QUERIES
An Open Letter to the Fopocratic
. Candidate for the Presi
dency. SOME PERTINENT QUESTIONS.
Apprehension Excited by Campaign
Utterances Refuses to be
Allayed.
The New York World, in an open let
ter to Candidate Bryan on 'tuesday
morning, puts some grave and important
(mentions to him. and urges Iiiui to
answer them if he wants to be elected,
as the people are pondering those very
points, and their votes will turn on how
thev are answered and explained by
him. The readers of the Tribune should
peruse this editorial, which is reprinted
here in connection with Bryan's peech
at Madison Square garden last night.
The World says, under the caption
"To Mr. Bryan:"
To Mr. Brvau: On the 10th of July,
the verv day of your nomination for
President, von addressed a coinmu'lu-a-
tion to the World in the following words:
To the World: The restoration of silver to
Its ancient place by the side of gold will, in
mv judgment, restore the parity between
money and properly mid thus permit a re
turn of general prosperity. The World,
which did such effective work In behalf of
an Income t:fV will flud a still larirer Held of
usefulness In supporting the gold and silver
coinage or tne constitution.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN.
The World has conscientiously oousid-
Aru.l vnnr rnnrtwilll rpnupst. It lias
carefullv studied your speeches made
l,.ni.,.T ',m.l cin. o the ChicMini enliven-
tion. It has studiously examined your
record in Congress. It has impartially
traced vour career as a politician, a
lawyer, an orator and editor, in order to I
obtain an understanding of your real I
character the hardest thing in the
world to ascertain concerning any man
It has miblished -every word that could
be obtained from your eulogists and as
sociates, with the same end in view, it
has done all this in the sincere hope that
the knowledge gained or impressions re
ceived would relieve the fear and appre
hension excited by some of your utter
ances, and particularly by some parts of
the Chicago pluttorni, on wnicli you
stand.
In this connection it is only just to
remind you that the plank in the Chica- I
go platform seeming to reflect upon the
integrity of the Supreme court and in
dicating a purpose to pack that tribunal
in order to secure a desired dit-ision,
and the other resolution denouncing
"government by injunction," have been
severely criticised by conservative and
law-abiding citizens. The people have a
profound and abiding respect for their
highest "court, even wncn iney are ns
apnointed in their decisions. They
would be glad to hear your interpreta
tion of the resolution, which is generally
accepted as a stupid and intemperate
attack upon the Supreme court and the
avowal of the purpose to reconstruct it
in accordance with the beliefs of the
platform makers should your election
present the opportunity. Is this your
understanding?
Definition is also called for of the
resolution denouncing "arbitrary inter
ference by federal authorities in local
matters." This is generally believed to
mean free riot with free silver, as
weH as sympathy with lawlessness and
disapprobation of President Cleveland's
action at the time of the Chicago strike.
Yet all who believe in law and order
as the very life and root-basis of civil
ized government regard this as one of
the most highly creditable acts of his
administration. What is your view of
it?
Are you. Mr. Bryan, for actual and
practical bimetallism the equal coinage
of gold anil silver at a ratio that will
Iiennit the fret? circulation of both money
metals, as the ratio of l(i to 1 has never
done? When you say that 'you favor
free coinage by the United States with
out waiting for the aid or consent of
any foreign government, do you mean
that the concurrence of the great com
mercial nations with which we trade is
not desirable and even indispensable if
the country is not to sink to a silver
basis? Do you really favor the mone
tary isolation of the United States
the family of great nations? Do we not
want our money to be accepted at its
. face value all over the world.' lou m
sist upon tne right ot tne peo
ple of the United States to legislate
for themselves upon an questions.
Tins right is not questioned by any,
so far as we know. But the right does
not imply the duty or the wisdom. Con
gress has the right to declare that our
surplus agricultural products shall be
sold abroad. But would such an asser
tion of national independence benefit
the country? Would it have helped the
farmers of the United States to have
had the $8,000,000,000 of exports in
the last ten years kept in the home mar
ket, or to. have sold them for a depreci
ated currency while buying in return at
gold prices? If you would not favor the
isolation of the United States why
should you desire its financial isolation?
In the interest of a clear understand
ing of your position, and to allay if pos
sible the fear and apprehension which
you know to exist, will you answer these
questions in your acceptance of the presi
dential nomination, which yon are about
to deliver? Yon must lierceive in the
preparations for a second Democratic
ticket, and in the divisions and distrac
tions among your Populist and Demo
cratic supporters at the outh, a growing
danger to your cause. We assume that
you wish to be charted. These are some
of the points upon which you can se
cure votes by allaying apprehensions.
