f p.
J "
X '
Supplement
TO
COKVALLIS GAZETTE.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 1S97,
OHIO DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.
Its Assertions and Arcnments Con
sidered and Answered.
Recognizing that the money question Is
paramount to all others at this time, we In
vite attention to the fact that the Constitu
tion names sliver and gold together as the
money metals of the United States.
This statement is inaccurate and inten
tionally misleading. The only place in
which the constitution "names silver and
gold together" is where it declares that
"no State shall make anything but gold
and silver coin a tender in payment of
debts." It does not say that silver and
gold shall both be coined in an unlimited
manner or that either one or both shall be
coined at all, but specifically gives to Con
gress the power to determine what the
coinage of the United States shall be, both
as to the metals used and their1 relations,
by saying in explicit terms in section 8:
"The Congress shall have power to coin
money and regulate the value thereof."
It does not "name silver and gold togeth
er" as the platform says, but names gold
and silver together, pointedly giving the
preference to gold by saying in section
10: "No State shall make anything but
gold and silver coin a payment for debts."
If anything is to be inferred as to the re
lation which it intended that the two
metals should bear it is clearly that gold
was to be preferred, since it is first named
in the only place where the metals are
mentioned. If the framers of the platform
, wanted to be frank, why did they not
follow the wording of the constitution in
. their statement and say "gold and silver"
Instead of reversing it and saying "silver
and gold?"
The first coinage law passed by Congress
tinder the Constitution made the silver dol
lar the money unit and admitted eold to free
coinage at a ratio based upon the silver dol-J
inr unit.
The first coinage law clearly made gold
a standard-by first naming all the gold
coins which, it said, should be of the
value of a given number of units, and said
that the unit should be "of the value of
a Spanish milled dollar as' the same is now
current, and to contain 416 grains of
standard silver." If the advocates of
. silver insist that this act interpreted the
meaning of the constitution and that this
interpretation must be followed, why do
they now insist upon a standard silver dol
lar with only 312 grains of silver in
stead of the 410 grains which the act
specifically names? By their own propo
sition they demand a violation of what
they clftim is a constitutional requirement.
This act which they claim is an interpre
tation of the constitution on this ques
tion provides that "every fifteen pounds'
weight of pnre silver shall be of equal
value in all payments with one pound
weight of pure gold." If this is an inter
pretation of the constitution why do these
sticklers for its observance propose to vio
late it by saying that every sixteen
pounds' weight of silver shall now be
eqnal to one pound of gold? Would there
not be equal authority for saying that
every seventeen or eighteen or twenty or
thirty pounds' weight of' silver '.shall. 'be
equal to one pound weight of gold? By
their own proposition to change the ratio
they admit that neither the constitution
nor the first act passed under it is binding
as to the future relations of gold and sil
ver as money. The fact that this act spe
cifically said "that every fifteen pounds'
weight of pure silver shall be of equal
value with one pound weight of pure gold"
Indicates that gold was intended to be
the measure of value, for had the framers
of this act intended that silver should be
the measure they would have said that
one pound of gold should be equal in value
to fifteen pounds of silver. Alexander
Hamilton, who was one of the framers of
the constitution and whose report to Con
gress was the basis of this act, said of
the alleged unit, the Spanish dollar, "that
. species of coin has never had any settled
or standard value while gold
has a fixed price by weight with an eye
to its fineness. This greater stability of
the value of gold coins is an argument of
force for regarding the money unit as hav
ing been hitherto virtually attached to
gold rather than silver."
If the framers of this platform insist
that the first eoinage act passed under
the constitution is an exact interpretation
of the meaning of that instrument, why
' have they and their party always insisted
: that a protective tariff is a violation of the
constitution when they know that the
very first act passed under that constitu
tion declared that the tariff duties which
It levied were "for the support of govern
ment and the encouragement and protec
tion of manufactures?"
We declare that the act of 1873. demonetiz-
Ing sliver without the knowledge and ap
proval of the American people, etc.
The act of 1873 did not demonetize sil
ver, as is claimed by this sentence of the
platform. The act itself says, in specific
terms that "this act shall not be con
strued to affect any act done, right ac
quired or penalty incurred under former
acts, but every such right is hereby sav
ed," thus clearly stating that it did not
demonetize any of the coins authorized
prior to that date, while every one of the
- four hundred and fifty million standard
silver dollars coined since the passage of
that act is and has constantly been a full
legal tender, and none of them is or has
been demonetized.
