SENATOR DM1S' TO
lbs Doraocratio. Platform Strikes
at the Government's
Foundation.
FREE SILVER NOT BIMETALLISM.
Cond.tion of Affairs Worse than Var
Would Result from Dem
ocratic Success.
Tn n -ix-eili delivered at St. Paul An
j:ut -J. Senttor 11. K. Davis 'minted out
rry clearly the fact that free silver is
not bimetallism ami showed what evil
rc-ult- wouid follow Democratic suc
cess. He said that fur the first
time -ince tlit" election nest preeod
iitc tin great Civil war. we are
required to guard the very foniida
tn 11- ami bulwarks of national stability,
if commercial hone-tv. of tinaneial -on-dnrt
The Democratic l'arty whieh met
at Ch.cago in convention in .Inly MilTerel
a winideriul change in that convention.
The -'lil uraeles aud guides of the party
wen- rudely tnrmil aside. It was occu
pied :i ml dem iniacally possessed by n new
j.p.nT something whieh hat not raided
its head in the Nlitieal conventions of
either iarty for thirty years. If there
was any one thins: whieh the U.OOO.OtHl
of men who went out to defend this coun
try thirty year- ac. thought that they
liad entirely obliterated when they re
turned, it was the malign doctrine of
tate rights, whieh lay at the bottom
and was tlm impetus of the greatest
reliellion which ever reared its head
against a civilized government. I.o and
lieho.d. in that convention, from the
tate f South Carolina, as of yore, you
rind 'he declaration of the same -tate
rights. ;n the same spirit a in the an--cicnt
time, and done in a connection, my
fellow . itizen. which mut apjs-al to the
re-ctitnient and n-pugliancc of every lih-crty-.i'Vinc
and country-loving man. Kv
eryoi.e who knows anything about me
know- that I am not a xlitieal adminr
of t.revcr Cleveland: hut if theiv r
any "in- act of his administration which,
-after the -uutention of hitory have
ceased to rase alxmt hi- acts and hi
fnem -v, that will remain star-bright
fwu. it wa- hi action, when the
pube of btisine Nut low, when com
iuf n a! intercourse wa- cut off bv rioters
ui Cli. ago. by which. uu principles and
jmc-lent laid down by (.eorgr Wah-tigte-u
H"l year before, he evoked the
trar a'm of the Cnited State to re
store 'aw and order iu this country.
lAiii'ie and cheer.
Th. ai-t i- covertly (and cover'ly i
loo ir hi a wonll deiKiiin-ed in the hi--ago
platform. More than that. If there
i- auvrh.ng in thi country or in any na-l.-u
upou which the stability of the gov--rnuient
dcend. the very keystone of
the treat arch upon which the ranged
t-inp.re stand, the ultimate principle of
ab-o!atei-m that mnt exit -omevhere
in all r .vernment. it i the court of our
land, w'.ere men -cqne-tered from oliti
cal mniTnii a ltd ditical ambition-,
hold r the -"ale- of justice even le
twivi --oii'cndiii-.: Ki-tons and contend
ing rigV. decide for their fellow citizen
wh-.t ! e law i. And for more thin N
rear the Supreme court of the Cnited
State ha- -At in that exalted ti'ion.
tn dway :n the caintol of the nation I-
tw.t r 'ic Senate and the House of Kep
jwa Mi:te. a typical object lesson ,of
their ti"n and of their sublime cn
paj retrain either, and has done
more ' conduct the government to the
h i 'ane which it occupies. I was coin:
to -a than all the -tate-nieu which thi
f-:jtT-" t ha- ever produced. (AqIuuse.l
The If.nM platform strike- at that
omrt ?rike- at all court, and "aun-Ciate-
ir mabcu pr.phey of the rcor
camz. Mm f that court and of any tither
court ,f necsary. to rcriter the fitful
and p-i"tiate atnl repudiating lic: of
m.staki n and mi-;ni(!eil men, of mistaken
and m,:uidetl parties.
A Crl.l. I Iuipnilln.
A! wyr-e than that, my fellow citizen-
wre tlian that! If then wa
another thins which the veteran if the
Iat 'ur thousht they had achieved nud
whu b ihe loyal .-eHtiment of the North
thouzht it had achieved, it wa the ob
titera is of aH sectionalism in thi vun
try, ne wen- have no S.ith. ho North,
no Ka, no Vt. auy more. The vrh .b'
nnntT wa to 1- a unity. IIh: iu th
later uay- we the . alii 1 South i.t
in: n;i to the huk- of the Ohio and lie-M:-uri
a- Ufr.- ill- war. alel with
sectional demand nu an t-itH.Hii- i
sue. j.reci.ly sm-h a- ua- uia.b- lH-f..re
tue IC-t-ll:oii. And now. with the f.;n-h-
fork of Tillman -tirrinc Hp the .b-trine ,
of -tate lie lit, with the Isjmb ..f Al'eld
in the dennneiittion of our court -nd of
I'resident Cleveland thrown under the
Tery fabric of our sorernment. they hae
choen to put forward 3 an ine -oiie-tb.nz
which touches uiorv immeili I'elr
the (-f nvi-tHn. the pasin. the cupMity
and tLc hoiie-ty of men. and which in it
f( contains more diinte:ratin: iiillu
ea -es to our roperity than all the
cn--es cjinlom-l that I have Hientioaeil.