You may also be able to do this by reply
ing to these questions, suggested by your
telegram to the World
1. When in the history of this country
has silver occupied "its ancient place
by the side of gold?" Has there ever
been a time when the two metals circu
lated upon equal terms as full legal
tender money, with the mints open to
the free and unlimited coisage of both?
If so, when was it?
2. You say that the restoration of that
condition will, in your judgment, "re
store the parity between money and
property." Will fori kindly explain what
you mean by this? What is the "parity
between money and property?" Do you
mean that the "restoration" will put up
prices, undo the cheapening effects of im
proved machinery, transportation, etc.,
and increase the cost of living to all
classes of the community? If so, will
?ff inSTfLe I"
the cost of all commodities is likely to
promote "a return of 'general prosperi
ty?" Will the workingman, whose wages
are stationary or nearly so, be made
more prosperous by having to pay more
for his flour, meat, groceries, chickens,
eggs, fruits, vegetables, clothing, house
hold utensils, rent, and all the rest of it?
iWill even the farmer be better off with.
a double price for his produce, in the
wholly improbable! contingency that Eu
rope will consent to pay it, if he must
pay double for everything he has to buy?
3. You point us to "a larger field of
usefulness in supporting the gold or sil-
ver coinage of the Constitution." But
what is '"the gold and silver coinage of
the Constitution V In what clatise of
the Constitution, or iu .which of the fif
teen amendments, does the fundamental
law prescribe a gold and silver coinage
or any other coinage? In which does it
mention any coinage fnrther than to an
tnonze the general government to coin
money" and "regulate the value there
of.' Acting under that authority Con
gress at first authorized coinage at 15 to
1. Was that the "gold and silver com
age of the Constitution?" If so. how
has 10 to 1 come to be the coinage of
the Constitution? Under the lirst ratio
silver was undervalued and refused to
circulate .except in the form of worn and
abraded foreign coins. Our own silver
coins, even the subsidiary pieces, were
melted down for bullion' because they
were worth about 3 per cent, more than
gold dollars. In all the period up to the
time of the greut silver discoveries Con
gress sought to make the coinage ratio
the same us the 'commercial ratio. It
never authorized coinage at any other.
Was that the "coinaire of the Constitn
tion?" If so. will it be a return to it for
us now to establish free cViunge at the
ratio of 1( to 1 when the commercial
ratio is about 31 to 1?
4. Will not free coinage at 10 to 1 re-
dlice the value of the dollar unit by about
one-half
. Will it not be in fact a repudiation
of about one-half of all our debts, public
ana private?
. Is there not dainrer that it will
cause the return to us of all the Ameri
can securities held abroad sroverniiii-nt.
railroad and industrial stocks and bonds
thus precipitating a panic of mailt uro-
Jiortions, with, long years of depression to
follow?
t. ill not your election nnon the Chi
cago platform cause the calling in, be
tween November and March, of all col
lectable debts, all loans, all mortgages
that have expired? And will not this
produce such a distress as this country
has never known, nartieularlv in the
West and South, where caiital and
credit are most needed and depend upon
I confidence as their basis?
I 8. Will not free and unlimited coinage
nrive an the five or six hundred millions
ot Bold and gold certificates out of use
as money or as hank reserves.' w ill it
not cause a currency contraction of the
most disastrous proportions, inasmuch
as the utmost capacity of the mints to
coin silver cannot mnU B-nnd this n-itli.
uranai ror several years to come?
y. will not free coinage place us at
once on a financial level with Mexico,
India and China, and can we afford tn
go upon that level?
10. Is there anv eonntrv in the world
today which gives free 'and unlimited
coinage to silver.' Mexico does not.
India does not. None of th Control nr
soutn American States does. We know
of no country that does, of no example
mat can ne stunted.
11. Is there any eonntrv in thp world
now on tne silver basis which is as nros-
perous as the United States, even in this
time of depression? Is there any in
which wages are so high as they are
here, or in which the dollar received in
wages will buy so much? Is there any
silver-basis country that has a large
commerce, prosperous manufactures, or
a well-to-do agricultural class Is it
not a fact that in every silver-basis coun
try in tne world abject and hopeless nov
erty on the part of the masses is the
rule.' i
12. will you explain to us for our en
lightenment and guidance how our coun
try is to escape like conditions if we
go to a silver basis, or how we are to
avoid the lapse to that basis if we adopt
tree ana unlimited coinage at IB to l
when the commercial ratio between the
metals is about twice that?
l.i. And if yon tell us, as many free
coinage advocates do, that free coinage
will raise the commercial value of silver
to the coinage rate, will you explain to
us how in that case free coinage is to
make money cheaper or easier to get.
how it is to relieve "the debtor class."
how it is to increase the price of wheat
or any other commodity?
