The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-16
BRYAN-DEM0CRACY AND co.
THE LEADERS ISSUE THE FIRST
 CAMPAIGN DOCUMENTS.


 ing to Further Unite the Three, in Future
 Elections, Upon the Financial Issue, as
 the Question of Paramount Importance
 The Republican Party and the Gold
 Standard Attacked Confiscation of Lives
 and Liberty of the Laboring MiIlions-
 Conspiracy of Gold and Monopoly Near
 ing Continuation.
 Washington, Feb. 15.-The addresses on behalf of the democratic, populist and silver republican parties which are the result of the conferences which have been in progress among the lead-; CTS of those parties at the capital for the past few weeks, were issued to- day. They seek to unite the members of the three parties in future elections. upon the financial issue, as the ques- tion of paramount importance and are separate appeals to each of the para ties to consolidate all along the lines for this purpose. The address to demo- crats is signed by Senator James K. Jones of Arkansas, chairman of the democratic national committee, and is endorsed by the democratic congress sional committee; that to the populists by Senator Marion Butler, chairman of the populist national committee, and the twenty-five other populist members of the senate and house, and that of the silver republicans in the senate and house also by ex-Senator Dubois. The democratic address says:
 The surrender of the republican party to the advocates of the gold standard and monopoly is at last conl- plete. The present administration call ed to power upon the solemn pledge of the republican national convention at St. Louis to promote bimetallism, has sent to congress bill, the leading purpose of which the secretary of the treasury avows is to commit tho country more thoroughly to the gold standard" The country has already for twenty-four years been so thor- oughly committed to this standard. partly by law and partly by the usur- patton of the executive branch of the government that it's effects are seen and felt on every hand wages ares reduced; work is harder to get; the weight of debt is doubled; the value of the land and other property is reduced one-half or more until the lives of peo- pie are made bitter by the hard bond v age. It is certainly not in the inter- est of humanity to have this condition of things more thoroughly established The continued rise in the value Of gold, or which Is the same thing, the continued fall of prices, must inevita- ply transfer the property of all those engaged in active business, the actual creators of wealth, whether by hand, brain or capital, to those who, avoiding the risk and effort of active business, only draw interest"
 The address states that the increase of 145 per cent. in the value of money caused by its increasing scarcity from 1909 to 1849 found expression at that time in extremely low prices and un- paralleled distress. The discovery of gold and silver in extraordinary quan- titles and the great increase in the volume of metallic money relieved this distress and brought wonderful pros- | PSAAIy. oAOolelAtlGlyt tIlt6 Lt'uQltlQAA69 the address says, would have continueds If both the precious metals lad been allowed to remain in use as money. A wicked conspiracy, however, deprived one of them of the money functions. This was done with the deliberate pur- pose of raising the value of the other by rendering the supply of netall.ci money relatively scarcer aS compared with the demand. From the hour of the consummation of this crime, man. kind has suffered commercial disaster and social distress in almost constantly | increasing measure
 | Just in proportion to the growth of arts and civilization and the expansion of commerce, business and industry, | the inadequacy of the volume of gold | is felt and it's value increased. The re- pression of life and happiness. insep- | arable from long course of declining prices, if continued will intimately stifie civilization. The address quotes President Andrews of Brown university 1 as saying some years ago:
 "Our national debt on September l, | 1865, was two and three-quarters biI- | lions; it could then have been paid off with eighteen million bales of cotton,t or 25, ,000, 900 tons of bar iron. When 1t had been reduced to billion and quarter, 30,0O0000 bales of cotton or 3D. 100000 tons of iron would have been re- quired to pay 1t. In other words, while a nominal shrinkage of about 55 per cent. had taken place in the debt,it had as measured in either of these two worlds staples, actually been enlarged by some 50 per cent"
 l The address declares that although more than half of the principal of this debt and every cent of interest had
 been paid by the labor of the United
 States, the holders of the bonds still held a claim for more of the labor of the people than they held before these enormous payments had been begun.
 This cruel confiscation of the lives and liberty of the laboring millions of this
 country, 1t says, is the most stupen- dous crime committed in the annals of 1 civilization. Unless government of, by and for the people has perished from
 the earth, the present boldly avowed scheme, not only to continue but to in-
 crease these evils will not be permitted. The address states that besides more l thoroughly establishing the gold stand
 ard, the administration plans to retire I Lr-- A.