Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-02-25
SILVER is THE ISSUE.
LEADERS OF FUSION PUT FORTH
ADDRESSES.
Democrats. Populis.s and Silver
Republicans Urged to Stand
Firm-Thc Three Parties Have
MANY Interests in Common.

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Firm-Thc Three Parties Hav.
Many Interests in Common.
The addresses on behalf of thu
Democratic, Populist and Silver Re
publican parties, which are the result
of the conferences which have beer
in progress among the leaders OF these
parties at Washington for the past
few weeks, were issued last week
They seek to unite the members o.
the three parties in future elections
upon the financial issue as the ques
tion of paramount Importance. and
are appeals to each party to console
date all along the lines for this pur'
pose. The address to Democrats Is
signed by Senator James X. Jones, ol
Arkansas, Chairman of the Demo
cratic National Committee, and is in
dorsed by the Democratic Congress
sional Committee; that to the POpu-
lists by Senator Marion Butler, Chair.
man, and twenty-five silver members
of the Senate and House and the
Silver Republicans address by Chair
man Towne, eight Silver Republican
Congressman and by ex-senator Du-
bois:
THE DEMOC RATIO ADDRESS.
The Democratic address is as fol-
lows:
"To the people: The surrender of
the Republican party to the advocates
of the gold standard and monopoly is
at last complete. The present admin
istration, called to power on the SOL
emn pledge Of the Republican Con-
vention at st. Louis to promote BIZ
metallism, has formulated and sent to
Congress bill, the leading purpose Of
which, the honorable Secretary of the
Treasury avows, is to commit the
country more thoroughly to the gold
standard. The country has already,
for twenty-four years, been so thor
oughly committed to this gold stand
ard, partly by law and partly by the
usurpation of the executive branch of
the government, that its effects are
seen and felt on every hand; wages
are reduced; work is harder to get |;
the weight OF debt is doubled; the
value of land and other property is
reduced one.half or more, until the
lives of the people are made bitter
with hard bondage 1t is certainly
not in the interest of humanity to
have this condition of things more
thoroughly established.
"The continued rise in the value of
gold, or, which is he same thing, the
continued fall in prices, must inevit-
ably transfer the property of all those
engaged in active business, the actual
creators Of wealth, whether by hand,
brain or capital, to those who, avoid
ing the risk and effort of o live busi-
ness, only draw interest.
"The increase of las per cent. in
the value OF money, caused by its in
creasing scarcity from 1869 to 1849, as
admitted by leading advocates of the
gold standard, found expression at
that time in extremely low prices and
conditions of unparalleled distress.
The discovery Of gold and silver in
extraordinary quantities, and the
great increase in the volume of me-
tallic money resulting therefrom, re-
lieved this distress and brought in its
stead prosperity. Prices rose, busi-
ness fiourished, producers prospered,
and all were happy. Substantially
this condition would have continued
if both the precious metals had been
allowed to remain in use as money,
because they were being found in
nearly sufficient quantities to increase
the volume Of money in proportion to
the development of business. Wicked
conspiracy, however, deprived one of
them of this function. This was done
with the deliberate purpose Of raising
the value of the other by rendering
the supply Of metallic money relatively
scarcer, as compared with the demand.
From the hour of the consumma-
tson of this crime, mankind has suf-
fered commercial disaster and social
distress in almost constantly increas-
ing measure. Just in proportion to
the growth of arts and civilization
and expansion of commerce, business
and industry, the inadequacy of the
volume of the gold is felt, its scarcity
is emphasized, its value increased.
The depression of life and happiness,
which is inseparable from a long
course of declining prices, has now
checked development, and, if contin.
ued, will ultimately stihe civilization.
An eminent American, President An
drews, of Brown University, some
years ago said:
"Our national debt on September
l, 1865, was two and three-quarters
billions; it could then have been
paid off with eighteen million bales of
cotton, or twenty-five million tons of
bar iron. When it had been reduced
to a billion and quarter, thirty mil
lion bales of cotton, or thirty-two mil
lion tons of iron, would have been