14. You may be aware that there was
last year on deposit in the savings banks
of this state alone .$043,873,574. This
enormous sum belonged to 1,015.178 de
positors, giving an average to each of
$398.03. It represents mainly the-small
savings of the thrifty poor. Nearly all
of it has been deposited since the pres
ent standard of viHue was adopted by
thp government. Do yon think it fair
or just to impair by 47 per cent, or by
even 1 ner cent, the value of the money
in which these deposits were earned and
in which today they would he paid?
1;. I here are in this state N. l!l pen
sioners. I hey drew from the govern
ment last year nearly $14.1100.000. Con-
sMorine the nature of this debt of honor
when lastly due can you look with far
vor unon any policy that might result in
paying them in a- depreciated currency?
10. There are in the country JW38
building and loan association, of which
418 are in New York. These associa
tions have 1,745.125 shareholders all of
the working and saving classes. Their
assets last year were $450,007,504. repre
sented chiefly by mortgage loans to
homeseekers. of whom 455.000 are mem
bers of the associations. These associa
tions have nearly all been organized with
in the last fifteen years under the exist
ing money standard. Can you think it
fair or beneficial to the working people
to reduce by 47 per cent., or any lesser
sum. the value of these investments of
the thrifty ,joor?
17. Is it not a tact worth consideration
in proposing h descent to the silver stan
dard that the thirty-nine old-style life in
surance companies alone' doing business
in this state Inst year had in force here
nearlv 2.000.000 policies, insuring over
$5,000,000,000. The assessment compa
nies ami various benevolent orders have a
vast amount more. Would it not be an
injury and a wrong to the beneficiaries
of these polices the widows and
orphans, whom a provident love had
sought to protect to compel them to re
ceive in payment depreciated money?
18. The "rise in prices" which you
predict as a result of free silver coinage
would, ot course, mean an increase m the
cost of living to all the people to wage-
earners, salaried men. and the whole
body of consumers. Do you know of any
case in wnicn a rise in wages or sala
ries has been parallel with the rise in
prices? Is there any way to render it
certain, or even probable, that the wage
earners will be compensated for the in
creased cost of living?
19. Yon attribute the decline in silver
to the demonetization of the silver dol
lar in 1873. though that dollar was not
then coined in any considerable numbers,
and was not in circulation at all, owing
to the fact tnat silver bullion was worth
more in the market than at the mint.
Do you consider that the increase in the
world's silver production from 61.100.000
ounces in 1873 to 165,000.000 ounces in
1895 had something to do in causing the
decline, even though gold, the standard
money of all the great commercial na
tions, and the most sought after of mon
ey metals, has also increased its yield
meanwnue :
siirer - nVoTed innendinrtheScoin:
ns ' i j.1
age of noncirculating dollars. Has your
attention been called to the fact that the
government coined only 296,600 silver
dollars in 1873, but that from January
1 to June 30 of this year it coined 7'.-
500.412, or 908,691 more than in the
entire eighty-one years of its history up
to 1873?
These questions are asked in all sin
cerity. The World would be rejoiced to
have it made clear that the policy of
free and unlimited coinage at 16 to 1 in
volves no danger to the country, but
promises prosperity, to all thpeopIe. If
would be relieved to have ita apprehen
sions allayed and its misconceptions, if
they are misconceptions, correctea.
he Democrats in vast numbers who
share this curiosity and these apprehen -
sions stand by what they believe y, be
gard to the currency. . This polky. was'
declared in , 1870 and reaffirmed in 1892
in these words; " . 1
We hold to the use 'of both gold and
silver as the standardmoiiey. of the!
country, and to the coinage of both gold
and. silver without discriminating
against either metal or charge for mint-
age. but the dollar nnit of coinage or
both metals must lie ot equal intrinsic
and exchangeable value, or be adjusted
through iiitornntinniil agreement, or by
such safeguards of legislation as snail
insure the maintenance of the parity of
the two metals, and the equal power of j
every dollar at all times in the markets j
and in the payment of debt; and we de- I
mand that all paiier currency shall be ,
ke"t at par with and redeemable in such
coin. We insist npou this - policy as
especially necessary for the protection
of the farmers and laboring classes, the
first and most defenseless victims of un- :
stable money and a fluctuating currency.
1 hese Democrats still hold to tne. anc-
trine of dollars of both money metils el
equal value, that the country may l.avr
the benefit of a concurrent circulation of
gold and silver, and paper redeemable in
the same. Why not give these iJeuio
crats a chance to vote for you? Why
continue the. alienation of so hirgre .
body of intelligent, honest and "on.jci-entious-voters?
If you are ready li.r
bimetallism, and would welcome .nt-r-
u.'itional agreement, if it can be secv.vd.
t.i Affect a change without possibilit) of
disaster at home, why not say so? You
surely cannot object to an established
and world-wide parity of value between
gold and silver money. Why refuse and
reject international agreement?