The DenKK-rati. cuireution. or the
Iemo -ratic rty. now organized, lia
jo.ned the l'opuli-t arty in loiels of un
holy wlto.-k ii).n Ihe demand that the
Vnited Stat- -hall take a wi-ition iion
the eirreii-y of thi cmntry which I.
speaking to you under the reni:ility
of a man who it s'taking to hi :eigh
Iwrs. -;iy that I believe i fraught with
mire disater to thi- country than the
ereafe-t foreign war could imssibly b-.ug
about. (Applau-e.)
And that is the subject that I have
been a-ked to talk to you tonight alxmt.
I 3 in g'uug to do t, a I said in tie- l
ctruiLc. not with any attempt at deco
rative sjieech. iMit deiinniing any men
wh may c!H-e to differ from ne-. for
I te'l yr-u. njr felhnv citizen-, that many
and 1'iniiy a thousand men who differ
from 11s today on thi matter one y.-jir
frtm row will In- wondering why and
lif.w M.ev came to do it. lApplau-o.i
At. 1 5 I shall go on. I may be ttlioii.
i nM going" to give you fact and tig
tir I mil not going to draw on my
own .m.igiuatioii for my facta at all.
T! e fai t that I tdiall give you will lc
in.; r gi.able. It is for you to judge
wlih-r the deductions I shall draw
fr :n tiiem can lie refuted.
N' w v hat is the question? For a cor
ref f i lcr.-iaiidiiig of the qtie-tion i al
ways the lir-t step toward the -olution
of t'ie rontrover-y. The qui-stion is not
w!j. t!i.-r then- shotihl lx- the free nud
u:.;tmti d coinage of -ilver in the mint
of all t!i- nations, by the con-cut of the
print i..ij comiiHTcial nut ions of the glulte
n ratio to lo agreed tiion. That is
n' t the issue. We all might agree tlmt
wl.'-n this is brought about, as ii will be.
if the Cnited States conducts itself with
judnicnt uion thi iuetion, I say we
might nil agree that that would lie :in
cictllnit thing. The Itepiiblieiin parly
hai pledged itelf in successive platforms
to labor to bring nlxmt interiiational
agre merit. Tin- most advanced think
ers upon linancinl questions in both
he misphere.H are ndvociiling, especially in
foreign hinds, the resumption of the coin
age if silver, by united action of nation
who, before we did, long ago, independ
ently of us, and uncontrollable by us,
uspended or limited the further coinage
of silver: and I want to say one thine
to you that not one of these professors
in foreign universities, not one of these
economists whose name and fume are
world-wide, and not one of those great
fumnclci-s who have given days and years
of thought to this subject, not one, and
nobody except the leaders of the modern
Icmocrncy nud Populism, Jius ventured
to ailvi-e his own country iu Kuropo to
iliiilertnUe that task alone. (Applause.)
The question is this, and nothing more:
Shall the Cnited States, nhiiie. under
take the free and unlimited coinage of sil
ver at a ratio nf 1( to 1"; t.V few cries
of "ye" and "no." nud repented crie of
"no." I Now, see you gentlemen over
there hIio called "yes," and you gentle
men here who called "no." shows the
difference of opinion upon this subject
(laughter), and to you over there who
come to li-teti to me. you will listen dis
passionately, you will Ulgest iny argu
ments, and 1 hope tiually that by the
time you hae done so thoroughly that
you will be inclined to shout "no" with
the gentlemen who rc-imuilcd when you
rcstKiiidcd. tChcciing and applau-e.)
Now. let us lie entirely goiHl-miturcd
about this. I am going to try to give
you the facts, and I repeat it, the i-sue
is whether the Cnited States shall at
tempt to do that thing alone, iu the
fai-e of the controlling fact that ccry
civilized commercial nation upon the face
of the earth, except the Central Amer
ican and 'Soii'h American states, years
ago anil before we did abandoned it ut
terly. And if I -hall succeed in con
vincing any of our friends that we are
not iu position to do it without inflicting
upou the country and upon u nil injuries
which it will take a' generation to re
uiir. I shall le more than rewarded
for the iain- that I have taken, the ob
servations that 1 have made, the studies
I have gone through aud the reflections
which have brought me to my present
conictions. (Applause.)
Mnilt IVe Co ItarLuuril or t'orwaril?
Shall we, for our own interests stand
along with tho-e nation with which we
have cla ed ourselves and who are lead
ing the march of humanity, or shall we
go with .Mexico. South America. China
and Japan, the rearward half of the
great army of human progrcs-, and join
tho-c imiH-rfi-ct and rudimentary civilization-,
which are an oecular demonstra
tion that no nation ever undertook ulune
the coinage of free silver that did not de
prive it-elf of gold entirely. (Applau-e.)
And you have but to glance upon the
mail of pour school buy or school girl,
your little -on or daughter, to see the
fact recorded then' for the education of
youth, to know that every one of thoe
nation Maud- li'sm a lower scale of
progrc-s than the uations which have
declared the licy timn which the Unit
ed States now -taiiii-.
