Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-08-04
A Living Question.

getLlDg living VINO WOuIQ ike 10 see
the silver and kindred financial ques-
tions disappear from the political are
ma. They look upon the antagonizing
OF the money power by the Democratic
party as the commission of political
suicide; consequently they are making
every effort to force the financial ques-
ton to the rear and out of sight.
What they want is success-success
that brings comforting financial results.
How" they argue, lean a campaign
be conducted If there are no contribu-
tors to the campaign fund, and how
can the Democratic or any other party
expect moneyed men or great corpor-
ations to contribute to the maintenance
of a party that actively opposes their
interests?" They assume that no party
can successfully Ego up against money"
if it has not money to back it; but
where is the money to come from If
the agitation for silver is to be kept
up. for the money of the country is a
unit against it? These people know
just what Is necessary to carry an i'm
portant ward or a close county; they
can tell you what it will cost to secure
the influence of prominent member
OF gang, or how to make a trouble
some ward heller lie down. They
know all about the financing Of cam
paign, but they never give a thought
as to what makes political parties pos
sible, or to the political currents that
control political organizations in the
long run. We frankly admit that if
the silver question does not affect the
comfort and prosperity of our fellow
citizens; if it is merely a question of
party expediency, it may as well be
pushed aside now as after awhile; but
if it is one that is vital to the interests
of the American people, the financiers
OF politics might as we'll try to sweep
back the Atlantic ocean with a bunch
of hazel brush as to try to keep this
issue from the front.
A glance at what is going on in 9TH
er countries will suffice to convince any
though :ful man that the financial cues
ton is forcing itself to the front, in one
form or another. all over the world.
Since India closed her minis to silver
she has been in a state of financial col
lapse. AS soon as the gold standard
was practically INTRODUCED there, prices
began to fall. Moneyed men refused
to invest In a country where prices
were falling. Those who had invested
began at once a scramble to get as
much of their money out as possible
before further decline was recorded.
This brought chaos. A Royal Com
mission is now sitting, we understand,
to investigate the causes of the present
financial tangle in India. and leading
bankers insist that the minis OF India
will have to be re-opened to silver.
Japan, after her victory over China,
adopted the gold standard; fall of
prices and the consequent financial
panic resulted at once, although Japan
reduced the weight of her gold yen to
conform to the value of the silver yen
it replaced. Chile adopted the gold
standard and went into the hands of
a receiver. Italy. another gold stand
ard country, is bankrupt and her peas
antry are stsrving-have been starved
standard on paper, but her producing
is so poor that she dare not
put it in operation. The German farm
er is disappearing, as we have before
pointed out. In other words, where
the gold standard has been erected,
side by side with it has appeared want.
misery and decay for the producing
which ultimately must reach
all those VINO depend upon them.
Another evil we see that has invari-
ably accompanied the gold standard,
is the decline in the value of real es-
tate, except in those parts of the coun-
try where colonization is still going
on. 1t is a remarkable thing that real
estate in such states as Ohio and H.
diana has declined from twenty-five to
fifty per cent. In the last three decades.
Why should it decline at all? Why
should the lands of the United King
dom of Great Britain and Ireland have
declined twenty-five per cent. since the
Crimean war? This fact does not COM
port with the idea that the lands of
are too valuable to farm, for
they are now vastly less valuable than
when they were farmed. Desolation
has followed in the wake of the gold
standard where ever it has been set up.
Its advocates cannot successfully deny
the fact, and they vouchsafe no explain
alton of its cause.
With these facts before them, politi-
clans talk as glibly about ignoring sill
yer and placing the Chicago platform