Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-10-07
""co1N" HARVEY TO THE FRONT.

One Of the speakers now touring the state in
the interest Of Frazier, Lenke,. Hagan, ct al, is one
William II. Harvey. Probably not a great many
people Of the present generation ever heard OF the
gentleman. Those Of an earlier vintage will recall
him Under his once familiar pseudonym Of 'Coin'
Harvey, the author Of a work called "Coin's Fiinan-
cial School, which was quoted on every street cor
ner and . t'every crossroads a quarter Of a century
ago.
:Harveyy's little brochure:so Of finance was the text
books Of the advocates Of free silver in the cam
~raign!of 1896. 1t furnished the basis for the cam
paignFof William ]. Bryan on the issue of free silver
al, the. ratio oils to 1. 1t undertook to show that
if the'Urited States in its organized capacity should
so into the banking business it would be able to
make itself rich thereby, the process being similar
to that Of pulling ones self up by his own boot
straps. The matter was presented glibly and enter
tainihgly. It struck for a moment a popular cord and
for a time there was no book which had:a wider cir<
eulatlon or made a greater appeal. 1t seemed likely
for some time that the whole county was to be
swept off its feet BY the attractiveness of the pros
rect set forth, and the ease with which untold rich
es were to be gained by means of a mere stroke OF
a pen. 1t took hard work and lots of it to disabuse
the public mind of the belief which had been instnl-
ed so sedulously and attractively; but the work was
done and as the light Of reason was turned on the
subject sanity was restored and the people Of the
United States repudiated the dictrine of free silver,
involving as it did the Reputation of obligations
and the theory that prosperity was to be attained
by any means other than the slow and often diff
cult process of hard labor. t
"Coin" Harvey is now campaigning in North Da-
!kota in the interest of the present administration. AS
he has made money enough to fix himself comfort
ably for life, it is announced that his services are
given without charge and that the proceeds from the
sale Of a little book which he is peddling are also to
be given away. He spoke in Fargo the other even
ing, and it is announced that he is to deliver ad-
dresses at the principal points along the Northern
Pacific railway within the next few days. His argu-
ments are the arguments which he employed in the
early COS. The prospect which he holds out is the
prospect which he then held out, namely, that the
people should go into the banking business, there
by enriching themselves. AS on the former occa-
sion, he ignores the essential facts which govern the
laws of credit and the accumulation of wealth. He
has learned nothing in a quarter of a century. He is
as unsound now as he was then, when he was
repudiated by the plain common sense Of plain com
mon people. 1t remains to be seen whether those of
the newer generation, who never before fell under
the spell Of his %glibness, are to be carried away at
this time. We are rather inclined to doubt it. His
IDEAS would have fitted in to the situation better
five or six years ago than they do now but we have
had quite an era of experimentation along lines
which lie parallel to the ideas of Mr.. Harvey; we
have listened to the voice of the siren and strayed
lar off our course and it is not probable that a new
voice at this time will divert the people from the
return to the straight, sometimes difficult, but al
ways the safe course toward which they have set
their faces.