MMM DAVIS' VIEW.
Xh.3 Eeiaocratic Platform Strikes
at the ' Government's ,
Foundation. . .
FREE SILVER NOT BIMETALLISM,
ft . . .
Condition of Affairs Worse than Wat
Would Result from Dem-
' ccratic Success.
In a speech delivered at St. Paul -An-gust
4, Senator C. K. Davis pointed out
very clearly the fact that free silver is
not bimetallism and showed what evil
results would follow Democratic suc
cess. He said, that for the first
" time since the election next preced
ing the great Civil war. we are
. required to guard the very founda
tions and bulwarks of national stability,
of commercial honesty, of financial con
duct. The Democratic party which met
at Chicago in convention in July suffered
a woiiderlul change in that convention
The old oracles and guides of the party
were rudely turned aside. It was occu-
, pied and demoniacally possessed by a new
spirit something Which has not raised
its head in the political conventions of
either onrrv for thirty years. it there
was any one thing which the 2.000.000
of men who went out to defend this coun
try thirty years ago thought "that they
had entirely obliterated when they re
turned, it as the malign doctrine of
-state Tights, which lay at the bottom
and was the impetus of the greatest
rebellion which ever reared its head
against a civilized government. Lo and
. behold, in that convention, from the
ftate of South Carolina, as of yore, you
find the declaration of the same state
rights, in the same spirit as in the an
. cient time, and done in a connection, my
fellow citizens, which must appeal to the?
resentment anil repugnance ot every lib-
erty-loving and country-loving man. l-.v
ryone who knows anything about me
knows that I am not a political admirer
of Urover Cleveland: hut if there was
anyone act of his administration which.
' after the contentions of history havi
ceased to- rage . about this acts and bis
memory, that will remain star-bright
forever, it was Ins action, when the
pulse of business beat low, whyn com
mercial intercourse was cut off by rioters
in Chicago, by which, upon principles and
precedents laid down by (Jeorge Wash
ington 100 years before, he evoked the
strong arm of the United States to re
store law and order in this country.
Applause and cheers. 1
This act is covertly (and covertly is
too mild a word) denounced in the Chi
cago platform. More than that. If then
is anything in this country or in any na
tion upon which the stability of the gov
ernment depends, the very keystone of
the great arch upon which the ranged
empire stands, the ultimate -principle of
absoluteism that must exist somewhere
in all governments, it is the courts of onr
land, where men sequestered from politi
cal concerns and political ambitions,
holding the scales of justice even be
tween contending passions and contend
. lng rights, decide for their fellow citizens
what the law is. And for more than 100
years the Supreme court of the W'lited
States has sat in that exalted position.
midway in the capitol of the nation lo
tween the Senate and the House of Ttei-resentatives,-a
typical object lesson 'of
their position and of their sublime ca
pacity to restrain either, and has done
more to conduct the government to the
high plane which it occupies. I was going
to say. than all the statesmen which this
country has ever produced. (Applause.)
The Chicago platform strikes at that
court, strikes at all courts, and enun
ciates its malign prophesy of the reor
ganization of that court and of any other
court if necessary, to register the fitful
and passionate and repudiating edicts of
. mistaken and misguided men, of mistaken
and misguided parties.
A Crisis is Impending.
And worse than that, my fellow -citizens
worse than that! If there was
another thing which the veterans of the
last war thought they had achieved ind
which the loyal sentiment of the North
thought it had achieved, it was the ob
literation of all sectionalism in this coun
try: we were to have no South, no North,
no East, no West, any more. The whole
country was to be a unity. But in these
later days, we see the solid South com
ing up to the banks of the Ohio and the
Missouri as before the war, and with
sectional demands tion an economic is
sue, precisely such as was made before
ue Rebellion. And now. with the pitch
fork of Tillinan stirring up the doctrine
of state rights, with the bomb of Altgeid
in the denunciation of our courts nnd of
President Cleveland thrown nnder the
very fabric of our government, they have
-chosen to put forward as an issue some
thing which touches more immediately
the conviction, the passions, the cupidity
and the honesty of men, and which in it
self contains more disintegrating influ
ences to our prosperity than all the
causes combined that I have mentioned.
The Democratic convention, or .the
Democratic party, as now organized, has
J'oined the Populist party in bonds of un
loly wedlock upon the demand that the
United States shall take a position upon
the currency of this country which I,
speaking to you under the responsibility
of a man who is speaking to his neigh
bors, say that I believe is fraught with
more disaster to this country than the
greatest foreign war could possibly b'ing
. about. (Applause.)
- And that is the subject that I have
been asked to talk to you tonight about.
I am going to do so, as I said in the be
ginning, not with any attempt at deco
rative speech, not denouncing any men
who -may -choose to differ from me. for
I tell you, my fellow citizens, that many
and many a thousand men who differ
from ns today on this matter one year
from now will be wondering why "and
how they came to do it. (Applause.)
And so I shall go on. I may be tedious.
I am going to give you facts, and fig
ures. I am not going to draw on my
own imagination for my facts at all.
