Willmar tribune., 1905-12-27
OFFICE IN TRIBUNE BUILDING.
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lEn,ered Dec, s, leoa, :, wilmar, M,nneso,., u
second GLASS matter, under act Of Mar. ;, 1891
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1905
FREE SILVER AND THE GAZETTE
The Gazette editorial writer
possesses one praiseworthy quail,
ity, namely Observation-Disclosures. !"
He Still sticks to his statement
that the free silver movement
was S'craze'';; something that
came without any reason and dis,
appeared. without reason. We
have twice called his attention to
the fact that both the free silver
movement and the greenback
movement were brought about
by the contraction of the circu-
lating medium, and disappeared
because some provision was made
for an increase of the money vol
ume. But he quietly ignores the
argument and keeps on shouting
"craze." It seems to be a craze
with him to think that there is
some. spirit of evil that starts
some ''psyhcic wave" every once
in a while, the manifestation of
the unseen influence being either
some form of amusement or some
political idea that may seize near
ly half of the voting population.
He also proceeds to name num-
Der of persons in this county
who, according to his idea, were
once monomaniacs on the money
question.
It is of course useless to argue
with man who will thus ignore
an argument and stick to his
statement without Offering any
proof. But as we have entered
upon the discussion we shall for
the benefit of those who may have
read the Gazette editorials try to
make our position as clear as pos
sible.
We believe that no general
movement of any kind ever origi-
mated spontaneously; that there
was always some great underly-
ing cause for it. In regard to
the Gazette's roller-skate argu-
ment it is only necessary to say
that humanity has a constant de-
sire for amusement, this being
especially true-of youth, but to
some extent following all thru
life. There is the cause. Some
one invents some new form of
amusement, and humanity, tired
of old forms, turns to. the new
suddenly. But an amusement
repeated over and over ceases to
be amusing and becomes druid
gerry, and is then dropped.
Viewed in this light there is
nothing mysterious in the vari-
Gus forms of amusement that
sweep over the country and then
disappear.
In politics there is constant
struggle by the working classes
to better their condition, a desire
perfectly natural and everywhere
present. But it varies in inten-
sity according to the condition of
the times. If the times are fair
ly good most of the people will
be content to leave things as they
are; when hard times come peo=
pie will begin to look around for
a remedy. It is well known that
following the repeal of the silver
coinage law in 1873 and the con-
traction of the volume of paper
money came a scarcity Of money
that caused a panic and contin.
ued hard times. All parties
agreed that something must be
done to increase the money vol
ume; that was no longer party
/ question. They all acknowledged
that to decrease the amount of
money at the time when the pop
ulation was increasing with un-
usual rapidity was almost suicid-
al. The only question was as to
the nature Of the money. Some
wanted free coinage of silver;
some an increase of bank money;
others an increase Of government
money. Those advocating the
latter were called greenbackers,