS OF people the idea that the govern
ment is going to do something and that
we are to be the recipients or its favor
rms ldea OF reasoning Is erroneous for the
reason that all events in the history of this
/ government are the result of deeds per.
formed by you and me- In other words we
make the government exactly what we wish
| 1t to be. "-7'-
There have been many names given TO
| lnis age. Some call it the age OF steam
T tbn the age of reason but in my opinion
eHe HlteSt name Tor 1t is the age of light
Some Of you can remember the time of the
tfaIiow dip and the pine knot and of the
| llme When the dip became erect and was
| known as the tallow candle You watched
tnls become transformed by the course of
I'm. sliie ana energy OF man into the gas which
MAS dragged from the bowels of the earth
| ,When, however, man Snatched from tne
heavens the electric fluid from which he
| and 20 !" ISM IUr nimsel1, he reached the
! enu OF MS possibilities. 1t is possible that
Inc lights we see around us here NAV in a
lew years give way to a diffuse light in the
Wis, +, Tut us cement Will be the same. 1t
when l was boy I worked for a long
d 5ll1e as clerk In store. and one of my
CURES was to each night cover the front
WINDOWS and door with heavy shutters. in
order that the contents of the store might
might covet the possessions of nv en-
ployer. BUT the day of the shutter is past.
ana ana the modern merchant has learned that
| mere Is more safety in unprotected win
! dows with a light burning in the back of
the store where the safe is kept than i'm
shutters without and darkness within Even
the nations now realize that the iioht in
mems Souls is the force that wins over
! all obstacles
Until the time of Adams original sin all
Things had been certain. but from that time
on new condition prevailed in this world
cnht OF bbnc ,rd y new word
is hardly possible for a man to make more
than a tentative assertion. Hardly had
arrived in the city this afternoon when a
note was handed to me which was signed
! A man who works for his living 1t read.
VIII you be Kind enough to tell me why the
gold standard is the thing for me and WHY
free silver Is not? While the explanation
| requires considerable time, / propose to
make make it to his satisfaction tonight My
tirst work here will be to show the wide
difference that exists between coinage on
government account and coinage on private
account. l have no better illustration ar
hand than the old custom grist mill IA
miliar to the older persons present Tbis
mill ground flour from grain brought To ~
! by individuals. The miller did not purchase
the grain, but simply located his mill in the
most convenient place for his customers IN
reach him and said: Bring me your grain
| and l will make it into -four and return ~
| to you less the tolls for the work Now
however, mills are operated differently. If
| was found that except in small enterprises
the griSt-mill system was a failure. that
with the improved methods of milling an
| immense capital was necessary for e0uin-
ment. In many cases several Immensely
wealthy men had to unite their fortunes in
| order to build and make ready mill for
| operation. This capital could not afford to
| lie idle, and therefore it was found inn
| practicable to depend on the spasmodic in
| fiux of grain from individuals. Then the
| mill owners decided to take the milling un-
| der their own CONTROL buy their grain in
| the open market and sell the product to
| whoever needed it. This is an exact illus
| tration of the situation as applied to coin
| age. If the owner of coin metal came to the
| mint and asked the government to convert
| lis metal into coin, which idea is favored
| by the silverites the government wound he
compelled under free-silver measures to take
| the metal. coin 1t and hand it back to its
| owner without. however, as in the case of
! the custom miller, receiving any toll for the
work.
THE ADOPTION OF THE DOLLAR.
| 'Since 1858 the government has coined
| silver on government account the same as
| the big millers operate their mills at the
| present day. But gold is still coined on pri-
| waite account, largely because it Is stable
in value The story of the adoption of the
/ iS into