The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-04-14
THE NEXT CAMPAIGN ISSUE
MR. BRYAN ADDRESSES THE MIL
WIUKEE JEFFERSON CLUB.
No Step Taken In 1896 ShnIl be Retrnced
The Suggestions That the Money
Question be Oned-Precedehts
to show That the 16 to 1 Issue May be
Successful ut the Next Election.

TO snow lhud tne 10 10 l. lssWe lny NC
Successful ut the Next Election.
! Milwaukee, Wis, April 13-The JEFF
ferson club of Milwaukee observed the
natal day of the founder of democracy
by a banquet at the Plankington house
this evening. Colonel William j. Bryan
of Nebraska was the guest Of honor and
delivered the principal address. The
banquet hall was beautifully decorated.
Mr.. Bryan spoke on Democracy" and
said, in part:
Brynn's Speech-Thc Next Issue.
1--WE are now near enough to the next
campaign to be able to form some idea
of the lines along which the contest will
be fought, and am taking no risk when
/ say that those who in 1896 gave their
allegiance to the Chicago platform are
as united to-day in the determination
that no step taken In 1896 shall be re-
traced. Suggestions that we abandon
the money question sometimes come
from those who deserted the party in
1896, but those suggestions are not sup
ported by evidence tending to show that
the position in 1896 was wrong.
Precedents.
TN 1888 Mr.. Cleveland was defeated
on the tariff Issue and yet the tariff was
made the main issue in 1892 and Mr..
Cleveland was elected. In 1892 Mr.. Har-
rison was defeated largely on account
of the Mckinley bill and four years
later the author Of the bill was nomi-
mated upon platform re-affirming the
belief in protection and was successful.
Thus it is seen that in two instances
recently losing issue in one campaign
became a winning issue in the cam
paign following
What the Test Ought to lie.
"The test ought to be not whether the
issue has been presented before, hut
whether the position taken is right. If
the gold standard was unmerited in 1896
it is unmerited now. If it's maintenance
was detriment to the interests of the
people of this country then it is detri-
ment now If in 1896 it was Sd hurtful
that the republicans promised to put
forth their best efforts to substitute in
ternational bimetallism for it and after
the electionit was still so hurtful that the
president sent commission to Europe
to secure foreign aid in abandoning 1t,
what has happened since then to make
the American people accept 1t as
blessing? If an increased discovery of
gold in Alaska has been Of any advan-
tage to the United States, it is but an
other evidence that the quantitative the
ory of money is correct. If large bal
ance of trade in favor Of the United
States gives any relief because of the
money thus brought into the country it
is an additional argument in favor of
the quantitative theory of money. BIZ
metallists have contended that times
will be made better by the return of the
double standard and by the increased
supply of standard money thus fur
nished for the business of the country.
The Question of Ratio.
while it is unnecessary to discuss
the question of ratio until some other
ratio is proposed, it may not be out of
place to suggest that 16 to 1, being the
ratio at which the present gold and sill
yer coin circulate, is the natural ratio
at which the mints should be opened.
To increase the ratio by increasing the
size of the silver dollar would necessi-
tate the re-coinage of our present silver
dollars into less number of dollars and
the increase of the ratio made through
out the world would result in a large
decrease in the volume of standard
money and since the value of dollar
depends on the number of dollars such
. oh will In co tha
purchasing power of a dollar and in
crease the burden of debts. 1t would be
equivalent to a transfer by legislation
of a vast amount Of wealth from the
producing classes to the money owning
classes,
Attempt to Retire Greembacks.
The attempt Of the republican party
to retire the greenbacks and substi
tute for them national bank notes will
give to that question greater promi-
nence than it enjoyed in 1896. During
the war the national bank note became
more valuable than the greenback be-
cause it was redeemabe in the green
back. The national bank note Is good
only because the national government
stands as an endorser of the bank. If
the value Ol lIlt DoIh IlOte lS utpcHuellL
upon the government how can it be
any better than the governments own
paper and why should the government
pay national banks a bonus to induce
them to issue bank notes which are in
no respect superior and in some re-
specs inferior to the greenbacks issued
by the government and for which the
people pay no bonus?
ihe Trusts.
"The trusts are now absorbing an in
Creasing share of public attention be-
cause of their rapid growth during the
last two years. We had a sugar trust
and an oil trust some years ago. We
now have biscuit trust and a match
trust and a meat trust; in fact trust
in almost everything that is used. The
milk trust reaches the infant as he en-
ters the world; the ice trust cools him
in summer, the coal trust keeps him
warm in the winter, while the coffin
trust waits to receive him when lifes
htful dream is over. The people are
beginning to see what the principle of
monopoly really means, and yet the
principle of monopoly, so plainly illus
trated by the industrial trusts, does not
differ at all from the principle of mo-
nopoly which underlies both the gold
standard and the paper money trusts.
1.-THE democratic party is prepared