The facts that I shall give you will be
impregnable. It is for you to judge
whether the deductions I shall draw
from them can be refuted. -'
Now what is the question? For a cor
rect understanding of the question is al
ways the first step towards the solution
of the controversy. The question is not
whether there should be the free and
unlimited coinage of silver in the mints
of all the nations, by the consent of the
principal commercial nations of the globe
npon a ratio to be agreed upon. That is
not the issue. We all might agree that
when this is brought about, as it will be.
if the United States conducts itself with
judgment upon this question; I say we
might all agree that that would be an
excellent thing. The Republican party
has pledged itself in successive platforms
to labor to bring about international
agreement. The most advanced think
ers upon financial questions in both
hemispheres are advocating, especially in
foreign lands, the resumption of the coin
age of silver, by united action of nations
who, before we did, iong ago, independ
ently of us, and uncontrollable by us,
suspended or limited the further coinage
of silver; and I want to 'say one thing
to you that not one of these professors
ill foreign universities, not one of these
economists whose name and fame are
world-wide, and not one of those great
financiers who have given days and years
of thought to this subject, not one, aud
nobody except the leaders of the modern
Democracy aud Populism, has ventured
to advise his own country iu Europe to
undertake thot task alone. (Applause.)
The uuestion is this, and nothing more
Shall the United States:, alone, under
take the free and unlimited coinage of sil
ver at a ratio of 10 to 17 'A few t-rii'
of "yes" and "no." and repeated Tics o
"no. ) Aow. see von gentlemen ove
there who culled "yes," and you gentle
men here who called no, snows : tn
difference of opinion npou this subject
(laughter), and to you over there who
come to listen to me. you will listen dis-
nnssiiirmtelr. von will digest my argu
ments, and 1 hope finally that by the
time you have done so thoroughly that
you will be inclined to shout no with
the gentlemen who responded when you
responded. heering aud applause.)
Now, let- us lie entirely good-natured
about this. I am going to try to giv
you the facts, and I repeat it, the issue
is whether the United states snail at
tempt to do that thing alone, in the
face of the controlling fact that every
civilized commercial nation upon the face
of the earth, except the Central Amer
ican and South American states years
ago And before we did abandoned it ut
terly.. Anil if I shall succeed iu con
vincing any of our friends that we are
not in position to do it without iuflietiug
upon the country and upon ns all injuries
which it will take a generation to re
pair. I shall be more than rewarded
for the pains that 1 have taken, the ob
servations that I have made, the studies
I have gone through and the reflections
which have brought me to my present
convictions. (Applause.)
Shall We Go Backward or Forward ?
Shall we, for our own interests stand
along with those nations with which we
have classed ourselves and who are lead
ing the march of humanity, or shall we
go with .Mexico, rsoutn America, ijnina
and Japan, the- rearward half of the
great army of human progress, anil join
those imperfect and rudimentary civinza
tions. which are au occular demonstra
tion that no nation ever undertook alone
the coinage of free silver that did not de
prive itself of gold entirely. (Applause.)
And you have but to glance upon the
map of your school boy or school girl
your little son or daughter, to see the
fact recorded there for the -education of
youth, to know that very one -of those
nations " stands upon a lower scale of
progress than the nations which have
declared the policy upon which the Unit
ed Mates now stands.
My fellow citizens, the warnings of his
tory are all against it. 1 he present ex
ainplesof nations who singly are endeav
oring to sustain themselves under a sjngle
standard lorniu us to enter upon a voy
age iijoii. I was going to say, untried
waters, but no, upon a voyage which we
can plainly see other nations are making
at tne present time, where we can plum
ly view rocks of distress, the shoals anil
quicksands of their course from the se
cure mainland upon which the American
people lfow stand, and from which our
opponents are attempting to lure them
by false lights and false alarms. (Ap
plause.)
Now we have got to take facts exactly
as they are. Ave are not dealing with
glittering and glowing generalities. We
are administering society anil human con
cerns: society, a being perfectly concrete.
infinitely . practicable, somewhat selnsh
and I am going to appeal to the selfish
ness of this audience to know whether
they will assist in bringing about thot
which I think 1 can prove will result
from the arts of the gentlemen who are
attempting to mislead them. ,
Now. my tnends. the world is divided
just ns sharply as it is by oceans and
mountnrn chains, between the gold coun
tries. wo employ concurrently with gold
more silver money than all the silver
countries contain or circulate. (Ap
plause.) 1 say thnt the gold countries
of this world, including the United States
(and I call them gold countries for the
purpose not of definition, but of clear
ness of expression), employ and circulate
more silver than nil the silver countries
of tbe world employ, confe'n or circulate.
I make another proposition. I appeal
to 'history and to contemporary facts
which no man can dispute, that every
free coinage coprtry is on a silver has's.
Isn't that so? (Cries of "Yes.") I make
.mother statement for vou to think of,
tor l am not going to elaborate it 1 am
going to pet into the figures pretty soon
every gold country uses silver and gold
amo"iits pearly cniiel by money nn
t:ons. Tsn't that so? (C-ios of "Yes.")
7n't that so in the Tnited States?