My felK w citizen, the warnings of his
tory are all againt it. The present example-
of nation- who -ingly are endeav
oring to -u-tain them-elves under a single
standard forbid us to enter uivn a voy
age upon. I wa- going to say. untried
water-, but no. uism a voyage which we
can plainly sec other nation are making
at the pre-cut time, where we can plain
ly view rock of ditre , the shoal and
quick-aud of their coure from the -e-ciire
mainland U)m which the American
people now -tand. and from which our
opismcuts arc attempting to lure them
by fal-e light- and fal-e alarm. (Ap-plau-e.i
Now we have got to take fact exactly
a they are. We are not dealing with
glittering and glowing generalities. We
art adminitering ciety and human con
cern: society, a licing erfectly concrete,
infinitely practicable, somewhat seltih.
ami i am going to appeal to tne einu
ne of thi andience to know whether
they will ait in bringing alout that
which I think I can prove will re-nlt
from the art of the gentlemen who are
attempting to miIead them.
Now. my friend-, the wor(d i divided.
jut a sharply a it i by" oceans and
mountain chain. l-twtu the gold coun
tries who emtdoy concurrently with cold
more ilver money than all the silver
countries contain or circulate. (A-jdaii-e.l
I ay that the gold countrie
of thi world, including the Cnited State
(and I call them gold countrie for the
pnrpo- not of definition, but of clear-ne-
of expn kui). employ and circulate
mor -ilver than all the -ilver countrie
of the world employ, contain or circulate.
1 make another protmsinnn. I appeal
to hi-tory and to contemporary fact
which no man csn dl-pute. that every
free coinage country i on a ilver bai.
In't that o? (Crie nf "Ye.") I make
another statement for von to think of.
for I am not going to elalorate it I am
going to get into the tignn pretty oon
every gold ouetry ne -ilver and gold
In aimeint- narly eqiisl by inoner na
tion, l-n't that -o'; if'-ie of "Yc."l
't tbM o i tHe C'iiti-1 States?
iVie .f "Y.-." In Crane'? (Voices
""v."i I nnke -no'her -tatment for
.r ti!i :! --! retWtioii. that no i.
ver t-n.lir'l co-trv ha anv gi.1.1 mon
ev whttevr I.W'btH-e I PoM't tsle
ne word for it. : sn-' inve-ticnte tb'
i'tjct. I mr l's im -ilver eoiintrv ha
inv robl met- whateve-. sn.l mil can
-- from Mexico to Cat. Horn and
find tht thi- -tatemetit j. 'irnct.
Anrther -tstenwnt ami I -ake it up
on a ene of my rc-pouitility after an
evhau-tive examination of -tali-tic, in
vestigation and record that iu every
ilver standard cotintrv wage are pre--eil
down to the very minimum of a wretched
ilitencc. It i o in 'exico. it is so
vi .Iin. it i - in South America. I
f tliat in every ilver countrv wage
are ire-e.l .lown to the very minimum
of a wretched ulristence.
The Itrafcont.
Now if it i- tnie (I will not go into
the ra-on for iti. but if it is true a a
concrete, nli-i.lnte fact, that no silver
country, no country which lm adoptisl
the -ilter -JaiHlsrd ha any gnM circula
tion whatever. I ay that it follow tliat
the onlv prneticabh bimetalli-m on the
idanet i by the nation- with which the
Cnited Ssv- it-.-lf. nnd it
i thi binHtnlliio iu the Cniti-1 States
which the new Iteiin-racy and Popu
lim are endeavoring to ! troy by ule
stitnting a ilver mononictnllim. (Aiv
plau-e.i The liinetallim which thi
country nod the nation- of which I have
pokeii enwiy i the btiuetallim nf fart
and actual enjoytuetit extending to that
full extent whieh human judgment, hu
man exerience. human aiinreliension
call it what you will teach i the pro
portion in which the metals can Is em
ployed iu a degree that one will not de
stroy or drive out the other and that
both can co-exit together. (Applau-e.)
Cor there i, my fellow citizen-, an un
questionable dividing line -I shall prove
it further along, though it i not neces
sary for men who have rend hitrt.
even ciir-orily. for me to prove it there
i a dividing line 1m v..ii1 whieh von i n
not pas iu thi- emplo metit of the m-ttil
if b value without it- drning out tV
other and entirely siipplnutitig it. And I
say that he who in-i-ts ii -nv it logicnl
lyt that the Cniti-1 State -hall or can,
acting alone, coin silver without limit,
a required by the Democratic and Pop
ulist platform, i not a bimetallist: he :s
a silver monoiiietalli-t. who. after spend
ing year in attacking what he deems
the idol of the dark idolatry of moiio
nielnllim. end by immolating him-elf
upon its altar. (Applause.)