The act of 1873 was not passed "with
out the knowledge and approval of the
American people" as the platform asserts.
It was submitted to Congress in April,
1870, printed thirteen tihiea, discussed at
intervals until Jan. 1, 1873 (nearly three
years), the debates and discussions filling
144 pages of the Congressional Record,
which was published daily during the ses
sions in which it was discussed. The
American people had ample opportunity
, to know all of its provisions, and that
,there was no popular disapproval of it is
shown by the fact that 112 of the mem
bers of the House which passed it were
re-elected, many of them continuing to
serve in Congress -to the end of their
lives, while several are still members of
that body, notably William M. Stewart
of Nevada, who voted for the bill and
who, in a speech delivered on June -12,
1874,, said: "The laboring man and the
producer is entitled to have his product
ind his labor measured by the same stand
ard of value that measures your national
debt. You require, from the laboring
man gold to pay the interest on jour na
tional debt, which is right, which cannot
be avoided if you mean to save national
honor; but then give him the same money
with which to pay that debt. The ques
tion will never be decided until you deter
mine the single question whether the la
boring man is entitled to have a gold dol
lar if he earns it, or whether you are going
to cheat him with something else."
We declare that the act of 1878
has resulted In the appreciation of gold.
It has not "resulted in the appreciation
of gold," because gold hag not appreciated.
Any article "appreciates" In value only
when there la an Increased demand for it
either because of the reduction In the
quantity or an enlarged need for it in the
current affairs of life. The figures of
the best statisticians show that the gold
coin of the world and the total money of
the world have increased much more rap
idly than the population since 1873, hence
the absurdity of the claim that it ha "ap
preciated" in value, as the amount for
each individual in the world has greatly
increased since the passage of the act in
question. The gold money of the world
has more than doubled since 1873, the sil
ver money of the world has nearly or quite
trebled in that time and the paper money
has also increased largely, while the pop
ulation of the world has increased only 25
per cent in the same period. It is thus
evident that the total amount of money
for' each individual in the world is much
greater than in 1873 and that there can
thus be no increased per capita demand
for gold and hence no "appreciation" in
its value, while the fact that a large pro
portion of the business of the world is now
performed with checks, drafts and other
forms of credit without the direct use of
money further reduces the demand upon
gold. The mines of the world produce
more gold to-day than they produced of
gold and silver together in 1873, the silver
production of to-day is nearly three times
what it was in 1873 and the amount of
silver now annually coined is more than
was produced from the mines of the world
in 1873. The number of silver dollars
coined in the United States in the fiscal
year just ended was two and a half times
as many as in the entire history of .the
mints prior to 1873 and the total number
of full legal tender dollars coined by our
mints since 1873 is 56 times as many as
were coined in the entire history of the
mint prior to the act of 1873.
We declare that the act of 1873
resulted In an appreciation of gold and a
corresponding fall In orices.
Since it' is shown from official statis
tics that there has been no appreciation
of gold but on the contrary a vast increase
in its production and coinage and an in
crease in the other classes of money of the
world, an increase much more rapid than
that of the population, the cause of the
fall in prices of commodities must be look
ed for elsewhere. This fall in prices is"
due to the enormous increase in produc
tion, and to the reduced cost of produc-
me and transDortine the products of the
farm, factory, forest and.niine. Senator
Teffer, in his report to the Senate in isy4
on the cause of the fall in agricultural
prices, said: "In Kansas it appears from
the report of the secretary of the .State
Board of Agriculture that it costs 50
cents to raise a bushel of wheat, -
in Pennsylvania the average cost of pro
ducing a bushel of wheat is about 65
cents. Wheat in India costs but
about 13 cents a bushel on the farm, 12
cents more puts it aboard ship and 25
cents additional lands it on the wharves
in 'Liverpool. This fifty-cent wheat from
India competes (in our best market, Eng
land) with wheat on American farms at
an average cost of 60 cents per bushel.
Wages of India fnrrn hands run
from 6 to 10 cents of our m&ney per day."
The same report shows that the cost of
producing wheat on the great farms, of
California and the Dakotas is less" thar
half the average cost in the Central.Mis
sissippi valley,, while similar conditions
prevail in Argentine and Australia, which
through the extremely low ocean freights
are also competitors , with us in all the
markets of the world. The reduced cost
of agricultural products, due to the com
bination of low freights and the use of
machinery, finds a parallel in the reduced
cost of manufacturing in all lines through
similar canses and also in the reduction
in the cost of mining and the production
of the precious metals, which thus supply
the money of the world at a greatly reduc
ed cost of that prime measure of value,
labor.
