Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-12-02

In the House Of representatives, In
January last, in speech upon the de-
ficiency appropriation for the fiscal
year, Hon. William l.. Greene of Ne
braska, in a telling arraignment Of the
operation Of the gold standard. quoted
speech of Senator ingalls,, which the
speaker quoted from the Congressional
Record of the Forty-ffth- Congress,
vol 7, page 1852, as follows:
If we are to have 4 monometallic
standard, l believe silver to be i'm
measurably preferable to gold. 1t is
less subject to fluctuation; it's produc-
ton is more steady, It's cost more uni
| form.
No enduring fabric of national pros
perity can be builded on gold Gold Is
the money of monarchs; kings covet
| 1t; the exchanges of nations are eff
fected by 1t. It's tendency Is to accumu-
late in vast masses in the commercial
centers and to move from kingdom to
kingdom in such volumes as to I'M
| settle values and disturb the finances
Of the world. 1t is the instrument OF
| gamblers and spectators, and the idol
of the miser and the thief. Being the
object of so much alteration, it becomes
naughty and sensitive and shrinks at
the approach of danger, and whenever
| it Is most needed it always disappears.
At the slightest alarm 1t begins to look
for a refuge. 1t goes from the nation
at war to the nation at peace. War
makes 1t fugitive. No people in
a great emergency ever found faith
full ally in gold. 1t is the most cow
ardly and treacherous of all metals.
It makes no treaty that it does not
break.
1t has no friend whom 1t
does not sooner or later be-
tray. Armies and navies are
not maintained by gold. In
times Of panic and calamity, shipwreck
and disaster, it becomes the chief agent
and minister of ruin. No nation ever
fought great war by the aid Of gold.
On the contrary in the crisis Of great
est peril it becomes an enemy more
potent than the foe in the field; but
when the battle is won and peace has
been secured, gold reappears and
| claims the fruits of victory. In our
own civil war it is doubtful IL the gold
of New York and London did not work
us greater injury than the powder and
| lead and iron of the rebels. 1t was the
most invincible enemy of the public
credit. Gold paid no soldier or sailor.
1t refused the national obligations. 1t
was worth most when our fortunes
were lowest. Every defeat gave it in
creased value. 1t was in open alliance
| all of its energies were evoked for our
| destruction. But as usual, when dan
ger has been averted and the victory
secured. gold swaggers to the front and
asserts the supremacy. But silver is
the money Of the people. 1t is the
money of wages and retail. Its tenden-
| cy is toward diffusion and dissemina-
ton. It enters into the minute con-
Germs of traffic and is exchanged day by
day for daily bread.
1t penetrates the remotest channels
| of commerce, and its abundance, bulk,
and small subdivision prevent its de-
portation in sufficient amounts to dis
turb or unsettle values. If it retires at
the approach of danger, or from the
presence of an inferior currency, 1t still
remains at home ready to respond to
| the first summons for it's return. Dur
| ing a late visit to remote portion OF
Arkansas l was surprised by the
amount of old silver in circulation, in
GLIDING Mexican and pillar dollars and
American halves and quarters coined
half a century ago. Seeking an ex-
PLANTATION, was told by the merchants
that upon the withdrawal and retire
ment of the fractional paper currency
these old coins Immediately ap-
peared in sufficient quantities to supply
all needs of trade, conclusively show
ing that when silver vanished at the
beginning of the legal-tender-paper pc
riod it had been carefully boarded
among the people and had promptly
returned to circulation when its pres
ence was required. l have no doubt
that two hundred and fifty millions OF
silver would be thus readily absorbed
among the people Of the United States,
forming a vast, permanent, stable ac-
emulation which would be an endur-
ing basis of prosperity, less liable than
any other currency to the mutations
and vicissitudes of financial panics
and disasters.