El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-30

always has been
There are only four sources" he
continued, If we passed free coinage
laws. from which silver could over
ride the United States and debase the
guments of the gold men is that by the
adoption of the proposed ratio of 16 to
l without the consent of other nations
the silver dollar would be so cheap that
il could be bought for so cents. They
say all the countries in the world
would ship their silver here to be sold
to the mints at a profit of so cents on
the dollar. That is a fallacy." and the
speaker proceeded to explain the con-
ditions governing the silver market.
The Sherman act raised the price of
silver in all the money centers of the
earth and yet you tell me that if we
the United States. can. by the Sherman
act. force silver money up almost to
par. that free coinage laws would not
affect the price of silver all over the
world!'
The speaker referred to the crime
of 1878 and discussed the ratio. He
said it seemed to him that the money
powers had combined to strike down
silver and create wealthy class and a
poverty class in the United States
Under the gold standard" he said,
the rich build palaces and roll in lux
ury. but o. my God, what will become
of the poor?"
]. A Smith was introduced by the
chair. He was sorry there were no
more ladies present. for he liked to
talk to ladies' He took up the alleged
arguments of MS predecessor, one by
one and tore them TO pieces He was
glad. however. that there We're two
political parties. for they served as a
check against each other and mini
miZed corruption. He regarded the
financial issue as paramount and said
that not one in ten democrats but
were of the same opinion. although
the Kansas City convention had made
the issue Imperialism" He cited the
fact that the democratic party by four
years in power had killed the tariff
issue by demonstrating that their
theory was wrong and intimated that
they We're equally as unsound on the
imperialistic and free silver question.
To go back TO the origin of our
money question. said he. I'VE must go
back to the foundation OF our govern
ment. Then the ratio adopted was
151a to l: afterwards when a mint
was established it was found that this
ratio was not proper. | will prove
you that the party of silver and gold
has never been maintained at the le-
gal ratio and the speaker produced
figures to show that sometimes gold
was at a premium and sometimes sill
yer and that the price of either metal
was governed solely by the law of sup
ply and demand. When either metal
went up it disappeared from circula-
ton and he said gold would have dis
appeared had the silver standard been
adopted as the democrats advised.
Il believe said he that all of our
early statesmen. no matter of what
ests of the people. They did not ask
who owned silver or who owned gold
but passed laws for the benefit of the
whole people. Judge Harper claims
that silver has been falling ever since
1873. Now any man who knows his
tory knows that silver has been de-
clining ever since 1889" The speaker
produced statistics to show the prices
of silver at various times and wanted
to know where the crime of 1879
came in.
Two things rule the world and rule
the laws of supply and demand ana
confidence" tApplausel.
The moment you step outside the
laws of supply and demand in business
you get in trouble. Referring to
Judge Harper he said he was sorry he
had no time to produce statistics which
would show the falIacy of the asser-
tion that half the money had been
struck down. -Four years ago Mr.
Bryan said the same thing.
NJ. w. Stanton was the next speaker
He produced several of the old Coin
Harvey arguments ana warmed up to
some extent while talking. Some ap-
plause from the democratic side of the
house interrupted his remarks at
times. He wanted to know what kind
of book that was from which ]. A.
Smith got his figures and said it must
be the republican hand hook. He re-
liberated the statement that the
crime of 1879 had struck down silver
and said the bill WAS passed without