The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1906-10-27
Mr.. wELBORN'S SPEECH.

to his neighbors aud personal friends
was kindly in spirit and on the whole
was a very good speech or a very bad
one according to the rules OF criticism
by which it is to be judged. II the
object Of the speech was to comfort
republican partizans In a cherished
political creed, or to quiet the alarms
OF undlscriminatiog non-partizan
hearers, IL it was for the ear and for
the hour only, the speech was capt.
ally conceived. On the other hand II
1t is to be viewed in the light of a
study, a careful inquiry after the
essential truths Of the matters dis.
cussed, his effort was a failure. 1t
abounded in errors Of various kinds, a
sample Of two or three Of which win
illustrate the fabric Of the whole.
Mr. Welborn denied and ridiculed a
statement which be had heard 10
this campaign to the effect that the
Secretary of the Treasury 10 Har-
rison's administration had prepared
plates for the engraving Of bonds to
be issued for the protection of the
depleted gold reserve in the United
States treasury and that after the
preparation of the plates the bonds
were not issued because just at this
time the election came on and resulted
in the sweeping democratic victory Of
1892; and toe republic, IN party leaders
thought 1T worth while to leave this
unpopular act to their democratic
successors. This statement belongs
to the class of historical facts or Of
historical ictions and is capable Of
historical v%erification. But Mr. We'll
born did not choose to approach it In
this way He merely stated that II
was not true, and that the way he
knew IL was not trna wae hneanea =
Secretary Of the Treasury cannot
borrow money. The power to borrow
money through the Issuance of bonds
is lodged 10 congress, he said. Now
in this matter Mr. Welborn was
grossly in error. The Secretary Of
the Treasury has no power TO issue
bonds to pay the running expenses Of
the government or to discharge spec.
lal obligations like those connected
with the Panama Canal. But he is
authorized by law to protect the gold
reserve in the treasury and the means
OF doing it are left largely at his
discretion. Not only has he the
authority to issue bonds for this pur
pose ever in vacation Of congress aud
without its special authorization, but
this authority has been repeatedly
exercised within the past fifteen
years, and the validity Of the bonds
has never before been called in ques-
tion, 50 far as known. AS a detached
fact, the preparation Of the plates for
the Issuance Of bonds by the Secretary
OF the Treasury In tie year 1892 is a
matter Of very trivial importance.
But Mr.. Welborn seemed to need to
postpone the date Of the raids upon
the Treasury reserves, which really
began two years before this time, 10
order that be might attribute the
panic Of 1898 to the Wilson tariff law
which went into effect Aug 2s, 1894.
This is an example of Mr., Welborn's
treatment Of facts. An example OF
his augmentation is to be found IN
his treatment Of the relation between
protective tariff and employment of
wage earners aud bet ween protective
tariff aud rate OF wages. Using his
hat for Illustration, Mr.. Welborn
argued that the reduction Of the
tariff TO a revenue basis must lead to
the cessation of The manufacture Of
hats In this country and OF the
machinery employed in their manu-.
facture, thus throwing thousands out
of employment. II this conclusion
were granred without challenge-and
1t might we'll be challenged, since the
greatest industrial country in the
world in proportion 10 its size and
population is a free trade country
1t would still remain to be shown
that we would have anything to lose
by throwing out Of employment the
thousands who might be engaged in
making articles which can be made
cheaper elsewhere. 1t was the more
incumbent upon the speaker to show
this since in another part Of his
speech he took the other side OF a