The Winslow mail., 1900-01-25
THE BITER BITTEN.
Gold COntractiohists Defeated at
Fheir Own Game - Features
of Present Situation.

ment to demonetize silver was insti-
gated and promoted by combination
OF the worlds great bond holders and
creditors for the purpose of making
money scarce and enhancing its pur-
chasing power, their motive being to
enrich themselves unjustly at the eX-
pense of general society. They have
no special love for gold because of it's
color or other qualities any more than
they have for silver; with them it is
only question of money supply. With
contracting money volume and fall
ing prices the purchasing power of the
money that they receive annually as
interest and the principal in which
their bonds are to be paid is constantly
gaining greater control over the prop
erty, commodities and labor of the,
world. The first organized movement
of modern times to demonetize one of
the money metals eliminated about
half century ago when the great cred
itors became alarmed lest the gold out
put from the then new discoveries in
California and Australia would so aug
ment the worlds money supply and
cause prices to advance that their inter-
ests might suffer. At that time sew
eral European states were induced to
discard the use of gold and make their
coins of silver alone. Their project to
completely demonetize gold was de-
feated through the obstinacy of Eng
land. The British merchants were at
that time rapidly extending their trade
with all nations and would not tolerate
a change in their monetary standard.
Hence the movement against gold
failed.
The movement against silver took
definite form when reports were spread
throughout the world of the fabulous
riches of the Comstock mines in Ne
yada. The opportune time presented it
self when the German states were
united into an empire and were about
to receive a thousand millions of gold
from France as a war fine. The United
States at that time being under a sus-
pension of specie payemnts and the
business of the nation being adjusted
to the paper circulation upon which the
war of the rebellion was fought, it be-
came an easy matter to smuggle the
demonetizing clause into the mint bill
in 1878, thus outlawing silver in the
United States without attracting the
attention of congress or the country.
The outlawing of silver by the United
States congress, and the adoption of
gold as the money metal Of Germany,
who was to collect thousand millions
of that metal from France in brief
period, forced France to close her mints
to the equal coinage of silver with gold,
in order to prevent Germany draining
her of her gold in exchange for the sill
yer coin which was being withdrawn
from circulation in that country. Thus
the legal ligature that held the two
metals together as one money for the
world was severed through the mints
accepting gold and coming it without
limit into legal money, while silver was
rejected at the mints, reduced to COM
modify to be marketed in oriental ma
tions, in all of which it retained unre-
stricted monetary functions until the
closing of the mints of India in 1898.
The struggle of the last 25 years be-
tween the money kings on the one side
and the great masses of the people in
the civilized nations on the other over
the money standard has been the re-
suit.
In the United States the gold combi-
nation secured control of the organiza-
tions of the two great political parties
and its national conventions professed
friendship for the restoration of sill
yer, but invariably procured the nom
ination of candidates who were secret
ly pledged to the gold contraction pol
icy. The disappointment of the dem
ocracy of the United States in 1898
when Cleveland forced the repeal of
the Sherman law and Carlisle proved
himself a renegade to his constituents
and his party is fresh in the minds of
all. The revolt of the democrats against
Clevelandism and the triumph of the
people in the convention at Chicago in
1896 is also fresh in their memories.
The fabulous campaign fund that was
raised to secure the election of Nc
Kinley, who had given one pledge to
the people, namely, to secure bimetal-
Ism by an international agreeemnt, and
another one to the money kings, to pre-
vent an international agreement, was
calculated to fix the gold standard per-
manently upon the American nation,
which was the only nation that the
gold combination feared, as it is the
only nation where the people have the
political power to right their wrongs.
1t IS interesting to note that while
the gold combination are forcing their
measures to confscate the property of
debtors and enslaye the producers of
the world under a gold standard, that
the gods are working on the side of
the people. The discoveries in the
hlondlke, the increased discoveries in
Colorado and other states, and the dis
covery of the cyandide process caused
the output of gold in 1899 to be more
than double that of 1896, and makes the
increase OF money supply from gold
alone greater this year than the annual
increase would have been from both
metals upon the basis of production of
1896. This increased money supply
has caused gold to depreciate, and the
general level of prices to advance. The
increased production of gold in Africa
has jumped from $44,000,000 in 1896 to
more than $100,000,0OO last year, and
the worlds output has increased from
$217 100000 in 1896 to more than
81 600 eco a dav during the present year.