We declare that the act of 1873
has resulted In a heavy increase In
the burdens of taxation.
The increase in the burdens of Federal
taxation are mainly due to the increase in
expenditures for pensions, public build
ings and river and harbor improvements,
and any party which would specifically
declare against a continuation of these
would quickly find itself repudiated by the
people. -
We declare that the act of 1873
has resulted In a heavy increase In
the burden of all debts, public and private.
The census figures show that the in
crease in debts since 1873 has been, in a
very large share of the cases, for the pur
chase of homes or theimprovement of
farms, and that the sections in which this
increase in mortgage indebtedness has
been greatest, have shown as a result the
greatest activity and the greatest increase
in actual wealth and genuine prosperity.
We declare" that the act of 1873
resulted In the enrichment of the
money-lending class at home and abroad.
The money lending class can only "grow
rich" by the interest which it receives for
money loaned, and everybody knows that
the rates of interest have greatly fallen
since 1873 and that the opportunity for
enrichment by this means must conse
quently have been correspondingly reduc
ed. The usurious rates of interest which
were possible in many sections of the
country prior to 1873 are now absolutely
prohibited by State legislation.
We declare that the act of 1873
resulted In the prostration of indus
try and the impoverishment of the people.
Industry was not "prostrated" or the
people "impoverished" until the success of
the Democratic party at the polls in 1892,
and its free trade legislation which fol
lowed paralyzed industry in the United
States and transformed its communities
of busy workmen.into idlers, thus bringing
prostration of industry and impoverish
ment of the people." There was never
greater prosperity in the United States or
any other country than that of the years
immediately preceding the Democratic
success of 1892, and never greater "pros
tration of industry and impoverishment of
the people" than that which followed that
Democratic success. It is because of the
Drostration of industry and impoverish
ment of the people" through the opera
tions of the Democratic party that its
leaders now abandon their time-honored
principles and ask restoration to power on
a currency proposition which has . been
discarded by the most progressive nations
of the world and is being rejected by oth
ers as rapidly as possible.
We are unalterably opposed to monomet
allism, which has looked fast the prosperity
of an Industrial people in the paralysis of
hard times.
The adoption of the free coinage of-silver
at the ratio of 10 to 1 would result in
true monometallism, with silver as the
money metal. This is proven by the fact
that every country which has attempted
to retain the silver standard or the con
current free coinage of both metais;at a
ratio widely different from the commercial
ratio of the two metals has lost all of its
gold and retained only allrer currency and
true monometallism, while other nations
making gold the standard and coining
silver on government account circulate
both metals in large quantities, approach
ing thus more nearly to true bimetallism,
than those which by the free and unlimit
ed coinage of silver at a ratio widely
different from the commercial ratio of the
two metals obtain only silver monometal
lism. The condition of the people of the
countries maintaining the gold standard,
or what the framers of this platform term
gold monometallism, is ' one of vastly
greater prosperity than that of the peo
ple of the countries maintaining the silver
standard. There is more mSney per cap
ita, better wages, better homes, more com
forts of life, more education and more
general intelligence among the people of
the gold standard countries than among
those of any of the countries having the
silver standard. Mexico, which is prob
ably the most prosperous of the silver
standard countries, has a total of $4.95
per capita for its people, the South Amer
ican States a per capita of less than $2
aside from the uncovered and depreciated
paper, China $3.33, the Central American
States $3.66, while Germany has $17.59
per capita, Great Britain $20.78 per cap
ita. United States $22.57 per capita, Neth
erlands $24.25 per capita, and France
$35.77 per capita. "Monometallism" has
indeed "locked fast the prosperity of an
industrial people m the paralysis of hard
times" wherever it has been established
by the process proposed by this platform,
viz.: the unlimited coinage of both met
als at a ratio widely differing from their
relative commercial value. ' .
Gold monometallism Is a British policy
and has brought other nations into nnanciai
servitude to London.
It is also a German policy, a French
policy, a Belgian policy, an Austro-Hun-
gar ian policy, a;. Netherlands policy, a
Danish policy, a Russian policy, a Chilian
policy, a Peruvian policy, a Japanese pol
icy, and in fact the policy of the most
enlightened and progressive nations, the
world over. If the United States we're to
abandon her present system and under
take a greatly enlarged use of silver with
out the co-operation of other nations, sne
would abandon the company of the most
intelligent, enlightened and prosperous
nations of the world and join the ranks of
the weakest and least intelligent nations,
all of which are hastening to adopt the
gold standards as rapidly as possible.
