West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1898-10-20


OF the country, and the terms of the
bonds. provide that they may be paid
IN either gold or silver. but the bankers,
largely Republican, demand their bay
ment In gold only.
MONEY.
President Mckinley. Secretary Gage.
and the Republican party are commit
ted 10 h gold standard. retirement OF
the greenbacks. and opposition TO the
coinag OF silver. II wac not always
So President Mckinley when In Con-
gress was the friend OF silver coinage,
and in his public afterwards
continued To favor Il, until his ambition
Tor the Presidency impelled him 20 fall
In with his party's views. and he now
stands squarely with the Republican
party on the platform OF the gold stand
ard. Not until the campaign OF last
year did any great political party de-
clare for gold and a single standard.
GREENBACKS.
The greenbacks are an indebtedness
of the government upon which IL pays
no interest. They amount. in round
numbers, TO $346, 200. 600. They help 20
enlarge the volume OF the currency and
comprise more han one-sixth OF the
MCANl "a tAt Nouullys 10 Itntt lucul
would contract the currency To that ex-
tent and to the same amount increase
the interest-bearing debt OF the govern
ment. Notwithstanding this, both the
President n Secretary of the Treas
ury recommended to Congress their re-
tiremenL.
Silver and silver certificates in cir
culation amount to $3.50, 00O, 600. Add
these to the greenbacks n we have
$500. 600 900. or about half OF all the
money in circulation. in danger OF be-
ing eliminated from our monetary
system should the Republicans be sue
cessful in the coming election. Such
a result would cause great disturb
ance in our business matters, make
money scarce and high, and create con
dltions which bring about panics, COM
mercial distress and consequent lack
OF employment among the people.
A silver dollar always did and
always will buy as much as a gold
one. The Republicans say before IL is
coined 1t Is worth only fifty cents. MY
answer to that is, paper dollars before
receiving the stamp Of the government
are worth less than a cent. The same
responsibility is behind them both. Yet
Republicans favor national bank notes
- NAVY ohA AhtJ alI nut a ltbdl lGu-
der.
LABOR ORGANIZATIONS.
The labor organizations OF the coun-
Try are on record against the Republican
policy of a single or gold standard and
the retirement of the greenbacks. Pres
tdent Gompers. OF the American FEEDER
alton of Labor, In a letter to the pres
ent Secretary Of the Treasury, saws:
The wage-earners Of America repre-
sented in the American Federation of
Labor believe that the position you have
taken In regard to the retirement OF
our greenback currency Is a~ntagonistic
TO their interests, and they are opposed
to you plan OF more thoroughly COM
hitting his country OF ours to the gold
standard. We oppose your currency
bill because, as has been we'll said. Il
is "a bill TO provide for the a%bdication
of the sovereign powers OF the govern
ment TO the banks. OF strengthening
the hands of the speculative clioues,
enriching the few, and impoverishing
the many"
MONEY IN CIRCULATION.
The paper money of the United
States, in circulation July /, 1898. was
as follows:
G~reenDacks ..........3 2S6, b72. 800
Currency certificates 26,045,OOO
saSsS 1856. 747.O o.
Silver ceruhcates...,.. $50. 659, $50
Ireasur Notes mann. 9S,665,5S0
Add TO this
Gold $500. 959.s0
silver Dollars $500. 552os,79l
si dollars smaller tnan e4,sas.7N
-ss2 .5is,n AIS
si.sls. 4s5.74a
1t will be observed from the above
that more than a third of the none OF
the country in circulation is composed
Of silver certificates, issued upon sill
yer In the treasury. and greenbacks.
upon neither OF which the government
pays interest and to the use of which
the Republican party Is opposed. we
all know that when money is scarce
1t is hard to get. We had an example
OF this within the past few years,
when we were threatened with a panic
and the results were quite as disas-
trous to business as If IL had actually
occurred. Banking institutions closed
their oor TO borrowers and boarded
what they had. The people did not
have enough money to do business.
Should the Republicans gain the
'chihi6 SitSAtOuSs anu secure "a ma
jority in Congress, they could enact
legislation 10 discontinue the use of
silver and retire the g~reenbacks. thus
reducing the money Of the countr
o~ne-thlrd. Such a contraction Of the
currency would no doubt help the mon
eyed institutions, but would work
much hardship upon the laboring men
and persons Of small means. Instead
Of the period of great prosperity prom
ised TO US by the Mckinley advocates.
we would probably have business de-
pressed, labor unemployed. and gen
eral discomfort prevailing.
BANKS AND BANKERS.
Nearly all the large banking and
other financial institutions OF fhis
country favor the Republican party.
Would this be so II Republican leeis-
lation vas not in their interests2
Trusts and combinations require i'm.
mense capital. and are held together
by the money power. The gold policy
Of the Republican party finds It's
strongest advocates among the bank
ers, who naturally want to make
money dearer and o productive.
It is a well known fact that Ia the
last election the financial institutions.
especially I'm the East. we're almost
gOlidlY against the Democratic uorr,