The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-01-21
a DIsCREDITED PROPHET.

Very naturally the proposition 10 redeem
silver dollars with gold. thereby making
them the same as gold. meets the opposi-
ton of those ultra 16-to-1 men in the House
who would enact a free-silver coinage law
if they could. In 1896. led by Mr.. Bryan,
these men were racing up and down the
country complaining that under the gold
standard the Nation had two currencies-
gold for the rich and silver for working
men. Then they told audiences that if they
took a silver certificate to bank or sent
il TO the United States treasury they could
not get gold for it. The street-corner ora
tor dilated upon the favoritism which in
duced the government TO pay gold to the
rich contractor or bondholder and silver to
the wage-earner There Is no doubt that
this sort of talk influenced many voters,
since it was the point that many men
working for wages seized upon. 1t was
modification of the old deIhagogic cry,
"One money for the bOndhOlder and an
other money for the plowhOlder," which
was often so effectively employed in 1867
and in all the dreary years of the green
The party which gave the Nation sound
currency by adhering to the gold basis,
which legislation under Andrew Jackson
initiated, has brought the country to a con-
ditiOn of Industrial prosperity and financial
soundness which makes it possible to re-
deem silver certificates with gold and to
treat standard silver dollars as if they were
gold dollars. and those demagogues who
denounced the injustice of a gold currency
for the rich and silver currency for the
masses lift up their voices against it, The
endless chain that was employed during
Mr.. Cleveland's time to draw gold out of
the treasury by presenting greenbacks for
redemption, they claim, may now be en-
ployed to draw off the treasurys gold by
using silver. Mr.. Shafroth. of Colorado,
makes himself very dismal over the pros
pect which he has created. The treasury's
silver that it may be exported. If the gold
is drawn out, as Mr.. Shafroth predicts, he
should be happy instead of dismal. since
the drawing off would put the country
upon silver basis
The Journal has not been quite certain
that making gold and silver interchange
able is wise action, but as it is advocated
by able fnanciers, and as the conditions
are so changed since the "endless-chain''
period of 1S9i-96. it is not so alarmed as is
Mr.. Shafroth. Since 1896 the conditions of
the country have changed to a remarkable
deoree There has coma through o,1r for
eign trade a balapce so large in our favor
that the larger part of our European debts
are Cancelled and there is no longer danger
that Europe will be in position to make
heavy demands upon this country for gold.
Nothing but free-trade revenue law could
turn the balance of trade against us. There
is another fact which the statesman from
Colorado does not take into consideration
which is that the countrys stock of gold
for monetary purposes has increased 81 per
cent. since 1896 and that the output of the
gold mines of the United States last year
was sS5,OOO.O0O, one-third of which was fur
nished by the State whose interests Mr.
ShafrOth so persistently misrepresents that
at the next election its voters are likely to
relegate him TO private life The large bal
ance of trade in our favor, the large annual
increase of the output of American gold
mines. doubled since 1894 and within five mill
lion dollars of being equal to the output of
the whole world i'm 1874. are two large fac
tors which must be considered in connec-
tion with the monetary situation in the
United States