It Is not only un-American but anti-American,
and it can be fastened on the United
States only by the stifling of that spirit and
love of liberty which proclaimed our politi
cal independence in 1776 and won it In the
war of the Revolution.
The "spirit and love of liberty which
proclaimed our independence in 1776" and
which is still strong in the minds of the
people of the United States is not in favor
of reducing the citizens of. this country to
the level of poverty, degradation, ignor
ance and practical enslavement which
characterize the condition of the masses
in the few remaining silver standard coun
tries of the world to-day. The only at
tempt to "stifle the sDirit of love of lib
erty" ever made in the United States be
gan in .1801 by the very party and the
very leaders who are now proposing to de
grade the working people of this country
to a level of those least intelligent and
prosperous on the face of the earth,
We demand the free and unlimited coinage
or both silver and gold at the present legal
ratio of 16 to 1 without-waiting for the aid
or consent of any other nation.. '
, A policy which all the intelligent nations
of the world have abandoned since, the
enormous production of silver has brought
it to a ratio of 34 to 1 with gold, and the
divergence still increasing.. - The product
of the silver mines of the world since IS id
is practically one-half as much as that
produced from the mines of the world in
300 years preceding that date, as shown
by the highest official authorities. . .. .
We demand that the standard silver dol
lars shall be full legal tender equally with
gold for all debts, public and private. -
It is now "a full legal tender for all
debts, public and private," except whej-e
such men as William M. Stewart, John P.
Jones, Arthur Sewall, John P. Altgeld,
John R. McLean and other silver leaders
deprive it of its full legal tender value by
making their contracts and loans and
rents and interest payable by the poor in
gold only. Every one of the 450,000,000
standard silver dollars which we now
have is a full legal tender for all debts,
public and private, and the party which
asserts even by implication that this is
not the fact intends either to discredit
those dollars or to deceive the people, or
both.
We favor such legislation as will prevent
for the' future the demonetization of any
kind of legal tender money by private con
tract. An excellent plan; but the fact that the
leaders of the party proposing this now
refuse to follow that plan in their private
affairs, casts a suspicion upon the good
faith of this public assertion.
w in nnnnsed to the policy and practice
of surrendering to the holders of the obliga
tions of the United States the option re
served by law to the Government of re
deeming such obligations in either silver
coin or gold coin.
Everv holder of obligations of tne unit
ed States can receive his pay for them in
silver if he desires or in goia it ne desires.
If the Government were to insist on pay
ing in one metal to the exclusion of the
other it would immediately discredit its
obligations and at the same time injure
the standing of a large share of the money
which it has itself issued and promised by
implication or in words to keep as good as
the best. While these obligations call for
navment in "coin," that term, when the
acts authorizing the bonds were passed,,
related only to that which was the equiv
alent of gold in value and purchasing pow
er, and to attempt to take advantage of
the fact that the metal of which a part
of this coin is now made has in the mean
time depreciated in value, and force coins
of that particular class upon the holders
of those obligations would be dishonest
and would lay the Government liable, as
it does those who propose it, to the charge
of taking advantage of a technicality to
do a dishonest and treacherous act. It
would bring upon the Government of the
United States, as it does upon the men
who now make it, the contempt and con
demnation of honest men the world over.
We are opposed to the Issuing of Interest
bearing bonds of .the United States In time
of peace, etc
So are we all of us, and but for tha
misfortune that the Government of the
United States was placed under the ran.
trol of the Democratic party in 1892 there
would have been no necessity for issuing
bonds "in time of peace." It is something
new for that party, however, to announce
a ceneral opposition to "issuing bonds in
time of peace," as this has frequently
happened under Democratic control of the
Government, beginning with Jefferson
and ending under Buchanan and Cleve
land.
Coneress alone has the power to coin and
Issue money, and President Jackson declared
that, this power could not be delegated to
corporations or individuals: we therefore de
nounce the issuance of notes intended to cir
culate as money by national banks as in
derogation of the Constitution, and demand
that all paper which Is made a legal tender
tor public and private debts, or which Is -receivable
for duties to the United States,
.hall be issued by the Government of the
United States and shall be redeemable In
coin.
