The Goodland republic., 1898-11-18
sm7KR QUESTION NOT DEAD.


Of its @soUL" But ever and anon it
bobs up serenely and stalks around
more alive than ever in the next cam
paigL. Like the the ghost Of BanqUo
il viii net down. 1t was not so very
dead in Colorado gold producing
stste-in the late election. It knocked
out the Mckinley "crowd, !" Ed WolcOtt
and his murderOus gang Of "thugs, -
and reduced the republican majority
in the house OF representatives to a
minimum.
The republican platform of 1896 is
pledge to promote free coinage Of
silver through an international agree
ment with the leading commercial na-
tions Of tie world" The democratic
platform OF 1896 was a pledge to "prO-
mote free coinage Of silver at the ratio
OF 16 TO without the aid or consent OF
any other nation" The peoples party
platform was a pledge to promote the
free coinage Of silver at the present
legal ratio Of 16 to 1 without waiting
for the consent of foreign nations" :"
To be more precise, both democratic
and peoples party platforms" demand
ed" independent free coinage Of both
precious metals. And why not?
Did We wait the consent Of foreign
natioLs to declare American independ-
ence, or, did We defy the military and
naval power Of Great Britain-the one
principal commercial nation" whose
consent is now SO abjectly ysOught-and
appealing to Almighty God for the ret
itude Of our intentions, win it? What
was the result? We won the respect
and admiration of the world. Baron
SteUben, Count Pulaski, DeKaIb and
LaFsyett FASTENED to help Us fight our
battles against tyranny. France was
our ally in that conflict as she would,
probably, be in this conflict against
this money tyranny Of old world mon
srchies.
Gold mOnOmetallism is TOryism
pure and simple. Scratch a gold bug
and you will find an aristOcrat and a
mOnsrchist. There is no such thing
as international money. The money
function is a power Of national sOver-
eighty. The proposition to leave this
vital matter to Internal. OnaI agree
ment, and to abide the behest Of other
nations is a proposition to surrender
national sovereignty and to renounce
national independence. 1t Is treason
to our form Of government, perfidy to
mankind, and an affrOnt to the Deity
who made the precious metals for the
unrestricted use Of man. "The silver
and the gold are mine"
But, it is argued, we could not main
tain the double standard alone. We
did maintain it for over 50 years and
then, when demOnetized by fraud, the
silver dollar was three cents premium
over gold But, it is argued again, if
we adopt free coinage alone, the other
nations would dump their silver upon
Us and take away our gold. AIirabiIe
dictU! How could this be? This gov
ernment viii not pay even its own citi-
zens gold for either silver dollars OF
silver certificates, how then could the
foreigner get it. Bnt, IT is argued on
the other hand, they would bring their
bullion TO our mints and get silver dol
lars for it. What would they do thens
As they could not demand gold for
silver, they would be obliged TO either
take it back home with them, or buy
American products, and this latter
thing is precisely what would happen,
stimulating trade to an unprecedented
extent The dumping theory is a bug
Rbo gotten up to frighten fools. The
ratio is adverse to the return Of silver
to this country, being 16 to 1 here and
151Z to in Europe. For an even ex-
change, on this basis, one-half an
ounce would have to be added. entail
ing loss Of 80 cents at the present
low price Of silver, to say nothing of
transportation, and under free coinage
the loss wouII be doubled.
Would Niagara run I'D stream? As
reasonable as to suppose that silver
bullion could flow from the eastern to
the western hemisphere. According to
the report Of the director Of the mint,
less the precious metals used in the
the arts, the eastern hemisphere pro-
duces, annually, SO I3O,s51 in gold,
and s12, ,38S, ,O6O in silver. The western
hemisphere produced, gold, less used
in the arts, s4s.563,549; silver, $3.50 ,5sI-
156. If over 70 per cent Of silver that
Is available for coinage purposes is q
product Of the western hemisphere,
and less than . per cent Of the east
ern, how can they disturb our finances
IN case Of free coinage?
The demonstration OF silver was q
crime; it vas confscatory; it was IN
constitutional; it was revolutionary:
1t was treasOnsble. This wretehed
work must be undone. This wrong
must be righted. This attempt to over
throw a republican form OF govern
msnt, and to establish an arrogant
imperialism, buttressed By q money
sristOoracy, in its stesd must be re-
bUked. Uutl then, the coinage ques-
ton is not dead and will not down.