Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1904-10-14
VIGOROUS MIR. WATSON
Letter Of Acceptance Of the Populls'
Candidate.
DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS ARRAIGNED.
Mr.. Watson Says "A Blacker Chapter Than
That Which Records How Both the Old
Political partisans United to Despoil the
Common People Of Their Land Is Not to b
Found Ia the Annals OF Class legislation

Found 10 the Annals OF Class LeSis'auo"'
Birmingham, Ala. Especially. The
letter OF Thomas E. Watson, accept
ing the nomination of the People 5
Party for president, was made public
Sunday. 1t is, in part, as follows;~
God never made grander home
for his children than that which the
Cavalier in Virginia, the Dutchman in
New York and the Puritan in Massa-
chusetts sought as refuge from the
systems of the Old World. In natural
advantages this earth holds no region
superior to ours. Once it belonged
to the people. With his gun the COM
mon man won it, mile by mile, from
the Indians, the Frenchman, the Sax
on and the Spaniard. What the COM
mon man did not win with his gun
he bought with his money. From
sea to sea the land which is ours be-
came ours because the common man
was ready to pay for it with his tax
money or his blood.
What has become of it? With be-
wildering rapidity it has been. taken
from the common people and given
to the corporations. 1t belonged to
the government, to all the people. 1t
was meant to supply homes to indl-
vidual citizens, and there was enough
of it to last for many generations
To the extent of about 100000 acres:
it has been given to railroad corpo-
rationS; and now when common man
wants home in all that vast domain
he must 60 to the railroad corpora
tons to get it.
"a blacker chapter than that which
records how both the old political par
ties united to despoil 1.-THE common
people of their land is not to be found
IN the annals of class legislation.
Gold and Silver.
whether the Wall Street influences
which produced the establishment OF
the gold standard emanated from wiser
heads than those of Jefferson and
Hamilton may be doubted. Both of
these great men served their country
long time and died poor. In fixing
bimetall.sm as a system and the sill
yer dollar as the unit of value they had
no selfish motive. Two lofty-mindeo
statesmen agreed upon that system
as the right system. 1t remained in
force, giving full satisfaction, until
the money power in its march OF con-
quest found it to be a barrier. The
money power demands a standard
which it can control; and one metal
is carrier to control than two. For the
same reason it opposes governmental
issues of paper money, and will never
be content until the greenbacks are
called in and destroyed.
ITO establish the single gold stand
ard, which sets the Constitution aside,
the statute had to be violated. The
word coin had to be construed to
mean gold only and the paper note
issued on silver, had to be redeemed
in manner different from that pre-
scribed by law.
Money Standard Not Fixed.
"There are at least five reasons why
the gold standard cannot be considered
as fixed:
Il. 1t is unconstitutional.
"2. It violates statute law.
"3. The supply of gold might in
crease beyond all the calculations of
the money power Thus, the standard
of value would get beyond their con-
troll In that event the money power
itself would change the standard.
a. The supply of gold might sud
denly cease. In that event contraction
would at once set in, because the coun-
trys expansion in business and in
crease in population require a con-
stantly increasing volume of currency
If the horrors of contraction should
again come upon us by the selfish pol
icy of the money power the people
would compel a change in the stand
ard. Wall Street gave us the panic
of 1873; Wall Street gave us the panic
Of 1893. Let Wall Street give us am
other, and it may find that it has given
us one too many. The American peo-
pie have about reached the limit of
endurance.