Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-04-26
PERKINS FOR FREE SILVER.

nor's letter to Senator Gorrell, written
some years ago, in which he declared
unequivocally for the free coinage Of
silver and that "a single gold stand
ard is absolutely impossible or at least
excessively dangerous Not all repub-
licans can shift with equal facility.
4 They prefer as their representative a
man who stands steadily on the repub-
| lican platform, and not too much teet-
ering. Hawkeye.
I'VE believe that the literature of
financial lunacy might be searched in
vain for an utterance equally foolish.
The attempt to differenttate as be-
tween market ratio and intrinsic ratio
is the elimination of absurdity. Coin
Harvey and Mr.. Bryan never present.
ed anything quite SO ludicrous. Talk
about this man being the only man
fit for governor!"-Cedar Rapids Re
publican.
DO the republicans of Iowa want the
author of the Gorrell free silver letter
tei write their platform for them ?"-
Sioux City Journal.
The above paragraphs represent
about the slliest attack that has ever
been made by full grown men in poll
| tics. Thirteen years ago. when the
west was carried off it's feet by the free
silver craze. and when republican plat
forms declared for the use of both gold
and silver and against the demonitiza-
ton of silver. a. B. Cummins wrote
| letter to a republican senator in Jasper
| county. in which he asserted 1t as his
opinion that all currency must be con-
yertible in coin having an intrinsic
value and that he believed silver as
we'll as gold should be coined freely at
the Intrinsic ratio" of the two metals.
Three years later Cummins like thou
sands of republicans, had studied the
money question and he showed up at
the ST. Louis convention as a delegate
from Iowa fighting valiantly for sim
gle gold standard plank in the nation-
al platform, at time when Allison
was webbing. when Henderson said he
would not dare face the people
of his district with gold plant, when
Hepburn claimed he could not be re-
elected with the word gold in the plat
form and when Lacey wanted some
thing less dangerous.
However LATE Young resurrected
this letter Of '93 and the glee of the
Blythe claque has ben unrestrained.
"Do the republicans want the author OF
1o{+ ito
their PLATFORM" cries the Sioux City
Journal, presumably preferring, on its
own account, that Editor Perkins
should write it. And here is the joke.
In 1890 Mr.. Perkins did write plat
form for the republicans Of Iowa, and
it read as follows:
1--WE favor such legislation as will
utilize as money the entire silver prod
uct of our mines, and we favor such
laws as will aid in the ultimate and
unrestricted use of both precious met
ais as money"
Yet he would. alarm the party today |
about what Governor Cumnins would
write in a platform!
Not only did he write this into a |
state platform three years before Cum !
minis wrote his letter, but he followed it |
up with valiant editorials in the Sioux |
City Journal. being the loudest free
silverite of them all and declaring that |
.In the present shape of things the
west must stand for free coinage or a
free fight with the east"-"If there is
to be compromise in this matter of
coinage of silver, let it be a compro-
mise between the east and the west"
Here is what Perkins wrote on free
silver:
Financial legislation has been long
series of measures, the advantages and
leanings of which, in nearly all cases,
have been on the side of the eastern
states wherever their interests con-
flicted, or were supposed to conflict,
with those of the west, and so strong
was the grip Of the east upon national
politics. so thorough its organization
and SO consolidated its power, the
western efforts were steadily discredit-
ed and the whole fiscal code of the ma
ton today is not truly national, but
a distinctly EASTERN code. The
west must therefore fight it out on this
line for free coinage. 1t must break
the grip Of the east. In breaking the
grip of the east on the financial ques-
ton, the west will do vastly more, for
1t will have demonstrated strength to
assist itself politically and equally
with the east as to all public questions.
If free silver coinage shall actually OPP
crate injuriously to the general inter-
ests Of the cuntry, the west will be
ready to apply suitable remedies. But
the east can be permitted no longer to
dictate no longer to manipulate, no
longer to dominate. If there is in the
future to be compromise in this mat
ter of coinage of silver, let it be a
between the east and the
west. in which the interests of both
sections are fairly considered, not an
arbitrary arrangement dictated by the
east. I'm THE PRESENT SHAPE OF
THINGS THE WEST MUST STAND
FOR FREE COINAGE OR A FREE
FIGHT WITH THE EAST. There is
nothing particularly novel in the cry
IF Wall street that free silver coinage
would derange the finances of the
and prove rufnous to bust
,aes n is nreoise1v the same crV that /.