The San Francisco call., 1904-07-07

repeal OF the purchasing clause OF the Sher-
man act. This nostrum was suggested by wise
=. i,5 Su m l. was auinlnlstersd 10 the pauent.
IL ala no good, Of course. The panic went on;
went on until when? Until the boil upon the
body commercial having burst the poison OF
speculation, boom values and credit operations
were released from the system. 1t went on
until agriculture the basic industry, revived
In the midst of the panic all the wise men,
and chief among them the Republican leaders
told Us il was the lack Of confidence in the
money of the country that had brought the
panic. The Democratic administration with a
sufficient number Of votes OF both parties in
the two houses beyond 1t took that view Of
the situation and demanded and secured the
Passage of the act repeating the purchasing
clause OF the Sherman act. thereby, for the
first time. practically establishing the gold
standa rd in the United States Without either
money. the country was. Immediately after
the passage of that act, necessarily and actu-
ally. as it has been since, and is now and
as It is destined to remain for a length Of
time beyond my power OF computation, on a
gold basis
l was not one Of those who thought the
legislation adopted WISE but wise or other
wise. the result is accomplished fact plain
palpabe and obvious to all men who have
common sense and. like many another step
in history. IL is beyond recall. This accom-
plished fact was the ACCOMPLISHED fact of a
gold basis then. not by the Republican party
but by the dogged persstency and indomitable
will OF Grover Cleveland. aided, it Is true, by
Republican Legislators, who thought they saw
in It the Anal disruption OF the Democratic
party. That was in the main their motive
Now they would steal his thunder and this
Republican platform boasts that Il was the
Republican party which established the gold
basis. Moreover, they would now eat their
words and their votes OF 1893 and tell us
that the panic not brought about as they
then said by "lack Of confidence in our money
and too much silver" but. forsooth, by a
than year after. to wit. in 1894 when the
panic-that is the acute and fright stage Of
depression-was virtually over.
Do not misunderstood me. panic, of
course, Is not succeeded all at once by the
golden hues OF prosperity. Industrial depres-
sion must follow II for while, as depression
must precede It, So depression continued until
when? AS I have said when the boil bursts
and the poison is eliminated from the body
commercial the flesh begins to heal It cam
not begin to heal one minute earlier The
process of recovery was aided by many. for
was famine in indiana Indian wheat to COM
pete in the European markets with
ours. simultaneously with immense
American crop of wheat and small
crops elsewhere. wheat rose from about As
cents TO about 20 cents in few weeks during
the Bryan-M Mckinley campaign. while CIeve.
land was yet President. There is not a man
within the sound OF my voice that does not
remember that With T0-cent wheat farmers
could pay the retailers debts due them: and
the retailers could buy more goods the re-
talers with empty shelves or shelves becom-
ing empty by sales could order from the lob
bers: the jobbers, who had been overstocked.
were enabled then to order from the factories
When the factories got orders then they had
reason for making goods and they proceeded
to make them. and then the wheels of indus
try went round. The farmer in the wheat
country with 70-cent wheat could paw the
baker. the butcher and the candlestick-malz-
/ er" ard then they could pay others and they
IN tl.p could buy goods This endless
chain OF human relationship in the world of
commerce is no mysterious thing to ANYBODY
except the platform making politician
But wheat going up had another effect
When wheat went up during the campaign.
while silver bullion went down, there was
furnished seeming object lesson of the in
accuracy of the contention of Mr. Bryan and
his followers of whom I was one that ther,
was necessarily a connection in price between
the two Western and border State farmers
in the wheat belt, who had originally been
Republicans anyhow and who had gone of
from the Republican party because- of their
belief in this very theory, began 70 leave the
Bryan column and join the Mckinley column
first by the dozen. then by the score ther
! by the hundreds and then in shoals. Thus Il
came about that Mr.. Mckinley was elected
because wheat went up and because the goine
up of wheat and the consequent increased de-
trand for other things, leading to hi1he,
prices and a better volume of trade promises
to their minds prosperity without free silver
GREAT INCREASE OF GOLD.
greater falsehood was never uttered thar
that wheat went up because Mckinley was