Now let me right here-- not exactly in
tin- logical connection throw out a
thought which to me ha n great deal of
coii-iuence. It is represented that gold
has become a tyrant, that its power hit
become omnipotent. nh-nliitcly sclli-h and
cruel: that it ha become n metal which
great combinations, perhaps of nation.
perhaps of capitalists, hoard and gather
for tin oppression of mankind. Now let
me call your attention to one fact. The
free-coincrs assert, when they are told
that the increased output of cold is going
to tend very much ami by uaturill 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 oiie-iuarter of
the gold of the world produced annually
goes into the arts, and it lias been doing
it for centuries. Consider for n mo
ment, my fellow citizens, what an enor
mous sum. enormous aggregate three
billion. Hrh:tps four billions, of dollars
are lying iu the shape of golden ornn
ments, thousands of dollars of them in
this room tonight. Now I want to ask
you this question, if tiiere Is u gold fam
ine, if the power of gold is so, absolute
and tyrannical as It is claimed, if its
possession iu the shape of coin gives its
owner such sway over the destiny anil
fortune of his fellow man, how is it
that this enormous amount of gold, per
haps one-third of that which is iu exist
ence, has not shown the least symptom
yet nf going into the melting pot to be
turned into coin?
Hut 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
mouctizisl, that by some malign influ
ence the money function of silver
throughout the world had lieen entirely
abrogated, and it i- a very catching
phrase. It lm been a very catching
assumption, for I will not call it an argu
ment. Now. I say. my fellow citizen, that,
pncjerly considering facts, that state
ment is inaccurate, not to say untrue. I
us-crt that silver has never la-en demon
etized iu the sense iu which that charge
has been made. (Applause.) Demone
tization means to divest of standard
value a 'money, and 1 say this has not
1mcii done with any dollar of silver coin
that was ever minted at any mint. (Ap
plause.) It is true that many nation
who have approached the danger line of
which I spoke a few moments ago. when
one metal drive 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 ami
at a certain price. Kven that has not
b.-en entirely done, and 1 repeat my
statement that the assertion that silver
has been demotietizi-d i one calculated
to mislead, and i- not true iu fact.
The frllur of T3."
All our woe are dated from 1STI1, the
Ieriod when the free-coiners persuade
their di-ciple that, to n-e their stock ex
preion. silver was demonetized, or that
one-half of the aggregate wealth of the
world was struck down at a blow. Now
let u bring thi -tatemetit to the crucial,
absolute test of figure, of what record
and statistic say upon thi subject, and
not trust to the vague declamation of
any person. The value (and I will give
you my authority for thi statement in a
moment), the value of all silver vain in
the world in l.M.t wa $l.S77.000.OO0.
In 1SX. it wa S4.lC0,iX).0U0. The
value of nil the gold coin iu the world iu
lST:t wa NkMr.,i''MX"h the value of all
the cold i-oin iu the world iu l.S!Ci wa
$4.,Ji).(iM,'". f thi quantity of sil
ver current iu the world in IKCt, $..l.Kl.
:U1.(0 wn- full legal teuder. Now at
tend to me for a moment while the math
ematical deduction is made. By thi
.statement it apM-ar that the quantity
of cold iu the world merea-cd. In-twccn
1ST." ami lSJC. only $1,11k),(XiI.ixx.,
while the iiicrcn-e of -ilver coin for the
same H-riml wa ?'J..0 .000 more
coined in the twenty-three year since
Ii-j : than remained up to that time of
all the coiuage of the world since Noah
left the ark. lApphiu-e.) Ami nearly
double more -ilver ha- !een coined than
cold -ince 1ST.!. Wlint liecome, then, of
the a crtion of the equal and equable
production of -ilvi r and gold from year
to year -ince time Ix-gan, and of the de
monetization of -ilver -ince lST.t. iu the
face of thi- showing that. Ietwcen 1ST.!
anil iSICi the coinage of -ilver wa near
ly twin gtt-nter than t'at of gold? They
talk of the demonetization of silver since
IST.l in the face of a silver coinage
throughout the world -met that year of
over ?:!.". .". of which fTslS.-1-M.-H5T
wa- minted by the United
States! i.;q!ause.i And of gold the
United States minted during the same
period ?!.";T,-Hai.iCU:. And here, also, is
answered a statement confidently made
and plausibly maintained, and yet erron
eous iu fact, tliat there has in all this
time been an enormous contraction of
the currency all over the world, yet
the- figure conclu-ively demonstrate
that that -tatement i not true. Now,
my friend. I have not taken this from
the -tati-tic- of any other speaker or
from any other book. 1 know where the
tatitic are gathered with the care
which command the rciect and confi
dent of the civilized world, and on the
12th of July (only a few days ago! I
telegraphed to the director of the mint
regarding information upon these sub
ject, and he aiiswen-1 me:
"Hon. C. K. Daw-. St. Paul. Minn.:
The total value of all sjlver coined in the
world in UTIt 1 estimate to have lieen
$l.S17.00.ti) and IMC. f4.Kl.i"X).00).
The world's stock of gold in ISTo is es
timated to have Is-cn ",(Ur.X).JO and
lsX. atwnt fl. '.ts M MK ). K. K. Pre
ton, director of the mint." And the-e
figure 1 have jn-t given you are the fig
ure which 1 have ju-t read in the tele
gram of the director. The greatest busi-tii-
transactions iu the way of finance
on the face of the earth are made uion
statements like that, and when what I
have said is di-cti ed the only answer
that will In- made to it i- proliably that
Mr. Pre-ton and the United States gov
ernment i- one general universal gold
bug. (laughter.)
