Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1898-10-15

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national banking system he renews
his allegiance to tie doctrine of
national bimetalism, he favors extend
ing the control of the state over the
railroads and he raises his voice
against that popularity of our pres
ent commercial system known as
trusts.
In so far as bank failures are con-
cerned, much blame is placed upon
the bank examiners, yet the majority
of the banks which have failed are
simply private institutions. like a
store or loan agency, and entirely
outside of the jurisdiction Of the ex-
aminers. But there are defects in
the present banking system, but Mr.
Ringdahl does not point out what
they are and then propose a remedy
therefor. Quite different was the
speech of Congressman McCleary,
who, though a member of the domi-
nant party, points out definitely the
defects and then proposes a remedy
therefor. The demogogic appeals of
Mr.. Ringdal simply tend to stir up
dissatisfaction; the statesmanlike ar
guments of Mr.. McCleary stimulate
thought, which will in due time ripen
into action.
On the money question the Popu-
list nominee reiterated statements
which he must know are not bourne
out by history. He speaks of the de-
monetization of silver, yet be cannot
find man who remembers seeing
the silver dollar in circulation in ante
bellum days. But when Mr. Ring
dahl used the analogy that the $500
worth of wood and $1,000 worth of
iron which make $1,000 wagon are
like the uncoined silver and the
coined silver is like the COMPLETED
wagon, he showed that his study of
the money question had been very
superficial. When silver is coined on
private account, the government does
nothing but guarantee its quality and
tineness. Sure, it stamps it zone dol
lar" but it leaves the business world
to settle what zone dollar means.
If gold and silver were to be coined
on private account at a fixed ratio,
the government would simply grind
out dollars of gold and silver, but the
owner would still have to go into the
mart and sell that gold or silver for
just what other business men were
willing to give for it.
Now in regard to railroads, Mr..
Ringdahl asserted that 100000
acres of the 100000 arabic acres of
land of this state. had been granted
to these corporations. The statement
is preposterous. This gives the rail
roads one-half of all the land in the
state instead of one half the land
within ten miles on either side of
their tracks. Nevertheless, our good |
friend Ringdahl is probing after
some weakness in the present railroad |
system which will probably become
an issue some day. However, let us
not forget that Ringdahl as con
gresham could have nothing to do
with this question, and nor does he
show that he would consider the
question from scholarly rather than
a demogogic standpoint
In regard to Mr.. Ringdahl's last
subject of attack, the trusts, we gave
the matter sufficient attention in an
editorial last week. More than that
the difficulty of defining trust in
legal sense has since been brought to
our attention When number of
concerns, as measure of self protect
ion, adopt scale of prices which are
reasonable they have formed trust,
yet their action is a boon to them
solves and a benefit tn the consumer