The Topeka state journal., 1899-12-19
BRYAN WRITES.
CriticiSPs President McKinley's
Last Message.
Analyzes Philippine Question
and Gold Plank.
MASK is DROPPED.
No Longer Pose as Friends of
the White Metal.
Means an Open Fight For Gold
MOnOmetalIism.


/ While the presidents message covers
( a large number of subjects the three
! questions which excite the most interest
are the money question, the trust
/ question and the Philippine question
/ As expect to comment upon the trusts
more at length in a short time, 1 shall
/ cOnfine myself al this time to the first
/ and last questions mentioned.
T The president has placed the money
question first in order, and the Re
/ publicans in congress, by taking the
matter up at the very beginning of the
session, indicate that they regard it as
first in Importance. Certainly the
money question can not be dead when,
in legislation, it takes precedence over
a question involving the principles OF
! our government ana the rights of mil
: lions of people with whom we are at
war.
If the presidents message can be ac-
cepted as representing the sentiment OF
his party, the Republicans have now
dropped the mask of international BIZ
metallism and have adopted the Wall
street ideas of finance without limita-
| tiOn or qualification.
Most of the advocates of bimetallism
believed the Republican platform prom
ise Of International bimetallism to be
a delusiOn and a snare, and for this
reason a large number of sincere bi-
metallists left the Republican party in
1896 and have not returned.
On the 9Th of June, just before the
meeting of the last Republican national
convention. the CQlCdSO L 4llneS-f1eIalus
whose editor has been conspicuous
among the presidents advisers, con-
tanned the following editorial:
ANY reference to an international
agreement is shifty and futile. 1t de-
ceiveS nobody, because every body
knows, first, that there is not the
slightest possibility of an international
agreement at any ratio; and, second,
mally entered into, no government
could be bound to abide by it a day
longer than its own Industrial and COM
mercial interests would appear to war
rant"
After the convention had adopted a
platform pledging the Republican party
to promote an International agreement
Tor the restoration OF the free coinage
of silver, the Herald said:
The qualifying words used by the
committee pledging the party to en-
deavor to promote an international
agreement are intended to strengthen
the platform from the political point of
view, without in any way weakening
it as a frank and fearless declaration
for the gold standard. AS it is and has
been the Republican policy to promote
international bimetallism and as such
bimetallism is earnestly desired by al
most every one in the country of both
parties, nothing is lost and something
is gained by giving the western Re
pubIicans a ray of hope in the future"
CHANGE OF FRONT.
During the campaign the Republican
leaders insisted that the Republican
party was IElenQlN TO DlIneLalnSIQ. I'M
mediately after his inauguration Mr..
Mckinley sent a commission to Europe
to ask aid in the restoration of bimetal-
nsm.
1t was pointed out by Senator VOL
colt, when he returned, that Secretary
Gage, by advocating the gold standard,
had embarrassed the work of the COM
mission, but not until the recent mes
sage was sent to congress has the gold
standard been clearly and unequivOcal-'
" recommended. It indicates that in
the next campaign the Republicans will
make an open fight for gold mOnometal-
lism.
Heretofore, all parties have advocated
the double standard, differing only as
to the means of restoring it. Now, it
will be a clear-cut issue between the
double standard and the single gold
standard. If the gold standard is ac-
Cepted by the American people it will
only be a question of a short time when
silver will be denied legal tender quail ,
tiles and reduced to the level of sub /
sidiary coinage.
Then the increasing volume Of debt
will be dischargeable in gold alone, and
the creditor class will be given a still
larger control over the property and
livelihood of the debtor and producing
classes. If we chain ourselves to gold
alone, our financial system will be dis
turbed by every panic in the gOld-us-
ing countries of Europe and our stock
of standard money will be subjected to
an additional drain every time a new
nation adopts the gold standard. Our
nation will become more and more de-
pendent upon foreign hnancierS and less
and less able to have an independent
American policy on any question.
The presidents recommendation that
the greenbacks when once redeemed
shall only be issued in exchange for
gold is a covert method Of retiring
them and substituting gold certificates.
The plan has all the force and effect of
retiring the greenbacks without the
candOr required for the open method.
When the president is compelled by law
to redeem greenbackS in gold, and then
authorized to issue bonds and buy gold
for that purpose, the treasury will be
placed at the mercy of those financiers
who have for some years been seeking
to drive the government out of the bus
mess of issuing money in order that
they might make a profit out of the
issue and control of the paper circula-
ton.
The proposition to increase the privi-
legeS of national banks is a part Of the
gold standard plan A review Of none
tary legislation for the last twenty
years shows that the advocates of the
gold standard instead Of boldly pro-
claiming and defending their scheme.
have moved with slow and stealthy
tread, hiding behind one pretense and .
then another. and never taking the peo-
pie into their confidence.
In the last campaign 90 per cent of
the people voted for candidates pledged
to the double standard as against the
gold standard and yet the Republican
party is endeavOring to make the gold
standard permanent.
PAPER MONEY TRUST
In the last campaign neither the Re
publican platform nor the Republican
candidate hinted at the retirement of
greenbacls, and yet greenbacks are to
be retired by indirectiOn, while the ma
tiOnal banks. in return for campaign
contribution. are to be given authority
to organize a paper money trust
While the president gives to the
money question priority in the order of
treatment, he devotes far greater space