Now let m give you another state
ment. The -oinage of the nations of the
world in IMC lsjc: and 1MH was as
follow: Cold. $1TMT."..PJI: -ilver,
S1.V...-.1T.".IT: lSSCS. gold. SSIlMlUr.lT:
silver. 5i:S7..C.',.ta): iu ISSM. g.dd. $:I7.
'.eJl.UTJ: silver. .-Ii:t.Kl.-..TK:. A total in
three year- of Jl.tCRlMl. JUS. With all
deductions for recoinace this output of
coim-d money is of imuieii-e volume.
Now I have thrown out these sugges
tion and will jKis- from that branch of
the discu-sion and call tour attention to
another a ertion of the free coiner.-: I
alluded to it cursorily a few moment
ago, but I proiw-c to now treat it in
the same manner in which I have treat
ed the last preitsling question. The free
coiners a-sert that i-oiitraction ha- in
flicted all the financial and economic
mi-erie that mankind ha endured -ince
1ST.!. Now I say that they themselves
coolly projio-se to bring alsiut a contrac
tion of currency in the Cnited States un
exampled iu the world's hi-tory. I -ay
that they propose to bring alsiut a con
trarti.ui in the Cnited States unexampled
iu tin- world'- history id fraught with
more evils than are risor-led iu the an
nals of human woe. In that case, if that
i tin- logn-il result and inevitable des
tiny of what they propose. 1 want to
know wherein the goldhug is worse than
the silver eel?
Here f- the lroof.
Now- you ak me for my proof and I
will proci ed to give it. The unlimited
and free coinage of silver iu this country
will drive out the gold. Tlii is as indis
putable as any law of physics, such as
the law of gravitation. It has driven out
gold in eveiy country which has tinlimit
edly coiiu-1 .silver. Do you want the his
torical and clear proof of it? In fact,
there is not an enlightened gentleman
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
say it will only lat two or three years,
that the patient will probably survivj
two or three years, and will probanly
mirvh'e to take the new medicine iu
abundance. Hut I say that they admit
themselves tiny intelligent speaker umjii
that subject admits that the inevitable
and irresistible tendency nud result of
the free coinage of silver iu this coun-
i try will be to drive out the gold. Now
let us see how they promise to obviate it.
it has always struck me that one of
their most enlightened champions wus
Mr. St. .lohti of New York. He has been
'largely and. copiously quoted by them
he was president of a national bank and
' was president of the recent silver con-
, vciitioti at St. Louis and by the bill
which he procured to be introduced in
Congress and which had the endorsement
' of the silver and Populist sentiment
there, they proposed to bridge over this
i yawning chasm which they themselves
admitted would open beneath their feet
by iuiiig intere-t-beariiig treasury notes
of the Cnited State, secured bv deposits
of uncoined silver or gold bullion, or by
, deposit of Cnited Stctes IhiiiiI to be Is
sued of course for that purpo-o. Now let
us look ut this coolly and calmly and fig
ure itin it a little, like men of sense who
are infinitely interested iu this matter
i as one of business concern and let us
i see how this project would work; wheth
er it would not merely
Skin ami tllm the ulcerous sore.
Whilst rank corrupt inn mining all heneath
Infect iin-eeii.
We have JfCLUIMMMMN) of gold in the
United State. I think more. It would
disappear at once in the face of free
silver coinage, or even the certainty of
it. Let this election go Demoera tie
Populist, let the American people record
their will that the coinage of silver shall
Is free and unlimited, long before Mr.
Itryau and hi- cohorts could place the
edict into the form of law. the just finan
cial fears of mankind, of people here
in mis nuiucncc ami ot people every
where, at home and abroad, would draw
that gold from -every vault wherein it
lies protected and it would sink into the
earth as the water which came down
from heaven last night. I -ay it would
diapis-ar at once. This bill of .Mr. St.
John so admit, ami that lisapH-arance
i the very ailment which he propo-e
to remisly. Hut in thi universal ale
senndiug of gidd there would be no gold
bullion to deposit, people would not take
it out of hiding to exchange it for any
pas-r money whatever of the govern
ment which proocil to make all these
obligation- payable iu silver. (Applau-c.)
Thi rene-dy i counteracted so far by
the assumption and admission that gold
will disapis-ar.
Now as to depo-it of silver bullion.
The world' product of silver in lfCM
(commercial value) was SlMli.Sir.M'dO.
If we could get the world's entire pro
duct as we could not), it would take
three year to fill the void of ("JO.ni)!).
(' of vani-hed gold. The nation of
the world will not melt down their
i-oincd silver to deiwi-it it in the United
State trea-ury aud receive merely a
silver certificate.
Nome of the KtlN.
Hut the third alternative i one of
mo-t malign jsirteut. It i propo-cd to
ue the iiitere-t-learitig bonded debt of
the United States in order that the miner
or owner of silver may take his bullion
to the mint meanwhile ami get evidences
of public debt two for one a privilege
not granted to or claimed by any farm
er, arti-au. manufacturer or producer
uimjii (iod's heritage. I say it i pro
mised to u-e the ititeret-bearing bonded
debt of the United States. Now. what
does this mean? It mean an increase
of the bonded debt. People who have
got their bond a intestment to get
their living from in the way of their an
nual income, or anyone else, are not
going to put their bonds on deposit in the
treasury to get a treasury certificate.
