The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-03-20
House of Representatives,
"Washinpton. Feb. %. 1900.

Hon. l. n. Stevens, The Gazette, Col
orado Springs, Colo:
my Dear Sir-Your kind favor at
hand and noted. You ask for my Opin-
ions on silver, and whether it can
again become political issue. / shall
state my opinions frankly, and they
will necessarily be at length, for those
who honestly battled for cause that
consider sacred are entitled to de-
mand why my views have changed.
When in the Fifty-third Congress,
my holdings in silver could have been
bought for a dollar. Within the last
three years my investments in silver
aggregate over $780, 900. and with free
coinage at 16 to /. l would not take
81, 600, 600 for my Investment At pres
ent prices its value is problematical.
The above is mentioned to show that,
however mistaken l may be at the
present juncture, every selfish consid-
Grafton would prompt me to an oppo-
site declaration and course upon the
silver issue.
-The fight for bimetallism should
have been won in 1896, but for the
presence at Chicago of great numbers
of people, all of the same mind, and so
sure of success that they determined
not alone to settle the money question
but to abolish or regulate every other
evil, imaginary or real, that is incident
| 70 Va l.
ing not alone to the intelligent public
opinion, regardless of party, which was
united upon the money question, but
we determined to cater to every disor
ganizing force of human society, and
the result was the Introduction of new
issues which could not command the
conservative people of the nation in
their support. You were aware of my
position at Chicago, and | think we
consulted upon 1t, viz: that the party
should reatfirm the immortal principles
of the forefathers of Democracy, and
! then write the following plank upon
the money question:
| 1.-The Democratic party pledges the
American people to promote by every
honorable means an International
agreement looking to the restoration
of bimetallism, believing that other ma
tions will share with us in the bless
ings flowing therefrom. Failing to
elicit the cooperation of other nations,
we pledge ourselves to the restoration
of the money of the constitution
MY judgement is that that plank
to the campaign. Hundreds of thou
sands of men who would have been
glad to see the restoration of silver
honestly doubted if we, unaided and
alone, could maintain the parity at 16
to l, and thought that, at least, ~ a
preliminary, we should secure such aid
as was possible by an agreement with
other nations, who, like ourselves,
We're anxious to see silver again
| clothed with the money function. We
were stampeded, and flew off on n tan
| gent. The truest friend of bimetallism
as events have proved, the man with
the clearest vision, and the wisest
counsellor on this topic, has been boot
ed and jeered at for holding opinions
upon this subject contrary to the opin-
ions formulated by the Democratic
party. If any one man could have
saved the cause of bimetallsm, that
man is Senator Wolcott. Events have
demonstrated the correctness of his eX-
|
tion except, China and Mexico, have
adopted the gold standard, and now It
may be matter of doubt to any think
er whether the United States alone
could maintain the parity at that ra-
| ito. The honest effort made by the
Monetary Commission, consisting of
Messrs. Wolcott, Stevenson and Paine.
to promote an international agreement,
was discredited in advance by Demo
Gratis who should have earnestly hoped
for and helped to success.
To-day conditions have changed,
and the marvellous increase in the pro-
duct of gold, which left, after the re
| quirement of the arts. more gold for
coinage than has ever been coined of
both gold and silver in any one year
since the world began, has relieved the
| financial strain, and as IL consequence
of that increase in money of ultimate
redemption, the price level of products
| has risen, not in the United States
| alone, but the wide world round. The
| best information obtainable from the
Rand Reef indicates that from that
source alone the worlds stock of gold
can be doubled in the next ten years.
! Well-informed men tell me that your