( "ies of Yes. ) In France? (Voices
"vos.) T tr"ke another stat"ment for
your calm and cool refaction, that no-sil
ver standard country has nnv gold mon
ey whatever. (.Applause.) Don t teke
my word for it. (Jo a n-1 investigate this
subject. I sny that no silver country has
any- gold mopnv whatever, and you can
scare trom .Mexico to Cape Horn and
nnd thnt this statement is correct.
Another statement and I make it nn-
on a sense of mv responsibility after an
exnanstive examination of statistics, in
vestigations find records that in everv
silver sta"dard cotmtrv wages are pressed
down to tne very minimum of a wretched
subsistence. It is so in Mexico, it is so
in Janan. it is so in South America. 1
say that in every silver country wages
are pressed down to the very minimum
of a wretched subsistence.
Tbe Reasons,
Now if it is true (I will not tro 4rrtn
the reasons for it), but if it is true as a
concrete, absolute fact, that no silver
country, no country which has adopted
the silver standard hns any gold circula
tion whatever. I say that it follows that
the only practicable bimetallism on the
planet is by the nations with which the
United States )as classed itselft.and it
is this bimetallism in the United States
which the new Democracy and Popu
lism are endeavoring to destroy by snb-
stituting a silver monometallism. (Art
planso.) The bimetallism which this
country and the nations of which I have
spoken en.ioy is the bimetallism of fact
and 'actual enjoyment extending to that
full extent which human judgment, hu
nmn experience, hnmnn apprehension
call it what yon will teach is the pro
!"iiioii iii-niiicii me melius can De em
ployed in a degree that one will not de
stroy or drive out the other and that
both can co-exist together. (Applause;)
For there is, my fellow citizens, an un
questionable dividing line I shall ;prove
it further along, though it is not neces
sary for men who have -read history,
even cursorily, for me to prove it there
is a dividing line bevond which you can
not pass in the employment of the metal
of less value without its driving out the
other and entirely supplanting it. And I
sny that he who insists (I say it logical
ly) that the United States shall or can,
acting alone, coin silver without limit,
as required by the Democratic and Pop
ulist platforms, is not a bimetallist; he is
a silver monometallism -who, after spend
ing years in attacking what he deems
the idol of the dark idolatry of mono
metallism, ends by immolating himself
upon its altar. (Applause.)
Now let me, right here not exactly in
the . logical connection throw out a
thought which to me has a great deal of
consequence. It is represented that gold
has become a tyrant, that its power haR
become omnipotent. absolutely selfish and
cruel; that it has become a metal which
great combinations, perhaps of nations, ,
perhaps of 'capitalists, hoard and gather ' two or three years, and will probably will be struck down at a blow if the shal
for the oppression of mankind. Now let survive to take the new medicine in I low projects of the Democratic and Popu
nw .-nil vour attention to one fact. The i nhnndnnce. Rut 1 snv thnt thev Hdmit I list platforms be realized. -
free-coiners assert, when they are told
thnt the iiicrenscd output of gold is going
to tend verv much nud by natural pro -
cesses to solve this .question, that from
one-half to one-third of-the gold annually
produced in- the world goes into the arts.
This statement is probably an exaggera
tion. It is probable that one-quarter of
the gold of the world produced annually
goes into the arts, aud it has been doing
it for centuries. Consider for a mo
ment, my fellow citizens, what' an enor
mous Hum. enormous aggregate three
billions, perhaps four billions, of dollars
are lying in the shape of golden orna
ments, thousands of dollars of them in
this room tonight. Now I want to. ask
you this question,. if there is a gold fam
ine, if the power of gold is bo absolute
and tyrannical as it is claimed, if its
possession in the shape of coin gives its
owner such sway over the destiny and
fortune of his fellow man, how is ' it
that this enormous amount of gold, per
haps one-third of that which is in exist
ence, has not shown the least symptom
yet of going into the melting pot to be
turned into-coin? '.
But we hear a great deal about the de
monetization of silver, and one would
think to hear our free-coiner friends de
claim that silver had been entirely de
monetized, that by some muligu influ
ence the money function of silver
throughout the world had been entirely
abrogated, and it is a very catching
plirase. It has been a very catching
assumption, for I will not call it an argu
ment. Now. I say. my fellow citizens, that,
properly considering facts, that state
ment is inaccurate, not to say untrue. I
assert that silver has never been demon
etized in the sense in which that charge
has been made. (Applause.) Demone
tization means to divest of standard
value ns money, and I say this has not
been done' with any dollar of silver coin
that was ever minted at any mint. (Ap
plause.) It is true that many nations
who have approached the danger line of
which I spoke a few moments ago, when
one metal drives out another, that many
nations have told the owners of silver
which lay concealed in the earth we will
not longer buy it at a -certain ratio and
at a certain price. Even that has not
been entirely done, and I repeat my
statement that the assertion that silver
it suver
has been demonetized is one calculated
to mislead, and is not true in fact.
,,.,
"The C rime or a3.