BRYAN'S CREED.
The Gist of His Long Argument In a
Few Short Para
graphs. I believe it will be a blessing to the
United States to lose five hundred mil
lions of gold.
I believe it will be a Messing to the
United States-to take half the purchas
ing power out of its five hundred millions
of silver dollars.
I believe it will bp a blessing for the
United States to take half the purchas
ing power out of its billion dollars' worth
of paper money.
1 believe that to cut a dollar in two is
to double its value.
I believe that 50 cents is twice as much
as KM) cents.
I lielieve that the farmer will be better
off when he sells half as much of his
produce as he does now at the same rate.
l believe the tarmer win he nenenttea
by having to pay twice as much as he
does now for everything he does not raise
anil must buy. ;
Since I hold that the farmer wo.nd lie
better off if he sold half as mut.h ns he
does now at the same rate, it fol'iws
that I hold the farmer will be stil! tet
ter off if he sold quarter as much as be
does now at the same rate.
Therefore, it follows that I ho!.' it
would be better for the farmer if h s-old
nothing at all, but let his pro'lae rot on
his farm.
I hold that the city workingman would
be better off if he earned half us much
as he does now.
I believe that all the widows and or
phans whose means of support is invest
ed in loans will be blessed by getting
back 50 cents on the dollar their bread
winners toiled for at 100 cents in the
dollar, and that they would be still bet
ter off if they had to go to the poorhoiisp.
1 believe it would be a blessing for
000.000 depositors in savings banks who
have laid up SU.OOO.OOO.OOO by toil at
100 cents to the dollar to get back half
the amount of their savings instead of
the whole. ,
I hold that the country would lie liet
ter off if half the value of the capital
of the 4000 national banks, amounting to
nearly $700,000,000. were extinguished.
It would help business all over the coun
try.
I believe it would be a blessing on the
states of the American union if the $000.-
000.000 deposited by private persons in
4000 state hanks were reduced to 50
ents on the dollar or largely lost alto
gether. This would encourage thrift aud
animate enterprise.
1 hold that the states would be fur
ther blessed if half of the $250,000,000
-apital in state banks were shrunken to
half their debt-paying power. This
would heln the farmer.
I believe it would be n blessing to
towns if the fire insurance' companies
were so crippled that they could pay only
half the tace value ot risks.
I believe that it would fall like a bene
diction upon the holders of thirteen bil
lion dollars worth of life insurance, on
which they had paid 100 cents to the dol
lar, to learn that they can realize only
50 cents on the dollar of their policies.
1 believe that it would be an en
couragement to. home mnkers to know
that the four hundred and fifty million
dollars in building association shares
were to shrivel to half their value.
I believe that, although owners of
ilver would not permit the metal to be
oined into dollars for Americans when
it was worth more. to export than to
oin. although coinage was free and un
limited, owners of silver are unselfish
patriots in desiring to coin unlimited sil-
eT into dollars now when' they can get
chance to do so at twice the worth of
the silver at the market price and half
the value in the dollars to the people.
I hold it to be a solemn dutv to the
800.0(H) invalids and the 220,000 w idows
nil orphans on the pension roll of the
nation to deprive them of half the
amount paid each -monthly. It will be
esieeially heroic for those who get along
now on Siu a mouth to contrive to live
on $5 a month.
I believe that it is better for the United
States to grade down with China and
Mexico than in with Great Britain.
Germany, France, i Austria-Hungary,
Holland, Belgium.
,1 hold that expulsion of all our gold
and contraction of half our silver and
paper is expansion of our currency.
I hold that the law of gravitation can
be suspended by act of Congress.
I believe a financial quicksand is rock
bottom for a nation. '
I believe that the best way to build up
a country is to destroy it.
I believe my wife lias more political
sense than all the politicians in the conn
try. God bless both of us. Amen.
Chicago Times-Herald.
Will Have to AVork for It.
After Mr. Bryan shall become presi
dent and free coinnce shall be ncenm-
plished the people who were so eager to
establish such a conjuncture of circum
stances will finally discover that rh
are no better off than they -were befi
IS'ot a man of them will be able to g
dollar, whether worth 50 cents or otl:
wise, except in the same wav that
money has always been got. It mnst
K t,t;o .! o.n f 1 1 1......
... ui "V""1 .""'- '
Sr'en ehi8ng' Jhere 18 no
De sl- Orleans Jr-icayune.
Maj. McKinley's talks to the old vet-
erans who call upon him are models of
short,, patriotic speeches, as have been
all his short speeches since his nomi-
nation for President. There are few
people criticising McKinely as a one-idea
man in this campaign.
-.,
.