This means that all the paper money of
the country shall be issued by the Govern
ment, and would thus be either "fiat
money" or must be sustained by keeping
in the treasury an enormous metallic re
serve, much larger than the one which
now exists and which causes so much dis
satisfaction to the Democracy and its fiat
associates of Populistic- and socialistic
tendencies.
In support of these principles we Invite
the co-operation of all men who love liberty
ana nat&corruptlon. oppression ana tyranny.
A combination of high sounding words,
intended only to mislead and inflame un
thinking people, and coming with extreme
ly poor taste from a party whose entire
record up to the time of its removal from
power in 1861, was directed against the
"love of liberty" and in favor of "oppres
sion and tyranny."
We herebv declare nil trusts and monop
olies hostile and danireroua to the people's
Interests and demand a vigorous
enforcement of all anti-trust laws, etc. .
, . All of which sounds well. But the peo
ple are naturally suspicious of such de-
-clarations coming: from a party which neg
lected during its four years of power to
enforce the existing anti-trust laws, and
which framed its tariff law in the inter
ests of the sugar trust, the greatest trust
of the land' with the single exception of
the one which it is now attempting to
place in control of the nation, the. silver
trust.
We demand the Immediate recognition of
the belligerent rights-of the Republic of
i;uoa, etc.
Which it is generally conceded would
be of little practical value to the Cubans,
and would probablv destroy the opportu
nity of bringing about, through the peace
ful and proper methods of diplomacy, the
results for which the people of that island
are now struggling.
- Wheat's Vnlimhlo I jASsnn.
The silver leaders are utterly unable
to explain the rise in the price of wheat,
and at the same time maintain their ar
gument of last year. The ablest of them,
including Mr. Jones of Nevada and Mr,
Teller, have ventured upon the task, but
all have failed. All are forced to confess
that the natural law of supply and de
mand does apply in the present price of
wheat. But such a confession could not
have been wrung from them a year ago.
Then they were contending, almost fierce
ly, that wheat was low solely because
money was scarce. Increase the volume
of money, they insisted, and wheat would
go up. But it would not and could not go
up without such an increase. Wheat is
now at the dollar mark, and even higher,
and yet there is no more money in the
country than there was last year. And
free silver meanwhile has not only not
been decreed, but the policy stands re
jected at the polls.
Now that the problem has been solved
and' by a process which all may so easily
comprehend, it seems strange that so
many people last year should have be
lieved so implicitly in Mr. Bryan's con
tentious about money and prices. The
Nebraska leader and his lieutenants
would allow nothing whatever to the law
of supply and demand. Silver had been
struck down.- By that act half of the
money of redemption of the world had
been destroyed, and hence low prices fol
lowed, for everything. They picked out
wheat for illustration, and now wheat.
obeyingtbe spurned law of supply and
demand,, goes to the dollar mark. Short
crops abroad, wMk-h create a demand for
the -American wheat supply, knock the
spots out cf -the' illustration, and force a
confession from the silver leaders which
completely disjoints all of the fine-spun
theories upon which they tried to put Mr,
Bryan into the White House. Washing
ton Star.
: , Myers and McLean.
At the recent Democratic State conven
tion. Allen O. Myers was the personal
representative of John R. McLean. As
such he not only carried out the wishes of
his chief, but was, in fact, the most influ
ential Democrat in all that gathering. He
dictated the platform, and on the Sunday
before the convention, which met on Wed
nesday, told a Blade representative exact
ly what it would contain, and he told it
straight.
Myers knows, McLean well. He was
connected with McLean's newspaper for
years, and each trusted the other to the
extent that he dared. For a time there
was enmity between these two men. My
ers was not drawing a salary from Mc
Lean. At this time Myers wrote a book.
It was labeled "Bosses and Boodle in
Ohio Politics." On page 213 of this book
Myers had this to say of McLean:
He has no morals. He Is a stranger to sen
timent. He la not deterred by scruples. If
be has an object In view and has the money
to buy it, In his code of life no law, no man,
no community has a right to question his
act. He believes every man has his price.
He goes straight to results and cares noth
ing about public opinion, methods or the
rights of others. When he can get or has got
what he wants he pays promptly and liber
ally. It doesn't seem possible that such a
character can exist in an enlightened age.
But John R. McLean is a fact. His exist
ence must be aeknowledged.
And now this same McLean is boss of
the Democratic party in Ohio, and a can
didate for United States Senator, while
this same Myers is his chief henchman
Toledo Blade.
