Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-03-31
A DANGEROUS WEAPON.
The Money Powers Contempt of Law
and Justice Hardly n Safe
Argument to Use.

The London Statist, organ of the golt
syndicate in England, is made the of
fetal medium for another threat of {
bankers panic in case of the triumph
of free coinage in America. In a re
cent issue it says:
If Mr. Bryan should be elected presiden
In $780, and if, at the same time, the silver
tie majority in both houses of congress:
| should be chosen. there can be no reason
able doubt that a panic would follow more
severe than has been witnessed in any par
| Of the world for a very long time.
This threat has been used before, but
never with quite such directness as is
contained in the paragraph which fol-
lows. After enumerating the damage
| which silver coinage would, in its es
timation, work to banking interests
unless, of course, silver rose to the
value affixed to it by the coinage laws,
| the Statist declares:
| But bankers and other capitalists woule
| not wait to see whether, as a matter OF
| fact, silver would or would not rise. They
would at once reduce their note issues, pre-.
sent the legal tenders at the treasury fol
| redemption in gold, and also they, as well
| as other lenders, would call in all loans
| outstanding. It would be impossible for the
| borrowers TO pay everybody WOulQ De
| calling in loans, and nobody would be lend.
ing. The resulting panic would be Ike
| scribable.
Heretofore the arrogance OF the
money power has been confined to pre-
| dictions as to what must inevitably hap.
| pen in case its dictum should not be fol-
| lowed to the letter, but here is direct
threat of what it would cause to happier
in case the American people should see
fit to establish a monetary system cal.
culated to serve their own interests. I'm.
| less it shall be allowed to dictate the
measure of its tithes and fix the manner
of taking its pound of flesh, it will an
initiate the business interests of the
country, or at least crush them beneath
the indescribable terrors of financial
panic of its own creation.
There is no attempt to Justify such E
course. On the contrary the Statist dis.
tinctly proclaims the legal as well as the
moral justice of bimentllism in the fol
lowing frank confessions:
Mr.. Bryan maintains not only that silver
coin and notes based upon silver should be
kept at the value assigned to them by the
United States law, but that they should be
treated in every respect as equal to gold
HSTclOTG II SSeIIlS SdIS TO COnCluOe IndC
Bryan, If he were in power, would redeem
the greenbacks and pay the interest upon
the United States debt indifferently in sill.
yer and sold. In doing so he would be act
ing within the law. The law requires that
they shall be paid in lawful money of the
United States and there is no question thai
the legal tender silver dollar is Lawful
money.
If the people of the United States, rep
resented by Mr.. Bryan as their presi.
dent, are to act within the law, what
justification, pray, would there be fol
the creation of bankers panic? What
excuse for resistance to the payment OF
lawful obligations in a perfectly law
full manner? We fear that the Statist
has unwittingly placed the bankers OF
the country in very compromising
and embarrassing position.
The Statist and its friends will do vel
to pause and reflect before giving ut
terance to further threats of this kind
Contempt of law and justice and the
rights of others is dangerous weapon
even in the hands of those who are
proud to boast of themselves as ''the
governing classes" Contempt breeds
contempt, and the example of wealth
and intelligence is apt to be followed by
poverty and ignorance. When the
wealth controller ignores moral obliga.
tions the wealth producer is almost Ger.
tain to do the same. When both become
imbued with this spirit, anarchy finds
birth. Rule or ruin is game at which
two can play.
The bankers should call off their
hounds, lest they develop into dogs OF
war.-Denver Times-Sun.