All our woes are iimeu. irom ioio, lire
period when the free-coiners persuade
their disciples that, to use their stock ex
pression, silver was demonetized, or that
one-half of the aggregate wealth of the
world was struck clown at a blow. Now
let us bring this statement to the crucial,
absolute test of figures, of what records
and statistics say upon this subject, nud
not trust to the vague declamation of
any person. 1 he value (aud I will give
you my authority for this statement in a
moment), tbe value ot all silver coin in
the world in 4873 was 1.877.000,000.
In IS'.).", it was S4,100,000.000. The
value of all the gold com in the world in
1873 was 3.0-15,000,000; the value of all
the gold coin iu the world in 1895 was
$4.00.000.000. Of this quu ntit.v of sil-
ver current ill the world in lS'.fu, $3,431).-
300.001). was full legal tender. Now at-
tend to me for a moment while the math-
rmni.iu. urunciiuu - -"j
HUlf JIIt-lIL IV II IMffill ilU L I Hi -II 1141 11 LI i
of gold in the world inereiised between
18i3 and. 180-v only $1,2(K),000.(XK),
wnne tue increase oi s.iv er c n tor xi.e
same period was $2.1:83.000,000 more
coined in the twenty-three years since
1873 than remained up to that time of
all the coinage of the world since Noah ! tnel.r nving irom in me way or lunr u
left the ark. (Applause.) Aud nearly income, or o nyone else, are not
double more silver has been coined than 1 KmnS to ut th5lr bmds on deposit n the
gold since 1873. What becomes, then, of . treasury to get a treasury ceruueate
the assertion of the equal and equable ! . -ntl 80 tne chasm could not be filled
production of silver and gold from year,"" that way. neither by gold, by silver
to venr since time began, and of the de- r by the illimitable lssiu? of bonds,
monetizntiou of silver since 1873, in the So this chasm could not be filled. 1 hey
face of this showing thnt. between 1873 admit it will last three years. W hat
and 1805 the coinage of silver was near
ly twice greater than thnt of gold? They
talk of the demonetization -of silver since
1873 m the face of a silver coinage
throughout the world since that year of
over $2,000,000,000, of which $538,
444,467 was minted by the United
States! . (Applause.) And 'Of gold the
United States minted during the same
nenoa :w.-iiioiik. Ana nere, aiso, is
answered a statement confidently made
and plausibly maintained, and yet erron-
eous m fact, that there nas in all this
time been un enormous contraction ot
the currency all over the world, yet
these figures conclusively demonstrate
iuniiraiM,mm ""v.
my friends. I have not taken this from
from any other book. J know where the
"fST" .r.Z "'tT "ir
5"" "V " a. ;ri;. ... 3,. " IVr:
S, u I",.. .' ... 'j. r
Segraohed'to director of " the"bm'int
regarding 'information upon these sub-
jects. and he answered me:
"Hon. C. K. Davis, St. Panl. . Minn. : !
The total value of all silver coined in the
world in 1873 I estimate to have been ;
$1,817,000,000 and 1895 $4,100,000,000.
timated to have been $3,045,000,000 and
18'Jo about S-i.OO.OOO.UOO. li. JH. I'res-I
ton. director of the mint." And these
figures 1 have just given you are tne ng-
ures which l have just read in tne tele-
crn m of the director. The irrentest hrisi-
ness transactions in the way of finance
on the face of the earth are made upon !
statements like that, and when what I ;
have said is discussed the only answer '
that will be made to it is probably that
Mr. Preston and the United States gov-
ernment is one general universal gold
bug. ,(lnugnter.) ,
Now let me give you another state-
ment. Tbe'eoinage of tbe nations of the
world in 1802, 1803 and 1S04 was as
follows: Gold. $172,473,124: silver,
$155,517,347: 1803, gold. $232,420,517:
silver, "lfii;ii.Uo,(KH): in 18!4, gold, $227,-
y21,Uil: silver, U3.im.i.s.j. a total in
three veors of $1.030.38i).4!)8. With sil
deductions for recoinage this outnut of
coined money is of immense volume..
jow l nave thrown out tnese sugges- tions. v nere clearing nouses no not ex
tions and will pass from that branch of ist I mean in towns and villages the
the discussion and call your attention to depositing of the cheeks in the banks, and
another assertion of the free coiners; I the collections ot tne bants adjust dui
alluded to it cursorily a few momenta ances in the same way.
ago. but I propose to now treat it in
the same manner in which I have treat,
ed the lust preceding question. The free express its infinite superiority in numeri
coiners assert that contraction has in- cal -relation to the lawful money of
flicted all the financial and economic which we nave been talking. 'Ibis is the
miseries that mankind has endured since currency that no statutory fiat can e
1S73, Now I say that they themselves pand, although it can contract it. But it
cooiiy propose to oriug nouut a contrac-
tion of currency in tbe United States un- taneousiy to its very minimum uv tne
exampled in the world's history. I say operation of the Democratic and Popu
that thev propose to brine about a con. listic theories ns announced iu their plat-
traction in the United States unexampled
in the world's history nd fraught with means simply-that the merchants, the I told you so." But, my friends who ap
more evils than are "recorded in the an- manufacturers, the employer, the-man of I plnud at that delusive stntemeut. it last-
nals of human woe. In that case, if thnt
is .the logical result and inevitable des-
tiny of what they propose, I. want to
know wherein the croldhnir is worse thnn
the silver eel?
xr . - .
