The Indianapolis journal., 1898-01-26
THE PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.
speech of Gov. Leslie NJ. Shaw on TAX
ing the Chair.

battaliOnS has rested a graver duty than
that which confronts the men of this gen.
Grafton. One of the hopeful signs of the
times is the existence among us of large
body of students of economic questions who
at a time of political peril were found will
ing to make any sacrifice. to break allie
glance with any affiliations, and even to
part company with all former friends and
comrades in political faith for the sake of
national honor. and who are now heartily
engaged i'll this effort for the Inauguration
of IL financial policy that shall stand the
test and win the respect of the ages. 1t is
we'll for the state that with many the tenn
poral prosperity and happiness of our peo-
pie are of far greater moment than partisan
victories. Lord Macaulay describes the
most favored period of Roman history by
saying:
Then none were for a party
Then all were for the state,
Then the rich man helped the poor
And the. poor man loved the great"
l believe, gentlemen, you represent to-day
the nonpartsan purpose as we'll as the
financial sentiment of very large majority
of the American people. Every time the
question has been voted upon they have
declared for sound money and national hon
or. Back in the seventies the repudation
posed and openly advocated. Those who
espoused the cause insisted that the most
sacred obligations could be honestly dis
charged by the unlimited issue of an ire
deemable paper currency (as Zach Chand-
Ter expressed it in the last speech of his
life) currency payable to no one, at no
place and never. The issue was taken to
the polls, and by an overwhelming majority
reputation was repudiated.
1t is worthy of note that the greenback
movement was pressed with greatest vigor
between 1873 and 1878, while the silver dollar
was omitted from our coinage laws, but
its adherents were never victorious in
single State or congressional district, except
as the result of fusion with one or the other
of the leading parties. The people favored
resumption of specie payment, even pend
ing the enactment therefor of 1875 and after
the demonetization of silver. A people that
lndorsed the prospective return to d specie
basis when such return meant the adoption
OF the gold standard, and while the possi-
bic dangers therefrom were being urged and
exaggerated, and when none of the good
enectS thereof were being realized and in
the face of plan for the LIQUIDATION of ma
tional obligations by the free use of an
irredeemable paper currency, must be pre-
sumed to have been, at that time at least
Well centered in sound financial principles
Have we since been unWisely educated? 1t
doth not so appear.
Twenty years later, in yet more subtle
form, and at a time when self-preservation
appealed to many to join the hosts arrayed
for the purpose partial reputation was
proposed. | do not wish to be understood
as charging those who advocated the free
coinage of silver at the ratio with gold of
10 to l with dishonesty; l prefer to regard
them as entitled to forgiveness. for GER
tainly they knew not what they did. Never
theless, in no unmistakable terms it was
their avowed intention to provide for the
discharge of all existing liabilities, public
and private, with silver dollar, or its
equivalent, intrinSically worth but so per
cent. of the dollar of the money current at
the time the obligations were incurred. 1t
was the boast of the advocates of the meas
ure that this inferior coin should be in no
manner or form redeemable, exchangeable
or convertible at par into any other coin
or form of money intrinsically worth more
cheap dollar was the battle cry of the
allied forces
A BASIC PRINCIPLE
The elementary principle that the stand
ard coin of all countries is worth the ma
terial of which it is composed. and never
more, was ridiculed by the promulgators of
the new movement. They refused to con-
slider the provisions of the statute which
makes the present gold coin legal tender at
it's nominal value only when of full weight
and within the limit Of tolerance provided
by law; and which provides that the same
coin shall possess legal-tender qualities in
proportion to its weight when below the
limit of tolerance. They failed to note the
common transactions of everyday life
when the foreign gold coin is exchanged for
the gold coin of this country and the gold
coin of this for that of foreign lands abso-
lutely in proportion to the material of
which they are composed They would not
heed the demonstration of this same prin-
ciple in the fact that the standard silver
dollar of Mexico circulates, both at home
and abroad, as compared with gold in pro-
portion to its bullion value.
Nevertheless, by popular majority of
over a million, the country again declared
that neither total nor partial reputation
found audience in the American heart and
mind. Our people are honest, and they are
wiser than many suppose. The safety of
republican government was never so clearly
demonstrated as on Nov. 3, 1896 Either the
verdict rendered on that day determined
that the value of the United States dollar
shall be and remain in both debt paying and
purchasing power the equivalent of 25.S
grains of standard gold, or that election de-
termtned nothing.
This being settled, what remains to be
done? The people have a right to expect
something. They went to the extreme limit
or their opportunity in demanding security
against financial depression. commercial
upheavals and industrial agitation. In
view of the oft-repeated declaration for
national honor and the payments and dis
charge of every obligation, public and pri-
vate, in a currency equivalent to gold, it
IthldluS IOf the IdWIndklng power 10 spread
the verdict of 1896 of record, to render judg-
ment in accordance Herewith, and to make
the decree perpetual. A failure so to do
Will endanger every interest every indus
try every enterprise, and make possible
panic of such cyclonic force and Widespread
extent as to render what we have seen, in
comparison, but summers zephyr. When
officers hesitate, the whole army may well
be filled with apprehension. The COM
mander who has captured an important po-
sition and refuses to fortify 1t, but on the
contrary, freely discusses the wisdom of
evacuation, exposes himself to a rout at
any hour of the day or night A confident
gain recruits from the deserting enemy.
The officer that follows an army will soon
find his forces on the run, and if he is not
very fleet of foot they will beat him into
camp.
A STRIKING ILLUSTRATION.
We are all familiar with the picture of
the frontersman as he opens his farm on
the prairie. He erects a shanty for himself
and a shed for his team. He marries, and
children bless his home. He builds from
necessity an addition TO his house He
erects an upright, then an ell, then a lean
to-" and he sets them on wooden pins or
powders gathered from the creek His
stable is of posts and poles and straw BY
and by windstorm renders 1t necessary.
or his prosperity justlfies it, and ne contem-
plates larger and better and more perma-
neat things. Then he calls in an architect
] can think of no better illustration Of our
financial system. Our fathers builded not
less wisely than they supposed The silver
dollar was the original unit Of value and