The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-10-22

the circulating medium of the ma
ton. Notwithstanding the great
changes which have occurred in the
country since the days when he first
entered the lists as a champion of
the theories of Bryan and 'Coin" Har-
vey as they apply to the financial
question, he gave notice he still ad-
heres to his quantitative belief and
declared that what he and the others
have been contending for all these
years has been brought about. While
this is practically so, the bringing
about has been in another way. Ma
ture has come to the rescue and in
stead of the deficiency of gold which
he and his co-religionists on the mon
ey question predicted would ensue
there has been an ever increasing
supply of the more valuable metal
and no necessity has been found
for resorting to silver to fill the gap
which they said was surely coming.
While the change has not been
made in accordance with Mr.. TONNES
ideas, he seems to have sufficient
faith in the stability of existing ar
rangements that he is willing to de-
vote his talents and time to the &C
QUESTION of some of the wealth which
is to be acquired by those who pos
sess the required faculty of ccumu
lating it. Although he would have
had it the other way, as long as gold
is the basis of our money and ev-
erybody accepts it without protest
Mr.. Towne complacently gives in and
is seeking to get into closer touch
with the money power" which he so
eloquently and c~ourageously denounc-
ed not so very long ago. The deter
mination to improve his financial
condition and if possible place himself
in a position of independence is COM
mendable in the gentleman, but his
new resolution does not speak we'll
for his consistency. But for this he
should not be singled out from all the
others who formerly worked by his
side and lauded honesty poverty and
4ecried the sordid "money %grubber.'
IN choosing as he has chosen he but
follows the example of the others of
his crowd who have found new and
overwhelming joy in a direction hith-
erto unknown to them. With Jones,
P~ettigrew, and even Bryan himself
scrambling and crowding in the race
for wealth he would be foolish were
he alone of them all to remain con-
for the sake of appearing consistent.
He knows the exclusiveness Of wealth
and realizes that if he wants to con-
tinue in the old company he must get
out and rustic, and having found that
old companionship SO pleasant and
agreeable, he does not propose to for
sake it merely for the sake of a SEN
timent.
Towne is able and withal brilliant
and easily ranks as the most gifted of
all those who have given adherence
to the theories of which Bryan has
been accepted as the chief exponent.
Although placed second by their
party, the former Minnesotan has
ever proved himself the superior of
| the Nebraskan when it comes to
make plausible and scholarly discus
sion of their theories. But Mr.. Towne
is not dead politically, and SO he says
sort that popular actresses and actors
are wont to make with regular recur.
renee. In his speech he said he hop
ed to be back sometime with those
whom he was leaving and predicted
that while just 10Y things looked
dark, the cause for which he and his
fellow workers had been contending
was not dead and that although the
country had temporarily drifted away
from it's mooring, it would certainly
return to the right place and whenever
the supply of gold was found made
quate to supply the demand for an in
creased medium of circulation anC
to maintain a level of prices he would
be found where he had always beer
fighting for the free coinage of sill
yer. He was frank to confess, how
ever, that that time did not seen
to be close at hand, as just at present
there seems to be an ample supply
of gold to meet all the requirement:
Of the financial world.
MAKE 1T REASONABLE.