Is Pension Money Wasted ? '
The outcry against the increase nf tho
pension list since the McKinley adminis
tration came in still continues, and we
have little doubt that it will go on as long
as new names are added to the roll. It is
not a popular clamor, for a great majority
of the American people, irrespective of
party, are in favor of the pension laws as
they stand and aesire tneir impartial en
forcement. One of our contemnomrioa
thinks it unfortunate that some plan can
not be devised to stop the growth of the
list. Death is doing a great deal in that
direction. It clipped off 30,000 names last
year, and it will continue to clip at an
increasing ratio as the years wear on, for
even the youngest of the surviving vet
erans are getting to be old men.
We have, m a recent issue of the Post.
explained the increase of the list since
the 4th of March by showing that it was
due to the Cleveland hold-up. Nearly all
the applications granted under the present
administration came over rrom the Cleve
land regime. It was the settled policy of
Mr. Cleveland.to hold up claims and nass
them along to his successor. There was
no saving to the treasury in this in the
long run, for a pension dates back to the
time of the application. Most of the held-
up claims were those of-widows, clearly
proven and sure to be allowed. The
Cleveland administration deliberately
halted the work of the pension bureau
and kept thousands of poor widows out oi
the money that belonged to them. If any
one doubts this the records of the bureau
will prove it. And it is in perfect har
mony with the whole course of Mr. Cleve
land on the pension question. His views
are just about those which his ardent ad
mirer, the Baltimore Sun, expresses In
this paragraph, clipped from a recent edi
torial: "It will not be long at- the present rate
before we shall have duplicated the cost
of the war in pensions. This would be
readily acquiesced in, however onerous,
if the money all went to the deserving,
but the fact that most of it is wasted is
legitimate cause for criticism."
Waste is unnecessary or useless ex
penditure. The Cleveland theory, as for
mulated by the Sun, is that most of the
money paid to the veterans, their widows
and their orphans, has been unnecessarily
or uselessly expended. Mr. Cleveland be
lieved that the pension roll was honey
combed with frauds. In order to test that
belief he was supplied with ample facili
ties to hunt down and punish frauds. He
spent a deal of money in that quest, and
the result was a complete vindication of
xne suDstantial honesty of the pensioners.
In his last annual message he presented
racts and figures by which he involun
tarily proved that the Dension roll was a
roll of honor. But although his hunt for
frauds was somethinir very much like a
failure, he met with1 success in holding up
widows' pensions. Washington Post
(Dem.).
Mexican W orkinziuen in Hard Lack:,
A special commission sent to Mexico by
the trade and Labor Assembly at Chi
cago last fall reported that teamsters got
?i per day in Mexican money in the City
or Mexico, while those in the city of Chi
cago get $1.75 per dav in American dol
lars, which, as indicated, are worth near
ly times as much as, the Mexican dol
lar. Street car drivers get 75 cents per
uay in tne City of Mexico in depreciated
money, and in the city of Chicago $2.25
per day in good money. Printers in Mex
ico, $1.25 per day; in Chicago, $3. Press
men in Mexico, $1.20 per day; in Chicago,
$3.50. Shoemakers in Mexico, $1.25; in
Chicago, $2.50. Carpenters in Mexico,
$1.25 per day; in Chicago, $2.80. Brick
layers in Mexico, $1.25; in Chicago, $4
per day. Laborers in Mexico, 37 cents
per day; in Chicago, $1.25. When it is re
membered that these wages quoted in
Mexico are now being paid in alleged dol
lars which are worth but about 43 cents
as compared with our dollars, which are
worth 100 cents, the contrast in earning
capacity is something appalling.
Business Still Improves.
Business conditions continue to improve
and the reports which come from the high
est authorities on this subject are all sat
isfactory. The latest issue of Dun's lie-
view, commenting on business conditions
the country over, says: "Every city re
porting this week notes increase in trade
and nearly all bright prospects. The
great change in business is emphasized by
the presence of a multitude of buyers
from all parts of the country, by their
statements of the situation at their homes,
and, more forcibly yet, by the heavy pur
chases they are making. But the custom
ary signs of prosperity are not lacking.
The strong rise in stocks, the growth of
bank clearings and railroad earnings, the
heavy speculation in many products, but
most of all in wheat, have made the week
one of surpassing interest even to those
who best remember the upward rush in
1879.
It Was Not True, of Course.
"No man in public office owes the public
anything."
