Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-09-07
SILVER DANGER.
President Has Power to Drive
Us to Silver.
SECRETARY GAGE EXPLAINS
Now Easy Our Currency Could Thus
Be Mexicanized.
AN ENDLESS CHAIN OF SILVER.

Nv Ordering Interest on Bonds and All
Government Expenditures to he Paid
Ip silver, the Country Gould Be Driven
to "a silver Basis, without Amy Action
on the Part Of Congress-Presidents
Full Power.
The ample power of the president or
the United States, should he unfortu-
nately happen to be William j. Bryan,
to put the country upon silver basis
without specific action by congress, as
shown so clearly by Secretary Gage,
carries with it consequences so STU
pendous and perils so manifold, that
any voter not hypnotized by the glare
of the "imperialst" delusion, Will
find them right at hand. Just now,
as Secretary Gage says, the govern
ment owns and controls $22O,OOO,OOO OF
gold and s16O,O0O,O00 of silver, the re-
mainder of the silver being out in cir
culation among the people, either in
the form OF silver certificates or silver
coin. If Bryan is sincere, his silver
policy as soon as started, without
need for any act of congress, would
work this way, as Secretary Gage well
says:
But the announcement by the
treasury department of its purpose to
pay silver in settlement of all interest
on the public debt not specifically
payable in gold and to make its daily
disbursements to its creditors in silver,
would stop the inflow of gold, or at
least very largely diminish payments
in gold and correspondingly increase
payments in the treasury Of silver and
silver certificates.
ut therefore might be anticipated
that with a good deal of perverse in
genuity, the time would come at no
distant day when all the revenues of
the government would be paid to it in
silver dollars or silver certificates, and
all disbursements made by it would be
made in silver dollars or silver certi-
ficates. There would thus be estab-
lished circuit of silver out Of the
treasury into the hands of the people,
from the people into the banks, from
the banks into the custom house and
into the hands of the collectors"
Mr.. Gage might have added that
from the collectors the silver would
again go into the hands of the people
and so on and on, around and around,
indefinitely and in new endless
chain. He does say that the govern
ment then would be practically on a
silver basis and the effect upon it's
credit would be most disastrous" The
holders of the outstanding greenbacks
and treasury notes of 1890, in all $780,
100000, would at once want the gold
for them. The reserve of $3.50, 900 900
gold, amply sufficient with everything
going all right, would then soon be
depleted to the point where the law
requires the secretary of the treasury
to borrow the gold to keep it good,
not being permitted to pay above 3
per cent. per annum.
l%OiS lulS pOluJ COulu Dt
reached, we would have stupendous
panic, followed by general depression
in business, check upon industry,
loss to wage earners, with great di-
minution in the governments revenue,
and terrible impairment of the pub
lie credit. Under such conditions, the
United States would have as hard a
time in borrowing money as the ma
tional treasury had under Buchanan
or Cleveland; and being unable to get
gold to pay its demand obligations,
would quickly realize the condition
that Mr.. Gage thus states so clearly:
The effect of this state of affairs
upon general business conditions
throughout the country would be most
deplorable. Nobody would be able to
measure accurately the influence upon
his own affairs of such government
action. Everyone would be in a state
of fear, and when people are afraid
they will, as someone has said either
run or hide, Commercial dullness
would succeed the present commercial
activity, and we would again witness
that industrial paralysis which charac-
terized the years 1898 and 1896, when
the question of what was to be the
standard agitated the public mind"
This is what vote for Bryan
means He is absolutely committed
to free silver for he dictated that plank
in the Kansas City platform against
the avowed views of the great major
ity of the delegates, under threat of
refusing to run If they did not obey
his desire. Every Bryan vote is a vote
to run this risk of even greater caIam-
ity than Cleveland caused by his last
election.
One of our exchanges editorially
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