Here i the l-roor.
Now you ask me for my proof ana I
will proceed to give it. The unlimited nione, mind yon, nnd not through the in
and free coinage of silver in this country fllience of interposition of the banks
will drive out the gold. This is as mdis- where there are no cleoring houses. The
ptitable as any law of physics, such as clearances of the city of St. Paul last
the law of gravitation. It has driven out week were something over $4,000,000.
gold in every country which has nnlimit-i nn nnv mn think thnt di
edly coined silver. Do you want the his-!
toncal and clear proof of it? In fact,
mire is iiui nu emiKuieueu geuueman
who will talk to you in advocacy of free
coinage of silver who does not admit thai
this will be the inevitable result, but they
;L uuiy last two or inree years,
that the patient will probably survivf
I themselves any intelligent sneaker upon
1 that, snhiect admits thnt the inevitable
I and irresistible tendency and result of
the free coinage of silver in this coun
try will be to drive out the gold. Now
let ns see how they propose to obviate it.
It has always struck me that one of
their most enlightened champions was
air. rr. jonn ot .ew lork. tie has been
largely and copiously quoted by them
he was president of a national bank and
was president of the recent silver con-'
vention at St. Louis and by the bill
which he procured to be introduced in
Congress and which had the endorsement
of the silver and Pomilist sentiment
there, they proposed to bridge over this
yawning chasm which they themselves
admitted would open beneath their feet
by issuing interest-bearing treasury notes
of the United States, secured by deposits
of uncoined silver or gold bullion, or hv
ueposu or i. mted istr-les bonds to he is
sued of coursa for that purpose. Now let
us look at this coolly and calmly and fig
ure upon it a little, like men of sense who
are infinitely interested in this ?n,itt0i.
us one of business concern and let ns
see how this project would work; wheth
er it would not merely
Skin anil lHtn the ulcerous sore.
Whilst rank corruption mining all beneath
uneets unseen.
We have ?(S20.000.000 of gold in the
United States. I think more. It would
disappear at once in the face of free
silver coinage,- or even the certainty of
it. Let this election g6 Democratic-
1 opulist. let the American people record
their will that the coinage of silver shall
be free and unlimited, long before Mr.
Bryan and his cohorts could place the
euici into tne rorm or law, tne just finan
cial fears of mankind, of people here
in this audience and of people every-
wnere, nt bnme and abroad, would draw
that gold from every vault, wherein it
lies protected and it would sink into the
earth as the waters, which came down
from heaven last uight. I say it would
disappear nt once. This bill of Mr. St
John so admits, and thnt disappearance
is Tne very ailment which he proposes
to remedy. But in this universal ab
sconding of gold there would be no gold
bullion to deposit, people would not take
it out of hiding to exchange it for any
liaiier money whatever of the govern
i --.. ,- ,
i 'V , " Y , J"" " -, ,
m; ligations payable in silver. (App ause.)
j l his remedy is counteracted so far by
, assumption and admission that gold
will disappear.
Now as to deposits of silver bullion.
The world's product of silver in 1804
(commercial value) was If21(i.802.a)0.
If we could get the world's entire pro
duct tas we could not), it would take
three years to fill the void of S(i20.000,
000 of vanished gold. The nations of
the world will not melt down their
coined ilver to deposit it in the United
States treasury and receive merely a
silver certificate.
Some of the Evils.
Etit the third alternative is one of
most malign portent. It is proposed to
use the interest-bearing bonded debt of
i the United States in order that the miner
K)r owner of silver may take his bullion
to the mint meanwhile nnd get evidences
. r ..nhli,. .b.l.t t w r fnr niu n tkfi v i lofrn
' Ilot crnutcd to or claimed by any farm-
er, artismi. manufacturer
or producer
y it is pro-
i In.ia line! 41 - I ontr it a t.Hn
pd t0 th(? hrest-bearing bonded
Jdebt of th1 Vnitcd Stateg ow. what
,d thf ? ,t increase
, . n i .u i
"L . Tj. ti"VV.
"-,
will take nlace meantime, in the very
face of the danger of it? We are
the midst of commercial distress almost
unexampled in our history; a panic such
ns the world has seldom seen. It would
throw 3.000.000 of men out of employ
ment. It would depress and starve the
wage-earner, and it would deprive him
of being the best consumer and purchns-
er that the American farmer bas. ami
by that reflex action inflict unexampled
misery npon our agricultural population,
(Applause.)