Foolishness of the Declaration in
Favor of Monetary In
dependence. pflpill ICT inrAC fir rM A Mpr
rurULIOI ILT-rtO UT MilAnlLi
. -
r,.u. .- t lL. 4k-
cr u i iu i i ji v t .
r "iitsmpi 10 invoKO ine Ma-
tion's Fathers in Support of
Free Coinage. .
. Among all the crazy assumptions of
the Ponnlistic platforms, perhaps the
most foolish is the one that we can cre
ate and maintain a monetary system in
dependent of that of other nations. To
make this stroke of idiocy more prepos-
- - t ,,.. ii! 7S
sustain it. The efforts of the fathers
were most earnestly and steadily directed
to bringing the young republic within
the commercial brotherhood of nations.
and nothing was further from their
thoughts than the idea that the progress
of the country could be facilitated by a
declaration of financial independence.
Fbr sixty years after the passage of the
mint act. i.nzhsh. t rench. SSDamsh and
Portuguese coins were freely circulated
in the United Mates, and were a-.legal
tender for the payment of debts at eer5
tain, values fixed by act of Con cress. In
his celebrated Mint Report, Alexander
Hamilton endeavored to co-ordinate our
monetery system with that of other na-
tions not to make any violent departure
from -European practice. The only strik
ing departure that was made in the legis
lation framed on Hamilton s recom
mendations was in fixing the coinage
ratio between gold and silver at lo to 1,
and the result of this quickly demon
strated what the Populistie Democrats
call our "financial servitude." That is
to say, ft showed that while the mints
of France were open to the free coinage
of gold at the ratio of lo to 1, we could
not keep our gold from going where it
would have most value. The difference
was only about 3 1-3 per cent., but it
was sufficient to drive gold out of the
country, so that in the words of Senator
Benton its extinction was complete.
.If the establishment of a ratio of their
own was a strike for financial independ
ence of Europe on the part of the "fa
thers, it was a manifest failure, and
established for the first generation of
the republic a regime of silver mono
metallism. But this was not in the
least what they desired; in fact, so little
were they impressed by the necessity for
keeping silver as a part of the circula
tion that the coinage of silver dollars
was suspended by executive order in
1805 and was, for domestic purposes, at
least, never resumed. mat is to say,
the fathers were so determined to get
back the gold that for thirty years they
had been shunting into Kuropean mints
that they hxed a new ratio, which of
fered 3 per cent, more to the possessor
of gold bullion than he could get in
France or Holland. That the bullion iu
the silver dollar thus became more valua
hie than the bullion in the gold dollar did
not trouble them much, for they, appar
ently, did not want the silver dollar-
halves, quarters and dimes of this metal
being sufficient for their wants and all
the subsequent coinage of that much
talked-of but little known piece, "the
dollar of the fathers," was for exort to
the Kast. Here, again, if monetary in
dependence was what they are aiming
at. the result was a- failure, for Kurope
diverted into its own mints the silver
of the United States as peremptorily as
it had done the gold, for the simple rea
son that no law could compel the own
cr of bullion not to take it where be
irot most for it in returned coins.
But the Populists are determined to
have an economic and financial system
which shall make us masters of our own
affairs." Among the preliminaries of
such a condition of things, they are at
least logical enough to recognize the ne
cessity of interfering with the freedom
of private contract. That was a !cure
for financial lameness not thought of by
the fathers of the republic, and .is one
generally deemed to be contrary to the
letter and spirit of the constitution which
they framed. But the transformation of
the Democrat into the Populist seems,
among other changes, to work a surpris
ing indifference to the value of the safe
guards of the constitution. From old
habit, there is the customary profession
of allegiance to "those great essential
principles of justice and liberty upon
which our institutions are founded, only
to be followed by a series of propositions
destructive alike of the principles mid
Institutions. On whatever other points
the makers of the constitution may have
idiffered. they were entirely at one as to
the obligation both of nations and of in
dividuals to make an honest provision
for paying their debts. Rochester Post.
The Difficulty is the Tariff.
In a recent speech at I.a Grange, Iud.,
Senator Burrows said:
"With all the vagaries of the three
Bryan platforms they all unite in the de
mand for the free anil unlimited coinage
of silver at 10 to 1. and to that question
Mr. Bryan' devoted a goodly, jiortion of
his time in his speech of acceptance. lie
declared that 'times arc hard, prices are
low, and something is vitally wrong.' It
is not the. crime of '7.'1, however, but the
folly of '92, when Harrison was defeated
and the prosperity of the United States
lestroyed.
"Mr. Whitney says: 'Don't tall; about
the tariff.' But the whole difficulty to
day is tariff. When McKinley is president
the money question will settle itself.
.More silver dollars were coined dur
ing Kepublicnn administrations than dur
ing all of the other eighty-three years of
our history.