And -o the cha-m could not Is- tilled
iu that way. neither by gold, by silver
or by the illimitable issue of bonds.
So this cha-m could not Ir filled. They
admit it will lat three years. What
wiil take place meantime, in the very
face of the danger of it? We are in
the midst of commercial ditres almost
uucxauipl-d iu our history: a panic such
a the world ha seldom seen. It would
throw :s.( kk . of men out of employ
ment. It would depress and starve the
wage-earner, and it would deprive him
of being the liest consumer and purcha
er that the American farmer has. and
by that reflex action inflict unexampled
misery upon our agricultural population.
(Applaue.)
In that state of thing the abys mut
be tilled. No nation could stand such
a contraction. The mot radical remedy
would be absolutely necessary to re
store it. and there would only Ik two
one is to get lu-k to the honest, -olid
standard on which all the commercial
nations, including the United States,
stand now, or to use an irredeemable
paper money, perfectly Untitle or il
limitable in its amount. And when that
comes to jms silver will vanish in the
face of pai-T as gold vanihed in the
face of silver. I Applau-e.) And then
you would have another cha-m. another
iue of money. The wreck i- complete,
and the United State- -tand eutirely
on an irredeemable iaier money ba-i.
preci-cly the plan- we occupied before
the war. ami from which we struggled
with so much pa ion of hone-ty and
love of national honor to emancipate
our-elve. Do you want that again?
(Crie of "No. no.")
Itut. my friends, to look a little ikvper
into this "subject. The misery goes fur
ther that would be inflicted. -1 have been
talking heretofore alsmt lawful money,
and I mean by that, money issued by the
governments of the world, the United
State included. Hut did you ever think
how little of the business of thi world
or of any community like St. Paul and
Minueaisdi i- done on what i called
lawful money? Statistic would seem to
siiow that !." per cent, of the tr.t:isa--tion
between' man and man in civilized
nations, especially iu the United States,
i by way of checks. Iu cities they are
balanced against each other iu the clear
ing house, and a few thou-and dollars
balanced money close the day's transac
tion. Where clearing hon-es do not ex-i-t
I mean in town and village the
depositing of the check in the bank, and
the collection of the banks adjust bal
ance in the same way.
Now. this i the greate-t currency of
civilization. Numbers are inadequate to
expres its infinite superiority in numeri
cal relation to the lawful money of
which we have been talking. This is the
currency that no statutory fiat can ex
pand, although it can contract it. Hut it
is a currency which will contract instan
taneously to its very minimum bv the
oK-rHtion of the Democratic and Popu
listie theories as announced iu their plat
forms. Now what doe- that mean? It
mean Pimply that the merchant, the
manufacturer, the einploer. the man of
every kind who pais ce.it money o h's
fellow-men for lalsir. or for material will
cea-e so far as he i- concerned to "tnit
that currency which rules all business
The lack of confidence will produce that
contraction in that currency. The clear
ing in the Cnited States last week were
SSH.(MHMMm). In the clearing iiou-e-alone,
mind you. and not through the in
fluence of iuterpo-itiou of the bank
where there are no clearing hou-e. The
clearances of the city of St. Paul lat
week were something over Jfl.lX'O.OOil.
Does any man think that such -imount
of inonev a that was u-ed in St. Paul
last week $1.000.XI-or in the ration.
SSll.lHMI.lHH), to transact their business';
It was done by thi currency of eivilizt
tiou which no nation can produce, which
no nation can regulate or control, and 1
say that this currency, more important
than silver or gold or national paper,
will be struck down at a blow if the shal
low projects of the Democratic aud Popu
list platforms be realized.
Hut you have heard from our free
coinage friends here that other nations
have done this. And there are many good
people who believe that France is doing
it, and that the Latin union so-called is
doing it. Now, I would like to know why
they can't tell the entire truth about this
matter. Let us not deceive each clner
and iet nobody deceive us. The Litin
union is conqKised of France, Helgium,
Italy. Switzerland and Greece. It was
formed iu 1SI!T by treaty between those
powers, whereby each agreed until. the
year 18R0 to take the coins .of the ether
powers at the ratio of ir to 1.
Hut ("ermany demonetized silver; she
had ceased to coin it. and so, in 1873,
those great nations, headed by France
(the most scientifically-governed country
in the world, and the one which has the
most accurate financial ideas). I say those
countries, after ("ermany had demone
tized silver in 18T.5. limited their silver
coinage, and by 18T(i they suspended it
entirely. They, those great Kuropeau
nation France, the strongest monetary
nation in the world, with her allies un
dertook with all their power to do pre
cisely what the free coiners of the Unit
ed States are asking this government
to undertale in the light of such con
spicuous failures of other nations.
Inturlahle Staiiilaads Xeeiled.
Now. everybody admits I think the
most rampant free-coiner deelaimer
would admit that the money unit should
remain as nearly invariable as possible.
Now. I say gold has so remained. Sil
ver has fallen commercially like other
articles. Thi is denied. They say sil
ver has not fallen, that gold has risen:
Now. that i the way you look at it.
You can look at it through the deluding
glass nf idealism, and it may appear that
way. but it i an optical illusion. Now
let me put an illustration from nature.