, iu thnt gtate cf things the abyss must
be fillod Ko nati0n could stand such
a contrac.tion. The most radical remedy
would be absolutely necessary to re-
stQre it nnd there wou,d be two
lTa oT all The commercial
nations, including the United States,
and now, or to use an irredeemable
paper money, perfectly. limitless or ll-
"able in its amount. And when that
comes to pass silver will vanish in the
"ce PaP" K0, vanwneu in tne
f a? of silver. (Applause.) And then
you would have another chasm, another
issue oi money, x ue rec is couqncie,
and the United States stands entirely
irredeemable paper money basis.
precisely the place we occupied before
tne war, anu irom.wnicn we siniKsieu
with so much passion or nonesty anu
love 'Ot national nonor to emancipate
ourselves. uo you want mat again;
iPries of 'No. no ")
But. mv friends, to look a little deeper I
into this subject. The misery goes fur- I
ther that would be inflicted, l nave Deen,
talking heretofore about lawful money, I
and I mean by that, money issued by the I
governments of the world, tne Lnited I
States included. But did you ever think
how little ot tne Dnsiness ot tins worm
or of any community like ht. Paul and
Minneapolis is done on what is called
lawful money? Statistics would seem to
show that 95 per cent, of the transac-
tions between man and man in civilized
nations, especially in tne united atares, I
is by way ot cnecKS. in cities tney are
balanced against each other in the clear- I
ing bouse, and a few thousand dollars I
balanced money closes the day's transac- I
Now, this is the greatest currency of
civilization. Numbers are inadequate to
ia tt l-ihicuc nui.i nu cvuuati itiaiu"-
forms. Now what does that mean? It
wvrery kind who pays out money 'o h;s
fellow - men for labor, or for material will f
cease so iar as ne is eoncernea to emu
tnat currency wnicn rules au Dnsiness
The lack of confidence will produce that
contraction in tnat currency. j.ne clear-
in(rg jn the Unired States agt week were
sen iun (um in ti,0 inn. :....,0..
0f money as thnt was used in St. Paul
ist week $4.000.000-7or in the ration.
$sil,UO0.O00, to transact their business?
it Hnn. v. th; nn,n ;,.;i:,.
tion which no nation can produce, which
no nation can regulate or control, add I
say that this currency, more important
tuan S1jver or gold or national paperrl
I But you have heard from our free
I coinnge friends here thnt other nation
have done this. And there are many good
people who believe that France is doing
it. and that the Latin nniou so-called is
doing it. Now, I would like to know why
thev can t tell the entire truth aoout tni
matter. T.et us not deceive each fine
and let nobody deceive us. The L.itin
union is composed of France, Belgium
Italy. Switzerland nnd Greece. It was
formed in 1S05 by treaty between those
powers, whereby each agreed until. tn
year 1SSO to take the coins of tbe other
powers nt the ratio of 15V to 1.
But .Germany demonetized silver; she
had ceased to coin it. and so. in 1873,
those great nations, headed by France
(the most scientihenlly-governeu country
I in the world, and -the one which has the
mum iuxuni - uuiiiicuil mi-iisi. x bu,v ihuc
countries, after Germany had demone
tized silver in 1873, limited their silver
coinage, and by 1876 they suspended it
entirely. i hey. those great jhuropean
nations France, the strongest monetary
nation in the world, with her allies un
""" witn an tneir power to an pre-
i:iw.v num. me iree coiners oi tne cull
ed States are asking this government
to nndertate in the light of such con
spicuous failures of other nations.
, Invar in. ble Stamlaada Needed.
Now. everybody admits I think the
most " rampant free-coiner declsimer
would admit that the money unit should
remain as nearly invariable as possible,
Now. 1 say gold has so remained. Sil
ver has fallen commercially like other
articles. This is denied. They say sil
ver has not fntlen, that gold has risen
Now. that is the war von look at it.
You can look at.it through the deluding
glass of idealism, and it may appear thnt
way. bnt it is an optical illusion. Now
let me put an illustration from nature
The waters of I.nke Superior, that grea
inland sea which noats so much of on
commerce and is such nn element in our
prosperity, have for many years been
falling, until now they are lower than
they have been at any time for fifty
years, nnd everything on their surface
has ffilien. The waters of Iake Supe
rior, like the universal, sprend-out plane
of humanity, bearing everything upon its
surtnee those waters bear the fleets
vessels o:;d craft of nil kinds, and ves
sels and craft and fleets of all kinds have
fallen with the water. What would yon
think of a man standing on the deck of
one of those vessels spying. "This ves.
sel bns pot fallen: this vessel stands tus
where it did. but the universal shore of
Lake Superior has risen?" Laughter
and nppi.-iuse.i
Xow. I say. nv fr'cMfls, thnt .-inco the
Latin union, from 1H3 to 1S70. nban
doner! free coinage, there hns existed in
European nations nnd the United States
the only practical bimetallism. Let me
repeat this. I feel thnt I cannot bear i
into your minds too' often or too urgently
mat these nations, including ours, are
the only nations on the face of the cart!;
that hi've any bimetallism whatev
And why? Because they went to the
danger line, as we went, and then
stopped. Apphmse.l The universal
teaching of history demonstrated thnt
there 'was a dend line, beyond which
silver could not be pressed without the
immediate annihilation of its companion,
gold, as a useful, working money medi
um. And when any man gets up ami
I dreams and soliloquizes arid philosophizes
before me and tells me he knows it won't
be so if we try where others failed
tell him that an ounce of fact is worth
a ton of theory, and thnt something bodi
ly is worth a million of disembodied
ghosts. Applause.