"Panic always accompanies free trade.
During the thirty years from 1-Xi'l to
1892 we had unbounded prosperity:
wealth advanced: this republic took a
lead in manufacturing ami stood ahead of
all other nations until March 4. 1S!I.'.
The public debt was reduced (luring ie
publican administrations, and increased
under Democratic. Then? is not a sinli-
day .but the government is ruimitiir be
hind. The deficiency during Julv, 1890.
alone was $13,000,000.
lhe results of the Democratic txilicv
are so evident that a new issue was nec
essary to give them even a fighting
chance before the iieonie in this
paign, and so they say that in 1873 the
nepuunenn party caused the t rouble l.v
demonetizing silver. If that is so whv
did it not show itself before 1893? We
were prosperous in '92, and the crime had
beeij, committed before then."
Gen. Walker's Bimetallism.
Francis A. AValker. president of the
Boston Institute of Technology, may be
called the leader of the bimetallisms' of
1. TTnitful Sttnna an f.. .. X
" - c y Uico, oy Ul utll ill
politics can be called a leader of a more-
ment which has become a politicaHssueT
national bimetallism for more than twen-
y years. - He. speaks with authority on
all economic questions, but' bimetallism
ma7 De called his hobby,
A new book, written without regard to
the present situation, but singularly ap-
propriate, ' has just appeared. bearing
Gen. Walker's name on the title page.
It is a plea for bimetallism and in strong
oipoiuon xo ine goiu uioiiouieiuijisis,
He says, though, as" every other true hi-
metallist says, that the attempt on the
part of this country to coin silver in
unlimited auailtities free, without an nn
derstanding with other nations, would
be an assault on the cause of bimetallism
and practical suicide for-the finances o
the United States. In 1878 Gen. Walk
er said: "For us to. throw ourselves
alone into the lireach. simply because
we think silver' ought not to have been
demonetized and ought now to be re
stored, would be a piece of Quixotism nn
worthy the sound practical sense of our
neonle. The remedy of the wrong must
be sought in the concerted action of the
civilized states, under an increasing con
viction of the impolicy of basing1 the
world s trade on a single money metal,
This is his omnion today. -
As to the possibility of free coinage
without an immediate fall to a silver
basis, and the strident claim that thi
country is big enoueh to "legislate for it
self," Gen. Walker points out two facts.
The stock of precious metals has so
greatly increased in the world, and com
muiucation and transportation are so
much more, rapid than of old. that even
France Jonnd it impossible' in iXt
continue free silver coinage. Since there
is vastly less' money metal used in tb
United States than in France, the in
fluence which this country can exert
upon the money market of the world is
less than tha. influence of .France. And
yet no one accuses Gen. AValker of be
ing less a patriot or less proud of the
country for which he fought than the
youngest orator of the far -west, j ue
difference is that he is a student and a
man of sense. Syracuse Post.
The Money of the Constitution
AVhnf wild talk is this of the "silver-
ites' " convention, "in favor of restoring
to the people of the United States the
time-honored money of the constitution
, I . t.., 1 1. V
goia ana silver uui uhc, wu..
TIip constitution Drescribes no . such
money, nor any form of money what
ever.
vtnt if it is 'Void and silver not one,
lint hnth" that thev want, why are they
not contented now? Both gold and silver
are in circulation now. on equal terms,
in larger quantities than ever oeiore,
Tn tha tivontt.twn vears since the blood
curdling "crime of 1873" was perpetrated
more than titty times as many snver oi
lars have been coined as iu the eighty
rpara tirpcedilicr.
The simple fact is that the United
States has a very much larger actual
supply of full legal-tended silver money
thnn nnv other country in th world.
excepting India and China, and a larger
supply in proportion io u pijuiiiiiuu
than any other, excepting France, Spain
and Holland, it nas more gom m circu
lation, actualllv. than any in the world
excepting only France, aud more propor
tmnntc lv than any Kuropenn country.
nvcnntiiic Great Britain. France and
Germanv. It also has more money o
all kind's in circulation, and all at par,
4-l.nn mnut tlfltinllll of thp WOrlll.
Less talk and more reflection would
convince these would-be currency re
formers that we already have what
thev talk of as "the time-honored money
nf th.. constitution." ill abundant supply
for every man who is willing honestly
to earn 'it. .New lorn l rinune.
Mills, Not Mints.
More truth cannot be crowded into an
equal number ot words man is loiinu in
this passage of Maj. McKinley's speech
in renlv to a congratulatory nuuress iroui
some of his Old comrades in arm;
I rtn not know what you thluk about It,
but I believe it is a good deal better to open
.... h mills nt the I nlted states to tne in
n,,.. A..,oi-l,. thnn to onen 110 the mints 01
the rnlteit States to the sliver of the world
rhis goes hard and straight to the
win fif the matter.
