Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1898-02-17
THE PRESIDENT ON MONEY.
a Firm Declaration for Gold
Standard.

President McklnIey'S address at the
banquet of the National Association of
Manufacturers was primarily reply 10
| the speeches which the free silver sena-
tors had been making during the
week. They have been advocating the
adoption of the old Matthews resole-
ton, interpreting it as a demand for
the free coinage of silver dollars, which
cheap dollars they claim the govern
ment would have the option to use i'm
the payment of its bonds.
Senator Teller admitted in effect
that the Matthews resolution intro
duced by him contained the dishonor-
able doctrine of free coinage at the
ratio of sixteen to one, changing the
money standard of the country 20 sill
yer monometallism. and creating n de-
based currency worth 40 cents on the
dollar.
He, Cockrell and other senators de-
Tended the use of that debased cur
rency in paying public creditors on the
ground that ii would be legal" The
presidents swift reioinder 20 these in
famous declarations is:
'"The money of the United States is and
must forever be unquestioned and unas-
sailable. If doubts remain they must be
removed. If weak places are discovered
they must be strengthened. Nothing
should ever tempt us-nothing ever will
tempt us-to scale down the sacred debt Of
the nation through a legal technicality.
Whatever may be the language of the con-
tract, the United States will discharge all
its obligations in the currency recognized
as the best throughout the civilized world
at the times of payment"
This is as much a reply to Vest,
Teller, Daniel and the other senators
who have been insisting that the gov
ernment should use a technicality to
defraud its creditors as if he had sent
n message to congress stating his posi-
ton on the question of the standards.
Instead of sending message to con-
gress the president has sent one to the
country. He assures the people that
while he is president there shall be no
such tampering with the currency as
shall stain the honor of the nation or
injure one of its citizens.
The free silver senators call for
cheap, dishonest dollars in order that
the creditors of private individuals and
corporations may be cheated as well as
OF the president to them is:
Nor will we ever consent that the wages
of labor or its frugal savings shall be
scaled down by permitting payment in dol
lars of less value than the dollars accepted
as the best in every enlightened nation Of
the earth"
That is the pledge the president gave
before he was elected. He came out
victor in the contest because of that
pledge. He proposes that the executive
branch of the government shall be true
to it. That is his latest message to the
Ihen who supported him in 1896.
The free silverites who reintroduced
the Matthews resolution did so as
defiance-with the Intention of serv-
ing notice on the president and the
house of representatives that nothing
could be done in congress to strengthen
the gold standard, and also of serving
notice ON the sound money men gener-
ally that the battle of 1896 is to be
fought over again.
The reply of the president to this
challenge is emphatic. He declares
that:
Under existing conditions our citizens
cannot be excused If they do not rcdouble
their efforts to secure such financial lcEis-
lation as will place their honorable inten-
tions beyond dispute. . For us to at
tempt nothing in the face Of the present
fallaces and the constant effort to spread
them is to lose valuable ground already
won and practically to weaken the forces
of sound money for their battles of the fu-
ture."
The house of representatives, where
the sound money men are in the major
ity, must not be inactive, because no
measure it adopts, no matter how
salutary it may be, can pass the senate.
1t must indorse the gold standard un-
equivocally and send that Endorsement
TO the senate and the country. Better
an honest effort with failure than the
avoiding of so plain and commanding
duty"
AS the free silver democrats intend to
make sixteen to one" the issue at the
congressional elections this year and
the presidential election two years
later, the sound money men must not
be inert, but must from now on combat
the faIlacics of their opponents as
strenuously as they did during the
campaign of 1896.
This advice must be acted on. The
second campaign in behalf of sound
money must commence now, mot mere
iy in Washington, but throughout the
country. The sound money men com
mitted an almost fatal blunder by fail
ing to meet the demand for the cheap
silver dollar long before so many had
been deluded into supporting it. They
cannot sleep on their arms now while
their adversaries are up and doing.
The president has replied in no un-
certain tones to the men who are sup
porting the insidious, dishonest, treach-
erous Teller resolution, which is in
tended to serve as plank in the demo-
cratic-populst congressional plat
forms next fall. He deserves the
hanks of all sound money men for his
prompt action and his wise advice
Chicago Tribune.
Gold Standard for Republicans.