The calamity organs are publishing the
above and crediting the statement to Sen
ator Hanna. The Senator is said to have
written the startling' sentiment in a letter
to Attorney General Watson. It must be
classed, says the Times-Star, among the
things that are important if true. . But it
will hardly prove useful to the silver Dem
ocrats as a campaign issue. Its virtue in
this respect is badly damaged by the dis
covery that it is a pure invention. Mr.
Watson declares that no letter ever re
ceived by him from Senator Hanna con
tained such a statement. This early ex
posure of the f raudulency of the cam
paign efforts of the McLean-Chapman
crowd is a stunning blow to the rampant
apostles of free silver.
Wool at -Twenty-five Cents.
Cadiz Republican: It is with pleasure
that the Cadiz Republican can announce
this week that the price of wool in Harri
son County is twenty-five cents a pound.
During the past week Messrs. C. M. Hogg
& Son have purchased the clips of wool
raised by the following well-known farm
ers of Harrison County, 35,000 pounds in
all, paying in each case twenty-five cents
a pound. The clips of Dunljp Brothers,
Cadiz township; John Clifford, Green
township: S. B. Porter, Green township;
R. R. Cochran, Cadiz township; Joseph L.
Thompson & Son, Cadiz township; Henry
McKee, Green township: John McDivitt,
Stock township; Samuel Hedges, Cadiz
township; Ross Mansfield, Wayne town
ship, Jefferson County: H. B. Lacey, La
ceyville, and Oliver Roob, Green town
ship. What Would Happen.
"If the Democrats should gain control
of Ohio they would send to the Senate a
man who would support the vicious prin
ciples of the Chicago platform. The State
would be gerrymandered, and fifteen or
sixteen men, instead of five, as at present.
would be sent to Congress to support
these same vicious principles." Chair
man Geo. K. Nash.
Brief Comment.
The increase in the production of gold
In all parts of the world is proving very
discouraging to the free silver theorists.
The value of the silver dollar has fallen
10 cents and the price of wheat has risen
25 cents per bushel since the free coinage
orators were insisting last year that
wheat and silver went hand in hand as to
prices.
The 1900 election is likely to find the
world with a billion dollars more of gold
than it had in 1896. The wonderful in
crease in the production of gold in all
parts of the world is proving very discour
aging to the free silver theorists.
The friends of the free coinage proposi
tion who have been insisting thnt their pet
financial theory would, if put in practice,
increase our sales abroad are not discuss
ing very loudly the fact that in the very
year in which the country refused to adopt
free coinage its exports were the largest
in its history, amounting to $1,032,001,-
300. .
Miss Genevieve Griffith, engaged in
raising Chinese pheasants in the Waldo
hills, eight miles east of Salem, Ore., has
about 200 young pheasants that are now
taking oil plumage. They are j-et miming
at large, and it is hardly possible to dis
tinguish domestic from wild birds around
the Griffith place. -
The continued rains of the past few
days have caused serious loss to the coal
dealers who have boats moored near Ba
ton Rouge, La. The fleet of W. G. Coyle
& Co., about fifteen boats,' filled with
water and sank.
M'LEAN'S GOLD BOND.
TEXT OF THE DOCUMENT AND
SKETCH OF ITS HISTORY.
Man Who Would Par Workingmea
In 43-Cent Silver Dollars Demand!
Gold, and Cold Only, for Him
elf. Official Records Show It.
The demand for information about John
R. McLean's gold bonds continues so
strong that we reproduce this week the
bond in full with a brief statement of its.
history. It is its own comment upon the
candidacy. of a man who advocates a
cause of paying workingmen in 40-cent
silver dollars and demands good gold dol
lars, and gold dollars only, for himself.
The transaction in question is that of a
contract made by him with the Columbia
Athletic Club of this city in 1889, in
which he requires that organization to
make sundry obligations, amounting to
$70,000, payable to him individually in
gold coin, both principal and interest. .
The transaction related to the construc
tion of a club house for this organiza-
tion, the Columbia Athletic- Club of the
District of Columbia. In that year he
made an agreement with the club by
which he sold to it certain lots in the
fashionable northwest part of Washing
ton, near the War, State and Navy De
partments, and erected thereupon a com
modious and costly club house, the price
of the land and the club house being $70,
000. This money the club agreed to pay
on or before the 1st of March, 1909, and
issued bonds payable to John R. McLean,
bearing his name upon their face. These
bonds he required the club to agree to
pay in "gold coin of the United States of
the present standard of weight and fine
ness," also requiring it to pay the "inter
est thereon in like gold coin."