Times are not dull iu Pittsburg because
there is no mint coining silver or goui
dollars in that city, but because the
great iron work are not running on full
time. There was no mint at work in
South Chicago .when the rolling mills
were nt work bv night and by day. but
there was a wage roll of ."fO.OOO.OOO a
..nr It wax not tiecaiise of the activity
of thp mints that louisiana nearly dou
bled its sugar output, but because ot tne
McKinley bounty. It was nor Because
the mints were more active in 1891 than
in 18i that 111 the first year men were
striking because they could not earn
more than $3 per day. and in- the last
were huntinc for work at iu cents, and
for the most part, not finding it. The
mints were turning out as much money
in 181BS as in 1S91. But the mills were
uot turning out so many yards of cloth
or tons of iron. . ,
Start the nulls .and the mints will lie-
come active. Keturn to protection, and
the currency will settle itself. Chicago
Inter (Venn.
Free Silver and AVuges.
A correspondent attempts to explain
how wages would be increased under
free silver coinage by asserting that
trades unions, through strikes and
other means, would force the prn-e of
labor to a higher standard. Ibis is
sheer nonsense.
Kxnerience has conclusively demon
strated that wages, under a debased sys
tem of currency, never increased iu the
same degree as the money cost of com
modities. If there was ever a condition
of affairs which was favorable to such
nn Increase it was during the Rebellion.
AVe were not only 011 a cheap money
basis, but the ranks of labor had beu
norniously deileted to send men to the
trout to nntiie ior tne repuniic. let.
what actually occurred? Judged by the
purchasing power of his wages the la
borer in 18i3 received only 70 cents
where he had received a gold dollar
100: in 1804 he received about 81 cents
and 111 isihi a little over it cents.
But how do workingnieii fancy the iden
of hem:; compelled to resort to "strikes
11 order that their wages may have the
same purchasing power innr iney uo
now? It will occur to sensible toilers
that if free silver cotnagu is going to
precinitate strikes, not really for higher
wages, tint -simply to keep the wages
that already exist, it will be the nnrt of
wisdom to let well enough alone. New
York Commercial Advertiser.
To Sound Money. Democrats.
Here is n brief and simple catechism
r sound money Democrats:
"Do you want to beat Bryan?"
"If von want 'to beat Bryan, do you
know of any other way of doing it than
bv electing McKinley?"
If vou want to heat Bryan, and 1I1111 1
know of any other way of doing it than
bv fleeting McKinley. why don't you
ake vour coat off and wade 111 and elect
McKinley?"
Answers to these interrogatories arc
respectfully solicited from sound money
Democrats' who declare the currency the
paramount issue mid yet refuse to act
as if they believed what they said. Bos
ton Journal.
Curiosities of Our Money.
Few persons nre aware that silver cer
tificates are not legal tender, though re
ceivable for public dues. The fact was
recently, it is stated, forced on the
attention of the postoflit department by
a person who refused to accept the cer
tificates in payment of a money order.
Thus, it seems, the government is obliged
to receive silver certificates, but cannot
pay them out to any oue unwilling to re
ceive them. Should our silver friends be
come able to legislate, they will doubtless
make the' certificates legal tender, so as
to force the unwilling patriot to take the
paper representative of 53 cents at a 100
ceut valuation.
HALSTEAD'S LETTER:
Writer Introduces Himself to the
. Farmers Telling of His Own :
Rural Experiences
WHATISWRONG WITH FARMING?
Propounds and Answers This Question
Advocating McKinley and His
Policy as a Panacea.
Special Correspondence of the Chicago Dally
News,
New York, Aug. 5. I desire to intro
duce myself to the farmers by saying I
am by trade one of them, though for a
long time engaged in daily labor on the,
daily papers. There are still some frosty
old friends of mine who can testify of
their own knowlwlge (hat fifty years ago
there wasn't a boy in Butler county, O.,
who could turn a furrow better than I.
or was more expert in using plows left
or right handed on hillsides or level
lands, so as to leave less unbroken land
at the turns than I, and there is 110 light
work I would like better now than plow
ing corn when it is about as high as a
pluiwboy. The trouble then is it is so brit-
tie, and it is very provoking to have the
pretty stalks broken and many a horse I
have lammed as a punishment for put
ting his rude foot into a hill of corn. I
wns a great boy to bind wheat, rye, oats
or barley with double bands, and once I
tied up a blacksnake in n sheaf of wheat
so tight be could not get out, and there
never was a snake or a boy more aston
ished. 1 could heat the girls dropping
corn four grains to the hill and I know
all about husking frosty ears of corn
with a bone husking peg, held by a strap
over the two middle fingers of the right
hand; and the accomplishments of dig
ging potatoes without cutting them, and
mixing green ami dry food for horses,
aud watching calves become cattle, colts
evolve into horses, lambs and pigs bloom
iiiiu Mieep mm nogs, are, wun an ine
hopes ami fears associated with them, fa
miliar. The .practical farmers will de
tect in these observations the presence of
a line of information not pulled out of
books or picked up in schools. I know,
too, about the way good old farms grow
less vaiuanie. 111 pite of laithful atten
tion, apd how it is that some farmers
who do not buy pianos on the install
ment plan find it a pleasant experience to
borrow money.
