The independent., 1903-03-12

Stduudiu DaSios II Wao az beSS D"' -
pretense from the beginning. We
never had "gold standard in this
country and the republican leaders
when they talked of more firmly es-
tablishing the gold standard" knew
that they were frauds of the first
water when they did it.
After the house killed Senator Pat
tefson's bill, authorizing the presi-
dent to call an international confer
ence to fix a ratio between silver and
gold, it was added by the senate to
the sundry civil appropriation bill,
was passed by the house and become
a law. The Independent has learned
that it was not only upon the appil-
cation of Mexico and China that the
president sent his special message to
the house on that subject. Several OF
the European countries had indicated
that such measure would meet with
their hearty concurrence. All these
countries have trade relations with
Asia and many Of them have large
territorial possessions in the Orient.
The continual fall in the gold price
of silver promised to ruin their
trade. They at last saw that the
greedy attempt Of bondholders to dou-
BILE the value of their bonds by de-
stroying half the money of the world,
would, If carried to its full fruition,
bring such disaster that they could not
stem the torrent. What the econom-
lists prophesed was coming true and
the results that they predicted were
at hand. @
Senator Patterson's bill carries an
appropriation of 100000 and the
commission will be appointed. 1t will
meet with hearty reception on the
other side of the Atlantic for the ruin
of the Asiatic trade has been greater
there than here. The result will prob
ably be a compromise. Instead OF
one-half of the money of the world
being destroyed, it will be one-fourth.
That is, instead of ratio of 16 to l,
it will be ratio of 80 to /. The Brit
ish government has already fixed a
ratio between England and India con-
-
No honest man can look back on the
contest that has ragged since 1873 with
out revolving at the mendacity, the
greed, the wholesale piracy of those
who advocated the gold standard. 1t
was the foulest and most criminal at
tempt to deceive the people and then
rob them, that was ever engaged in
since the world began. The pirates
that roamed the Spanish main were
Christian gentlemen in comparison
with them. The most contemplate of
the whole lot were the economists who
had a scientific knowledge of the
whole subject, who sold themselves to
this gang of gold standard robbers and
chief among them was one J. Laur-
ence Laughlin, Rockefeller's profess
sor of political economy. The only
thing that will ever save him from
eternal damnation is that he never
got the courage to positively and
openly deny the quantity theory of
money. In all other ways he aided
the pirates to the best of his ability.
It is true that many thousand of
ordinary intelligent persons support
ed the pirates and voted for their
tickets, because of their ignorance of
political economy. Now that the re-
publicans have abandoned everything
that they contended for, have enorm-
ously increased the quantity" of
money instead of decreased it, and
have abandoned the last pretense of
gold standard, if these men are hon.
est, they will forsake the leaders and
the party that deceived and lied to
them and spend the rest of their lives
in trying to drive the foul criminals
from poWer If thew don't thew will