The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-15

next great conquest of commerce is in the
orient The exploitation of China is an
impossibility without the establishment Of
& stable par Of exchange between our
selves and that country. nor can We make
1t profitable if her developing forces are
TO continue to receive the progressive SUI
mulus afforded by a falling exchange.
A WYOMING GOLDITE.
Hon. Joseph NJ. Carey, ex-United
States senator from Wyoming, spoke on
The Gold Standard From the Stand
point of the Western States" He said
in part:
Our contention is that the best
standard of money for. the extreme
west, or the country that is most thor
oughly impregnated and imbued with
the Farmers Alliance and Populistic
theories. is the best standard for the
extreme east
The best standard for the agricul-
turalist of Kansas and Nebraska is the
best standard for New York City"
The speaker has believed that dou--
bic standard might be maintained
through international agreement, but
such an agreement appears no longer
probable. The adoption of the gold
standard is rapidly being accepted by
all the nations that have hitherto chung
to silver.
That the displacement of silver and
the supremacy of gold as standard
has been brought about by conditions
not the result of legislation or the re-
suit Of any effort on the part of the
banks, banking Institutions or individ-
uals, but from natural causes. is rapid
" becoming a fixed conviction. The
time has come when the gold standard
should be accepted by all the people,
and that the nation should be plased
upon a sound financial basis; that its
h. "a
the nation should go out of the banking
business and not be hereafter COM
PEELED 10 go into the market and buy
gold TO maintain it's established high
credit.
The agitation which has been kept
alive with reference to the free and I'M
limited coinage of silver for quarter
of a century in this country has done
more damage than an the failures of
crops. plaques and pestilence that could
befall the American people in century.
The greatest hardships in this regard
have fallen on the people of the west
ern states.
The west is settled by people gen
orally young and impressionable. In
political campaigns they are easily led
10 the right or left, but in the end they
go to the right side OF great questions,
The people of a new country should not
be judged too harshly. They may follow
false teachers for a time, but they dis
cover their errors and get on the right
side of every national question before
its final settlement. a new people take
an advanced stand; they make expert
ments and in the end reach sound con-
illusions
GEORGE FRED WILLIAMS.
The principal speakers at the after
noon session of the currency conVen-
ton were George Fred Williams of
Boston and Congressman c. n. Fowler
of Elizabeth, N. ].
Mr.. Williams was the first to speak.
His conversion to the silver theory he
attributes TO a philanthrOpfc reason
involved in what was to him great
question. He pictured a gloomy indus
trial and agricultural condition in EU-
rope quoting from the reports of Sec
rotary Dredge, of the English labor
commission and statements made by
Minister Meline of France and others.
Briefly, he said:
The English royal commission of
1893 reported a decline in farm prop
erty of so per cent; hegira of farm
laborers and predicted that II the gem
eral fail in prices continued, ruination
would confront the agrarian interests.
Ten of the IA members of that commits
sion concluded that the only remedy is
the restoration of the exchange between
the two metals.
I'm this country the boosted prosper
ity of the north and east is based upon
the depression Of the farms and PLAN
tations of the west and south, the effect
of an appreciated money, requiring
more products for a given sum and
increasing the burden of debt. Prices
had fallen 40 per cent in 1893 and they
have continued to fall ever since. In
an era of falling prices. 1 believe in a
protective tariff, but the gold standard
is a leveler that passes over every wall.
If it is not dishonest to lower prices
by legislation at the expense of the
debtor, is il dishonest to raise by leg
islation for the relief of the debtor?
I'VE are charged with being repudia-
tors, but any system of policy de-
manded by the best interests of man
kind is not dishonest. The Congress
sional Record is full of prophecies of
what would follow the establishment
of the gold standard, the contraction of
the money volume and the appreciation
of the dollar"
OTHER SPEAKERS.
He was followed by Arson Wolcott of
Indiana, who reviewed financial legis-
lation with purpose to show that it
had been destructive of the circulat-
ing medium Judge Joseph SneldOn OF
Connecticut. who upheld the quanta-
tive theory of money; President
Thomas e. Wills of the Kansas agri-
cultural college. who discounted the
value of academic opinions on economic
questions generally. Wills said wealth
dominated institutions of earnings,
and he cited the case of Professor An
drews of Brown university to show that
college professors dare not teach views
contrary to the interests of the rich
Then Congressman Fowler occupied
the platform for a half hour with a de-
Tense of the gold standard.