Farmer Are Discouraged.
The news has been circulated a eood
deal and not conclusively contradicted
that this year a good many farmers are
so discouraged by thp way their affairs
have been going that they are. ready to-
do something iiiicxiM-ctcd in politics
that some of them think maybe there is
something in free silver that would
just tit their case therefore, that there-
are Republican farmers who if not en
lightened nre liable to vote for Brvan
and Watson or Bryan and Sejvall. They
have heard so much about free silver as-
a patent medicine to cure the rheuma
tism, heartburn, earache, fistula, dyspep
sia and vertigo that they do not know
but they will try if. If they do they will
make the same mistake the workmen
did four years ago and invite even a
greater misfortune than they tumbled
upon themselves. There is absolutely
nothing in free silver for farmers.
Whatever they want for relief it cer
tainly is not depreciated money dollars
debased. We have been going oil now
with dollars of the same value as that
of gold for eighteen years and a change-
in the purchasing power of a dollar will
not help any honest man. unless it is
incidentally and in a itctty and frac
tional way.
What is the matter with farming?
The owner of one of the finest farms in
Kugland, within sight of the forest of
Windsor and the towers of Windsor
castle, stated to me that wheat had got
so cheap in England that t Ii . straw was
more valuable than the grain. The de
pression is not exclusively American.
I he trouble is acknowledged what is
the'remedy? Whatever may be wrong,
and however difficult it may be to right
the wrong, there should not lie a fann
er iu all America so ignorant as not. to-
know that the man who has done most to
frame 11 tariff law to help the farmers is
William McKinley.
. What McKinley Has Done. - '
What did he do? Consider sugar boun- .
ties, for one thing. If the law had been '
allowed to remain as he drew it Nebras
ka by this time would have teemed with
eei-sugar manutacioiies, every one n
In to the farmers, aud the soil of
Nebraska is better for sugar beets than
that of Germany only needs a good
start to establish an enormous and in
valuable industry. The McKinley duty
on barley caused the raising of millions
of bushels additional to the average of
former crops, and this reduced sensibly
he excess of wheat production. 1 :11s is
an example of what we mean by the di
versified industry thnt the protective sys
tem promotes. AVe want more of it. and
that is McKinleyism.
hy nre wheat and butter down? As
to wheat: The use of agricultural ma-
hinerv and the improvement 111 trims-
nortation has cheapened labor and ex
tended available territory. Argentina is
nrodurious wheat held. I he soil is
ilmirable. the rivers are deep, the plains
ive full swee-i to the machinery, the rail
roads have nothing else to do than car
ry the whent to market and the steamers
arry the grain to Liverpool in Inure car-
oes. Sailing vessels whose sails are
pulled about by steam, saving hands.
heaiH'il the cost of putting uown av-
nrii'a wheat in Liverpool. Kgypt. India,
inai'.a. Russia, compete with us in the
wheat market of Western Eurooe. The
we'd is a sort of eonntrv ii"hhhnr!iood.
What is the matter with butter.' Ijcc
the nrice of butter go up 111 .New 1 ork
to 25 or 30 cents a pound a living can
be made producing butter at those fig-
ures what happens? A cable niessaue
goes to Australia and there are ship-
lents ol tliousnnns or tons or excciienr
utter at once. And it can be plained
n New York and profitably sold at 12
ents a pound. 1 caunot be produced
New lork at those bgures. 1 Ins il
lustration is not imaginary. The trans-
fmiis supposed have occurred recently.
What is the remedy? We can answer
confidently that the coinage of more
lver dollars will not be a help. We
on
ght to raise our own ln'r'ey. our own
ops.
our own egffs. chickens, onions
nd potatoes, to make our own sugar
nd our own tinplate, so as to give the
dvantnge of our own markets, the most
aluable in the world or that ever were
it. to our own people. 1 ne produc
tion of articles we have just named
would turn over to American working
men 100.000.000 of gold dollars annually.
nd then custom womu improve mo
vable of the farms. Ihere is no patent
nostrum about this. Our records are
full of the proof furnished by our own
vnprience. The best thing the farm
er can do is to try McKinleywm.
jiu rat 1 in 1st cut. . j
THREE