The water- of Lake Sujierior. that great
inland sea rhich floats so much of our
commerce and i such an element in our
prosperity, have for many years been
falling-, until now they are lower than
they have ls-n at any time for fifty
years, and everything on their surface
ha fal!e:i. The waters of Lake Supe
rior, like the universal, spread-out plane
of humanity, bearing everything uiwm its
surface those waters bear the fleet.,
vessels n-d craft of all kinds, and ves
sel and craft and fleets of all kinds have
fallen i-ith the water. AVhat would you
think o' a man standing on the deck of
one of '"lo-e rcscl saying. "This ves
sel has -lot fallen: this vessel stand just
where i diil. but the universal shore of
Ijike Snitorinr has risen?" laughter
and anplau-e.
Now. I ay. ny friend, tha ince the
Latin union, from 1ST3 to lSTl!. aban
doned free coinage, there ha existed in
Kuropeau nation and the United Stnti-
tin only practical bimetallism. Let me
repeat thi-. I feel that I cannot liear it
into your mind too often or too urgently
that t''e-c nation, including ours, are
the only nations on the faee of the earth
that h- any bimetallism whatever.
And w' - Reeaune they went to the
danger ' tie. as we went, and then
.-topped. lAnplause. The universal
teaching of history demonstrated that
there w a ded line, beyond which
silver couid n- lw nres-ed without the
immediate annihilation of its companion,
gold, a a u-efnl. working money medi
um. And when any man gets up and
dream' and soliloquize and philosophizes
Is'fore me and tells me he knows it won't
! o if we try where other failed, I
tell him thti an ounce of fact is worth
a ton of theory, and that something bodi
ly is worth a million of disembodied
ghosts. Applause.
What U Itatlo?
And yet these gentlemen favor, in the
face of thee historical examples ami
warning, that the United States shall
make the unit of coinage the silver dol
lar at the ratio of Pi to 1.
Now. what i ratio? It is not S10 to
$1. a ome fieople claim. (Laughter.)
tiatio mean tin: mat there shall be
sixteen times more silver in weight in a
silver dollar than there is weight of gold
in a gold dollar. Or. to put the definition
iu another form, that sixteen ounces of
silver, when coinc. shall lie the equiva
lent of one ounce of gold when coined.
When gold measured by silver i worth
$lti jier ounce, no di-parity in value can
exit: but when measured by silver the
ounce of gold t worth 4?"U an ounce com
mercially, disparity results. Such i the
present condition, and yet the free silver
men a-ert that it will be no such thing
iu ease leci-htfive fiat endeavors to make
two and two five instead of the old
fashioned nult. two and two four.
The trouble is that our friends have
confu-od the ratio of weight with the
ratio of value, and are trying to confuse
the p ople with it. The ratio of weight
and the ratio of value were once the
same, but they have changed. They
chanced more than thirty years ago.
Other nations -aw it and obeyed the im
perial liehcst of that change liefore we
did. and the ratio i now throughout
the world :C!. or about 32. to 1.
Now I ay that no legislative fiat what
ever it docs not lie iu the iower of man
1 1 was alsiut to say something more ex
treme than that, which it would not be
projs-r to say) it dees not he in the
siwer of man to enact that a given di
mension. Volume or capacity shall be a
hair" breadth greater than the laws of
the Almighty have fixed it from the be
ginning. lAppIause.)
It is necessary that the ratio or propor
tion of Milue should lie invariable. It is
hecessjiry for the production of the thing
itself called money. sieaking of it in its
great volume, a the volume of money in
the United States. We see analogies
everywhere; we see an nnalogy in nature.
Take the air we breathe. It is a com
isiund substance, made up from oxygen
and nitrogen at the ratio of alsuit . .
to 'SI, and while this ratio lasts it i from
it we all draw our lives and have our
ieing. Hut change to any material de
gree and. instead of being the vital, life
giving air. it becomes a deadly and de
structive miasma.
Hut the free-coiners assert that unlim
ited coinage of silver will restore it to a
parity with sold. It has been tried by
many nation- of th..- world. Has it done
it in a single instance? Not one. They
-aid the -ame thing when Con-jres
pa-ed tin- Sherman act of 1S!X). They
said buy of u- frecty 4.rlKi.0('l) ounces a
month, or VJ.tHiO.iKKi ounces a year, and
you will see that silver will go tsp to
S1.2!) an ounce immediately. Iu the face
of clamor, in doubt as to what might be
the re-ult. in willin-ness, (it went too
far) to give -uch claims every oppor
tunity to be demonstrated whether they
were correct or incorrect, that legislation
wa enacted. And silver did go in the
course of nliout ten days to Jfl.l!) an
ounce (Applause by one man) and the
free-miner were exalted, and said. "I
told you so." Hut. my friends who- ap
plaud at that delusive statement, it !ast-i-d
but a -hort time. Silver proceeded to
fall lower than it ever fell before. (Great
applau-e.)