What is Katlof
And yet these gentlemen favor, in the
face of these historical, examples and
warnings, that the United States shall
make the unit of coinage the silver dol
lar at the ratio of Pi to 1.
Now, what is ratio? It is not SIR to
SI, 'as some people claim. (Laughter.)
Itatio means this: 1 hat there shall be
sixteen times more silver in weight in n
silver dollar than there is weight of gold
in a gold dollar. Or. to put the definition
in another form, that sixteen ounces of
silver, when come,'. shall be the equiva
lent ot one ounce of gold when coined
When gold measured by silver is worth
$115 per ounce, no disparity in value can
exist: but when measured by silver tin'
ounce of gold is worth' $31 un ounce com
niercinlly, disparity results. Such is the
present condition, and yet the free silver
men assert that it will he ik such thing
in case legislative fiat endeavors to make
two and two five instead of the old
fashioned result, two and two four. '
The trouble is that our friends have
confused the ratio of weight with tlv
ratio of value, and are trying to confuse
the people with it. J he ratio of weight
nnd the ratio of value were once the
game, but they have cho.nged. They
changed more than . thirty years ago
Other nations saw it and obeyed the im
perial behest of that change before we
did, and the ratio is now throughout
the world 32, or about 32, to 1.
Now I say that no legislative fiat what
ever it does not lie in the power or man
(I was about to say something more ex
treme than that, which it would not be
proier to say) it dees not lie in - the
power of man to enact thnt a given di
mension, volume or capacity shall be n
hair's breadth greater than the laws of
the Almighty have fixed it from the be
ginning. (Applause.)
It is necessary that the ratio or propor-
tion of value should he invariable. It is
necessary for the production of the thing
itself called money, speaking ot it in its
great volume, as the volume of money in
the United States. We see analogies
everywhere: we see an analogy in nature,
Take the air we breathe. It is a com
pound substance, made up from oxygen
aud nitrogen at the ratio of about 77
to 23. and while this ratio lasts it is from
it we all draw our lives and have our
being. But change to any material de-
gree and. instead of being the vital, life-
giving air, it becomes a deadly and de
structive una sum.
Rut the free-coiners assert that nnlim
ited coinage of silver will restore it to a
parity with gold. It has been tried by
many nations of thio world. Has it done
it in a single instance? Not one. They
said the same thing when conirress
passed the Sherman act of 1SD0. They
said buy of us freely 4.500.000 ounces a
month, or 54.000,000 ounces n year, and
von will see that silver will go up to
$1.29 an ounce immediately. In the' face
of clnmor. in doubt as to-what might be
the result, in willin-ness, (it went too
far) to give such claims every oppor
tunity to be demonstrated whether they
were correct or incorrect, tnat legislation
was enacted. And silver did go in the
course of about ten days to M.19 nn
ounce (Applause by one man) and the
free-coiners were exalted, and said, 1
ed but a short time.
oil ver proceeded to
fall lower than it ever fell before. (Great
applause.)
It did not take it long to do it. The an
nual average production in the United
States for ten years before that net was
passed was 44.000,000 ounces, iu 1S01 it
ran to 54.000,000 ounces, nud in 1S02
to G2.000.000 ounces, nearly 20,000,000
ounces more thnn we produced in the
average of ten years up to the time when
that bill was passed, and it was then
seen by all wise men, by all men who
had the stability of the currency, and the
prosperity of their country at heart, with
intelligent vision, thnt that immense vol-
nme would break down indeed it did
break dowji the very theory udoii which
the bill was passed. (Applause.) It pro
duced the panic of 1803, put distrust into
the minds ot men. Ihe silver men said
before we passed that bill in 1800, that I
silver would go at a parity with gold h
you will only give us a limited purchas
of o4.(HXI.(HK) ounces a year. It did not
go to a parity. How can they say now,
nnd look the American people in I lie fac
with steady eye, that where it failed then
it is going to work entirely different and
satisfactorily now?
BRYAN 03 THE RATIO.
He Sanar a Different Song on th
Subject When He was lii
. Congress.
On the lGth of August, 1803, on ths
floor of the House, of Representatives,
Mr. Byran said:
"In fixing the ratio we should select that
one which will secure the greatest ad
vantage to the public and cause the least
injustice. The present ratio, in my judg
ment, should be adopted. A change in
the ratio could be iriado (as in 1834) by
reducing the size of the gold dollar, or
by increasing the size of the silver doU
lnr. or by making a change in the weight
of both dollars. A larger silver dollar
would help the creditor. A smaller gold
dollar would help the debtor. It is not
just to do either, but if n change must
le made, the benefit should be given to
the debtor rather thnn the creditor. Let
no one accuse me of defending the just
ness of any change: but t repeat it, if
wo are given a choice between" a change
which will aid the debtor by reducing
the size of his debt and a change which
will aid the creditor by increasing ths
amount which he is to receive, either by
increasing the number of his dollars or
their size, the advantage must be given
to the debtor."
