The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-09-06

Mr. Bryan delivered a speech 10 farmers
yesterday a. the Shepherdstown, West Nir-
ginia county fair, and in it made some OF
the always fresh and telling points for
which he is famous. Referring TO the
prosperity cry of the opposition, he said:
Republican farmers do you believe that times
better than they We're, and that we have
money than we had; and do YOU believe that
there Is any connection between better tunes and
money. Ii you do. | want You 10 f=inein-
Der that in 1895 Told you that more moaey
made better times. and we tried 10 secure mo1e
morty, not temporarily, but permanently Tor
the American people
n 1896, Mr. Bryan explained, the Repub-
Iiuans secuted the idea that the country
needed more money. They could not well
argue otherwise, since they had themselves
cut the volume of money of redemption in
half and thereby paTalyzed business and
ruined millions of American traders and
farmers, and cut wages 10 the starvation
point, Four years ago the party OF the
trusts insisted that the thing needed was
not more money. but gold money, no mat
ter how small might be the quantity. But
as soon as gold was found in Alaska, the
Republicans began to shout that more
money, which would result from the Alas
kan discoveries, would help to restore
prosperity Thereby. as Mr.. Bryan re
minded his hearers, the Republicans con-
coded the fallacy of their former position
and admitted that the more money We
could have in circulation. the better times
would be.
No one and certainly not the Demo
cratic candidate. is Inclined to ignore the
TACT that a season OF comparative pros
perity has blessed the United States dur
ing the past TWO years. Crop failures
abroad made heavy demands upln cur
surplus foodstuffs and brought money TO
Us. The Spanish war started the wheels
OF Industry, restored business confidence,
and distributed currency thrpu shcut the
Union Temporarily il took two hundred
thousand men frcm the field of competi-
ton for employment, and to that extent
relieved a sIutted labor market In a
lesser degree the same thing results to
day from he absence OF sixty five thou
sand potential workingmen in the Philip
pines Then the South African war filed
our factories with orders, and absorbed
our stocks of horses and mules. The ma
teTiaI fer constructing the RES ian
Trans Siberian Railway has been ,arge- J
furnished by our steel and locomotive
and bridge plants. and their activity has
in turn prosPered our iron and coal
mines, and our interior transportation
systems. All these things have conspired
TO pour money into the country and TO
spread il everywhere though not to the
extent that would obtain were our N anu
featuring and other industries on the
competitive, diversified basis OF thirty or
forty years ago, and not as now con-
trolx>d by few trusts The activities
have been the means OF such prosperity
as We nave enjoyed the end being the
increase of the volume of money in ac-
tuaI circulation. # We had more money
we should have more prosperity
1t is upon the cumulative theory of
money that the philosophy of bimetaIlism
rests The currency question, among
thinking men. is not one of morals. eth
les, politics, or sentiment; it belongs
strictly to the realm OF economies. If it
can be shown that the worlds supply OF
gold. available for and actually in use as
currency, is sufficient TO maintain a fair
average of prices, TO settle debts and ex-
change balances, and to maintain the
equities between debtor and creditor,
then, as long as that condition lasts, it
is safe to say with Hanna, Gage, and
their kind, as they detained a few
months ago that the silver issue is dead
and buried. Nobody cares rap for silver.
merely considered as silver. What the
American people want is good money and
plenty OF it. That always ensures pros
peTity and progress. Without it neither
is possible.