It did not take it long to do it. The an
nual average production in the United
State for ten year before that act wa
p.i-seil wa -I I.OIXI.OOO ounces, in 1S:1 it
ran to ."VI.IMHUH) ounces, and in ISD
to C.l.MHKMHH) ounce, nearly "J.000.IX0
ounce- more than we produced in the
average of ten year up to the time when
that bill was passed, and it was then
seen by all wi-e men. by all men who
had the stability of the currency -ind the
prosperity of their country at heart, with
intelligent vision, that that immense vol
ume would break down indeed it did
break down the very theory upon which
the bill was passed. (Applause.) It pro
duced the panic of 1S!K, put distrust into
the minds of men. The silver men -aid
before we passed that bill in 1SIH), that
silver would go at a parity with gold &
you will only give us a limited purchass
of 5-1,000.000 ounces a year. It did not
go to a parity. How can they say now,
and look the American people in the fac
with steady eye, that where it failed then
it is going to work entirely different and
satisfactorily now?
ERYAN OS THE RATIO.
He San? a Different Song on the
Subject When He was In
Congress.
On the 10th of August, 1803, on th
floor of the House of Representative!,
Mr. Hyran 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 made (as in 1834) by
reducing the size of the gold dollar, or
by increasing the size of the silver dol
lar, 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 a change must
be made, the benefit should be given to
the debtor rather than the creditor. Let
no one accuse me of defending the just
ness of any change: but I repeat it. if
we are given a choice between a chang
which will aid the debtor by reducing
the size of his debt and a change which
will aid the creditor by increasing th
umount 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, a. a class, would be class leg-Nl-ition
and wholly unjustifiable. Ques
tion lietween debtor and creditors are
projierly settled in the courts: and every
court will hold that what is right for the
one i right for the other also. Mr. Bry
an, therefore, did well to disclaim. ad
vocacy of any change of the existing
ratio. Should a change be made at any
time hereafter it c.muot and ought not
to affect contracts antedating such
change.
Hut in advocating the unlimited cors
age of silver bullion, at the present ratio,
for the owner and without cost to him.
Mr. Bryan doe propose a change of the
entire bai upon which buines. is trans
acted. We are informed by him that
there are three way by which the ratio
between gold anil silver coin can be al
tered: 1. The shrinkage in size of the
gold dollar. 2. The enlargement 'of the
silver dollar. 3. Making a change in the
size and weight of Isith dollars. Either
of the-e three methods contemplates a.
nearer approximation of the coinage ra
tio to the commercial ratio and is o far
forth honest. If this approximition of
the two ratio were carried to the point
of ideality, the change suggested by him
would 1m absolutely honest nrovided
that it is not retroactive in its application
to outstanding debt.
Thi is not. however, the change whieh
would follow the adoption of free coin
age at 10 to 1. Then is still another
possible change to which Mr. Bryan
made no reference in hi .eech. namely,
the shrinkage of the silver dollar. A
silver dollar containing 371 '4 grains of
pure silver, worth XI cents in gold, which
neverthele- passes current for 100 cents
in gold, i an anomaly in finance, unless
explained. The explanation is simple.
Fifty-three cent of the current value of
this dollar is viib!e: 47 cents of its value
is invisihle. and consists in credit. Free
and unlimited coinage would destroy this
credit. In advocating free coinage at
10 to i. therefore. Mr. Bryan proposes to
make the silver dollar smaller not to the
eye. but in fact.
This would lie a change of ratio in the
purchasing power of the silver dolltr. as
compared with a gold dollar, from 16:1.
to 31:1.
To avoid thi result Mr. Bryan graTely
proposes that we should do one of two
things: donble the weight of the silver
dollar, or else coin gold dollars half their
present weight. Anylxxly can see that
one of these wonld have to lie done, in
order that identity should be established
netween the coinage ratio and the com
mercial ratio.
Which of these two expedient does
Mr. Bryan favor? He tells ns that en
larging the silver dollar would help the
creditor. It conld only help him br
maintaining the present standard of
value. He also tells ns that halving the
gold dollar would help the debtor. If so.
it would lie by a change in the present
standard of value. 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 1892. "-"W
What happened in 1S92? Everybody
had money, plenty of money; and" then
they came to you and whispered in your
ear that although you had plenty of
money and plenty of work that you were
not buying what you bought cheap
enough: that they were taxing the many
for the benefit of the few. aud 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, but in what conditiou did they
leave the American jieople?
It reminds me of a colored gentleman .
who wanted to cross the Arkansas river,
and had no means. He sat down awhile
upon a log and waited until someone
should come up. Shortiy a white gen
tleman approached. He says: "Boss.
I want to cross this river: will you
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 make a llamu bit of difference
which side of this river you are on."
And so it is with all cheap goods that
these gentlemen furnish ns. They fill
the ston with their clothing, made of
shoddy, brought in under an ad valorem
law by which the importer is made to
-wear that it is worth nothing, aud it
is worth nothing. It is made out of
old hats picked up out of the streets
and alleys of our foreijn cities, of rags
from Switzerland and rotton socks from.
Italy. It is sent over to be placed upon
American backs. That is not the civil
ization we want. We want American
wages. American clothing and Ameri
can civilization. Now, in 1S00 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
basi.
II.
"There is not a gold standard coun
try iu the world today that doe not use
silver as money along with gold.
III.
"There i not a silver standard country
in the world today that uses any gold
as money along with silver. t
IV.
"There i not a silver standard country
in the world today that has more than
one-third as much money in circulation
per capita as the United States.
V.
"There is not a silver standard country
in the world today where the laboring
man receives fair pay for his day's
work."
TWO