Legislation in favor of debtors or of
creditors, ns a class, would be class leg
islation nnd whol'v uujustitinble. Ques
tions between debtors and creditors are
properly settled in the courts; and every
court will hold that what is right for the
one is right for the other also. Mr. Bry
an, therefore, did well to ilisi-ltiim ad
vocacy of, any change of the existing
ratio. . Should .a change he made nt any
time hereafter it cannot and ought not
to affect contracts antedating such
elmnge.
But in ndvocnting the unlimited coin
age of silver bullion, nt the present ratio,
for t''c owner nnd without cost tn him.
Mr. Brynn does propose a change of the
entire basis upon which business is trans
acted. We are informed by him that
there nre three ways by which the ratio
between gold ami silver corn can be al
tered: 1. The shrinkage in size of the
gold dollar. 2. Tbe enlargement of the
silver dollar. 3. Mnkng a change in the
sW.e nnd weight of both dollars. Hither
of these three iie-thods contemplates a
nearer approximation of the coinage ra
tio to the comincveinl ratio and is so fsr
forth honest. If this npie-oxiipntioii of
the two ratios were carried to the point
of ideality, tb" dmpire suggested by him
would be absolutely honest provided
that it is pot i-eT-u-tive in its application
to outstanding debts.
This is not. however. tte chnncre which
would follow the m'option of free coin
age nt l(i to 1. Ther" is st;ll another
possible clinnire . to which Mr. Brynn
made po reference in his speech, namely,
the shrinkage of fie sil'-cr dollar. A
silver dollar cont-Miing ."71 'i trains of
pure silver, worth 53 cents in gold, which
nevertheless passes current for 100 cents
in gold, is an nnomalv in finaih-e. unless
explained. The explanation is simple.
Pift'-thrce cents of the enrreut value of
this dollar is visible: -17 cents of its vnlne
is invisible, nnd consists in credit. Pre
and unlinvted coinnre would destroy this
credit. In advocating free coinage at
l(i to I. therefore. Mr. Bryan proposes to
make the Ril-er dollar smaller not to the
ey" bnt in f-t.
This would ben change of ratio In the
purchasing power of the silver doll ir. ns
compared with a gold dollar, from 15:1
to' 31 :l.
To avoid this result Mr. Bryan gravely
proposes that we should do one of two
things: doi'b'p the weight of the silver
dollar, or else coin gold dollars half (heir
present werglit. Anybody can ee thnt
one of these would have to be done, in
order that identity should be established
between the coinage ratio and the com
mercial ratio.
Which of thesn two expedients Joes
Mr. Bryan favor? He tells us that en
larging the silver dollar would help the
creditor. It could only help him by
maintaining the .present, standard of
value, He also tells ns that halving the
gold dollar would help the debtor. If sn,
it would be by n chhtige in the present
standard of valne. Finally . he tells ns
that he prefers the latter expedient, be
cause the debtor has rights superior to
the rights of the creditor.
The Lesson of 1HU2.
What happened in 1802? Rvervhod
had money, plenty of money: nnd- then
they came to you and whispered in vonr
ear that although you had plenty of
money and plenty of work that yon were
not buying what you bought chenn
enough; that they were taxing the many
for the benefit of the few, and too many
of the American people listened to it.
It was the arousing of the class of em
ployers against the employed; and the
employed against the employer: and we
had the change. They gave us the cheap
stuff, hut iu what condition did they
leave the American people?
It reminds me of a colored gentleman
who wanted to cross the Arkansas river.
and had no means. lie sat down awhile
upon a log and waited until someone
should come up. Shortly a white gen
tleman approached. He says: "Boss, .
want to cross this river: will yon
please give me two cents? I haven't a
cent in the world." "Well, sir," he said.
"if you haven't a cent in the world it
don't mnke a damn bit of difference
which side of this river yon are on."
And so it is with all cheap goods that
these gentlemen furnish ns. They fill
the stores with their clothing, made of
shoddy, brought in under an ad valorem
law by which the importer is made to
swear that it is worth nothing, and "it
is worth nothing. It is made out of
old hats picked up out of the streets
and alleys of our foreign cities, of rags '
from Switzerland and rotton socks from
Italy. It is Bent over to ho placed upon
American backs. ' Thnt is not the civil
ization we want. AVe want American
wages. American clothing and Ameri
can civilization. Now, in ltsib they
came to us. We had plenty of money
before, now we have no money. .They
come to us and say they are going to
give it to us; and they propose this
doubling of the face value of silver.
From a speech by Congressman Fowler
of New York at Milwaukee.
Carlisle's Five Points.
I.
"There is not a free coinage country
in the world today that is not on a silver
basis. '
II.
"There is not a gold standard coun
try in the world today that does not use
silver as money along with gold.
III.
"There is not a silver standard country
in the world today that use any gold
as money along with silver. i
IV,
"There is not n silver standard country
in the world today that has more than
one-third as much money" in circulation
per capita as the Umted States.
"There is not a silver standard country
in the world today where the laboring
man receives fair pay for his day's
work."
TWO