The Advocate and news., 1898-09-21
Silver and the War.
LINUS 8. WEBB.

On July 25 a dispatch was sent out from
Washington and published in the daily
press, stating that some army paymasters
were going to Santiago to pay off our
troops. The most important portions Of
the dispatch are as follows:
"A rather interesting question has
ARISEN in regard to the payment OF
troops. A telegram has been received
from General Shafter requesting that
gold and paper be sent TO Santiago, as
tTadesmen there refuse to accept Amer
lean silver dollars at their par value,
and rate them at 80 cents on the dollar,
like the Mexican dollars and dollars of
South American countries COnsidera-
BILE Indignation Is expressed that Amer
lean money of any kind Is discounted,
and a suggestion has been made to
the Secretary of War that any trades
man who refuses to accept United
States money Of any kind at 100 cents
on the dollar should be removed from
any territory over which the American
flag floats. 1t Is not known that any
order was sent to General Shafter on
the subject. although the suggestion
has been made that American money
should not be allowed to be questioned
by the countries occupied by United
States troops"
Who set the example for rating our
standard silver dollars at so cents? Who
first questioned the sOundness of American
silver dollars? How often did Republican
speakers and papers in the campaign Of
1896 speak contemptuously Of the American
silver dollar? They called it a fiat" dol
lar, 5O-cent dollar, the dollar of repudia-
tiOn and dishonOr! Don't you remember
It, Republican friends? Certainly your
memories have not failed in so short a
time. You must remember It; you can't
help II. The Republican convention Of Mas
sachusetts, assembled at Boston, in the
shadow OF Bunker Hill, solemnly resolved
that our public debt must be paid In gold!
The Republican convention at St. Louis
echoed the decree of Boston, and all along
the line the partisan pilgrims carried the
cross Of gold upon which to cruelty Amer
lean labor! Gold was their standard and
their guide, and under 1t they marched to
O victory which in the years to come will
be source Of profound regret to them or
their posterity.
The public creditor, living in luxury and
ease, may demand gold upon his bond
aye, even the pound OF flesh; but the poor
tradesman, taking his lessons in finance
from the public creditor, must take the
cheap and slckly silver for his wares, or be
banlshed from the protection OF the Amer
lean flag! This Is the new doctrine Of
finance and monetary science taught in
this land Of liberty and law! Our armies
may occupy the islands of the sea, and
suppIant the tyranny or ages with Ameri-
can civil liberty; our navies may batter
down the hostile fleets and ramparts of
imperial Spain, and our brave soldiers fall
on bloody fields, to maintain American
honor and spread the blessings Of freedom
throughout the world. Future generations
may be bonded in debt to pay the enor-
nous expense Of carrying on war to liber-
ate the struggling and oppressed people Of
other lands-and that debt must be paid In
gold, yellow and precious gold, ''the stand
ard of the most enlightened nations of the
EARTH" But the modest tradesman, the
plodding laborer, the private creditor, all
the common people who work and struggle
and toll they must take "cheap money"
deprecated silver" fiat currency" 80
cent dollars" or take nothing
The soldier who bares his breast to the
bullets Of a merciless foe must take for his
meager pay what the government Of his
country offers him, but the public creditor
must have gold-nothing but gold Gold
for the patrician, silver for the plebeian.
Yellow dust for the bullion and bond bro
kers, silver for the canallle.
If silver is good enough for the Santiago
merchant, for the soldier in the field, for
the cOal-heaver on a battleship, and for
everybody else, why is not the same silver
good enough for the payment OF public
debts? Is the public creditor any more
entitled to the gratitude of his country