Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1899-06-09
ABSOLUTE MONEY

that the currency will be contracted to
that extent. That is all for scare. The
same threat was made in 1873, but
our then patriotic congress passed the
bill in the face Of the threat, and
passed 1t over the presidents veto at
that. Gold and silver then came into
competition with each other and pros
perity followed, and will do so again
when the country shows itself greater
than the great money-loaning power.
whose headquarters are in London and
whose headquarters are in New York.
Let this country restore all silver as
we'll as gold to its full money legal
tender functions.
That being done, let this United
States declare that so long as gold is
used as money 1922 grains puro
or 25.S grains standard gold shall not
be worth more than one dollar in the
United States. 1t is well known that
England enacted that an ounce OF
gold shall never be worth less than
e3 lis. Cd. sterling. That law fixed
the price of gold in England. Now.
this great and grand United States Of
America, with its great resources OF
wealth. and with its flreat enterprise,
can, by law establish and maintain
that 1922 pure or 25S grains OF stand
ard gold shall never be worth more
than 81 so long as gold is used as
money by any nation.
England's standard of money ac-
count is pounds sterling; the United
States standard of money account Is
dollars. Now, is it fair to ourselves.
the people of this United States, that
We should take only so scarce thing
as gold of which to make our legal
tender dollars or on which to base our
legal-tender money? l would say not,
and especially when nearly all the gold
of the world is now owned by people in
a foreign country and the great bulk
of gold production coming from for
eign soil
Would 1t not be far better for US
to enact that 371A grains of pure silver
or Ape grains standard silver shall
never be worth less than 81 And es-
pecially SO inasmuch as so large q
proportion of silver is a product OF
our own soil? Were l to make it diff
ferent to that | would say 1853 grains,
or ratio Of 151a to l. Every voter
should lay aside party prejudice and
all differences, and look into this ques-
ton, for the very life of our nation
depends upon the rightful settlement
of our money question.
I will put the following proposition
to any man advocating single gold
standard for our country: Suppose
that every banker who had gold on
hand had been as patriotic as Mr.. St.
John OF the Mercantile National bank
of New York, who, l understand,
turned over to the government 100000
in gold and requested only that any
kind of paper money be sent them
with which to do business. Now, had
the whole $625, 100000 in gold which Is
said to be in the United States been
turned over to the government in
like manner, then the government
would not have had to give interest
bearing bonds to get the gold. Now,
had the government let all of that
625, 100000 out to pay on debts owing
in England, it would simply have gone
where it belongs, where 1t is owing,
and interest would be stopped on the
1925 100000 In that case the United
States would not have dollar Of
gold Now, should we advocate the
claiming that 625,000,000 back with
us by giving an interest bearing bond,
or take and use the resources of our
own country to prosper on and pay
our debts in our own products as fast
as we can?
If it would be better to chain it back
with us, if at only 31s per cent inter-
est, the next day We would be over
100000 worse off (the one days in
terest). Now, the fair-minded man.
who wants to be honest with himself.
would certainly say that it would be
better 10 use Tue TGSOuICeS VI Jul OWu
products of our own soil.
Very well, then. A part Of the re-
sources of our country is money metal
gold and silver. Then let us have
this all coined into legal-tender money
-legal-tender dollars with which to
transact our business. 1t then comes
into competition with that English
gold, and We will not need to buy it
back with an Understanding bond to
that great money-loaning power. We
want and we need competition Ia
One United States dollar is just as
good as any other United States dol
lar. Then let us vote to have more
of them. Let us vote to have all gold
and silver metal free to be coined into
legal-tender money, good for taxes and
all debts. 1t would be just as reason
able for the people of the United
States to sell their gold bullion for so