There can be no doubt about the accu
racy of this statement. The bonds were
prepared and signed by the officers of the
club and turned over to him, and some of
them have since passed into the hands of
other parties who now hold them. Not
only are these bonds still extant and
readily obtainable by those who desire
to verify this statement, but a still more
permanent and unimpeachable record of
this transaction is found upon the official
records of the District of Columbia. The
details of the entire transaction between
Mr. McLean and the Columbia Athletic
Club are set forth in a copy of a deed of
trust given in connection with this trans
action. Among the details of this trans
action, w hich are found on the official rec
ords, are copies of the two series of bonds
which the club was required to give as its
form of agreement to pay Mr. McLean
the gold which he required from it. There
were to be two classes of bonds, one class
amounting to $45,000, each bond to be
for the sum of $1,000, the second class of
bonds being for $25,000, also payable in
gold, and bearing a higher rate of interest
than those of the first class, a copy of
which is herewith appended:
COPY OF THE BONO.
THE COLUMBIA ATHLETIC CLUB
OF THK DISTRICT OT COLOMBIA. -
FIRST MORTGAGE FIVE PER CENT. GOLD B05D;
For value received, the Columbia Ath
letic Club of tlie District of Columbia
hereby acknowledges Itself indebted, and
hereby , agrees to pay. to John R. Mc
Lean, or the bearer hereof, on -the first
day of March, luoa. One Thousand Dol
lars, in gold coin of the United States, of
the present standard weight and fine
ness, at the Citizens' National Bank of
Washington, at the City of Washington,
and interest thereon in like gold coin at
the rate of five per cent, per annum, on
the first days of .September and March of
each and every year, on the production
and surrender of the proper coupon here
to annexed.
This Is one of a series of forty-five
bonds each of like tenor and effect,
numbered consecutively from 1 to 45 In
clusive, and secured by a first mortgage
deed of trust bearing even date herewith,
executed and delivered by said obligor
to said George W. Swartzel and A. T.
Brltton as trustees, for the holders of
said bonds, conveying the said estate
therein described and the buildings, bet
terments and Improvements which may
be erected or placed thereon and duly re
corded in the office of the Recorder of
Deeds of the District of Columbia.
If default of payment of interest on
these bonds is made and continued for 60
days after due demand, the principal
thereof, at the option of said trustees,
subject to the control of the majority In
interest of said bonds, shall become due
as provided in said deed of trust. The
obligor hereby expressly waives all, any,
and every benefit or privilege of any ex
tension, stay or appraisement law now
existing or which may hereafter be en
acted and of all right or equity of re
demption In case of sale or foreclosure
nndcr the terms and provisions of said
deed of trust.
This bond Is subject to redemption on
the first day of March, 1S!4, or on the
first day of September or March of any
year thereafter at the option of said
obligor, provided proper notice of the In
tention to redeem atid pay for same be
given in writing to the holder hereof per
sonally or by puhl!eati in a newspaper
of -general circulation in said city of
Washington, and in either case not less
than 60 days previous to the date named
for said redemption.
In witness whereof, the said Columbia
Athletic Club of the District of Columbia
has issued this bond to be signed in its
name by the President, sealed with the
corporate seal, attested by Its Secretary,
tUjis first day of March, A. D. 18S9.
tSigned)
COLUMBIA ATHLETIC CLUB
of the District of Columbia.
CHARLES A. BRADBURY,
President.
HOWARD PERRY. Secretary. ,
The interest coupons attached to the
bond lead as follows:
S23.00
On the first day of September, 18S9. the
Columbia Athletic Club of the District
of Colombia will pay to the bearer Twenty-live
Dollars in -gold coin of the United
States at the Citizens' National Bank of
Washington. D. C. being six months' in
terest on its first mortgage lionds. Class A.
Mexico's Preclio merit.
The recent enormous fall iu the price of
silver is driving Mexico to consider the
advisability of going to the gold standard.
The example of Japan, Russia, Peru and,
in fact, all the intelligent nations of the
world, is having its effect upon the states
men of that country, and, followed, as it
is, by the business troubles growing out
of the great fall in the value of silver,
warns them tha they must fall in line
with other civilized natioits if they expect
to maintain their business and financial
standing.
Business must indeed be bright when
the New York Journal, which a year ago
was insisting that nothing but the free
coinage of silver could bring prosperity to
the United States, has published a full
page article showing a prosperous condi
tion in New York and the country over.
' Dr. James B. Angell, the new United
States minister, to Turkey, has arrived at
Constantinople. .. ','
V