232 



CONGRESS. (SPECIAL SESSION THE SHERMAN ACT.) 



now be censured for allowing the panic to go as 

 far as it has before reducing his prices. 



" It seems cruel that upon the growers of 

 wheat and cotton our staple exports should be 

 placed the burden of supplying us at whatever 

 cost with the necessary gold, and yet the finan- 

 cier quoted has suggested the only means, ex- 

 cept the issue of bonds, by which our stock of 

 gold can be replenished. If it is difficult now 

 to secure gold, what will be the condition when 

 the demand is increased by its adoption as the 

 world's only primary money? We would sim- 

 ply put gold on an auction block, with every 

 nation as a bidder, and each ounce of the stand- 

 ard metal would be knocked down to the one 

 offering the most of all other kinds of property. 

 Every disturbance of finance in one country 

 would communicate itself to every other, and in 

 the misery which would follow it would be of 

 little consolation to know that others were suf- 

 fering as much as, or more than, we. 



" I have only spoken of the immediate effects 

 of the substitution of gold as the world's only 

 money of ultimate redemption. The worst re- 

 mains to be told. If, as in the resumption of 

 specie payments in 1879, we could look forward 

 to a time when the contraction would cease, the 

 debtor might become a tenant upon his former 

 estate, and the home owner assumes the role of 

 the homeless with the sweet assurance that his 

 children or his children's children might live to 

 enjoy the blessings of a ' stable currency.' But, 

 sir, the hapless and hopeless producer of wealth 

 goes forth into a night illuminated by no star ; he 

 embarks upon a sea whose farther shore no 

 mariner may find ; he travels in a desert where 

 the ever-retreating mirage makes his disappoint- 

 ment a thousandfold more keen. Let the 

 world once commit its fortunes to the use of 

 gold alone, and it must depend upon the annual 

 increase of that metal to keep pace with the 

 need for money. 



" The director of the mint gives about $130,- 

 000,000 as the world's production for last year. 

 Something like one third is produced in con- 

 nection with silver, and must be lost if silver 

 mining is rendered unproductive. It is esti- 

 mated that nearly two thirds of the annual 

 product is used in the arts, and the amount so 

 used is increasing. Where, then, is the supply 

 to meet the increasing demands of an increasing 

 population? Is there some new California or 

 some undiscovered Australia yet to be explored ? 



" Is it not probable that the supply available 

 for coinage will diminish rather than increase? 

 Jacobs, in his work on the ' Precious Metals,' has 

 calculated the appreciation of the monetary 

 unit. He has shown that the almost impercepti- 

 ble increase of 2 per cent, per year will amount 

 to a total appreciation of 500 per cent, in a cen- 

 tury. Or, to illustrate, that cotton at 10 cents to- 

 day and wheat at 60 cents would mean cotton at 

 2 cents and wheat at 12 cents in one hundred 

 years. A national, State, or municipal debt re- 

 newed from time to time would at the end of 

 that period be six times as great as when con- 

 tracted, although several times the amount 

 would have been paid in interest. 



" When one realizes the full significance of a 

 constantly appreciating standard he can easily 

 agree with Alison that the Dark Ages resulted 



from a failure of the money supply. How can 

 any one view with unconcern the attempt to 

 turn back the tide of civilization by the com- 

 plete debasement of one half of the world's 

 money ? When I point to the distress which, 

 not suddenly, but gradually, is entering the 

 habitations of our people ; when I refer you to 

 the census as conclusive evidence of the unequal 

 distribution of wealth and of increasing tenancy 

 among our people, of whom, in our cities, less 

 than one fourth now own their homes; when I 

 suggest the possibility of this condition con- 

 tinuing until, passed from a land of independent 

 owners, we become a nation of landlords and 

 tenants, you must tremble for civil liberty itself. 

 " Free government can not long survive when 

 the thousands enjoy the wealth of the country 

 and the millions share its poverty in common. 

 Even now you hear among the rich an occa- 

 sionally expressed contempt for popular govern- 

 ment, and among the poor a protest against 

 legislation which makes them 'toil that others 

 may reap.' I appeal to you to restore justice 

 and bring back prosperity while yet a peaceable 

 solution can be secured. We mourn the lot of un- 

 happy Ireland, whose alien owners drain it of its 

 home-created wealth ; but we may reach a con- 

 dition, if present tendencies continue, when her 

 position at this time will be an object of envy, 

 and some poet may write of our cities as Gold- 

 smith did of the 'Deserted Village' : 



While scourged by famine from a smiling land, 

 The mournful peasant leads his humble nand, 

 And, while he sinks without one arm to save, 

 The country blooms a garden and a grave. 



Mr. Bryan summed up the party pledges on 

 the subject as follows : 



" Sirs, what will be the answer of the people 

 whom you represent, who are wedded to the 

 1 gold and silver coinage of the Constitution,' if 

 you vote for unconditional repeal, and return 

 to tell them that you were commended for the 

 readiness with which you obeyed every order, 

 but that Congress has decreed that one half of 

 the people's metallic money shall be destroyed ? 



" They demand unconditional surrender, do 

 they? Why. sirs, we are the ones to grant 

 terms. Standing by the pledges of all the parties 

 in this country, backed by the history of a hun- 

 dred years, sustained by the most sacred inter- 

 ests of humanity itself, we demand an uncondi- 

 tional surrender of the principle of gold mono- 

 metallism as the first condition of peace. You 

 demand surrender! Ay, sirs, you may cry 

 ' Peace ! peace ! ' but there is no peace. Just so 

 long as there are people here who would chain 

 this country to a single gold standard, there is 

 war eternal war ; and it might just as well be 

 known now ! I have said that we stand by the 

 pledges of all platforms. Let me quote them : 



" The Populist platform adopted by the nation- 

 al convention in 1892 contained these words : 



We demand free and unlimited coinage of silver 

 and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1. 



" As the members of that party, both in the Sen- 

 ate and in the House, stand ready to carry out 

 the pledge there made, no appeal to them is 

 necessary. 



" The Republican national platform adopted in 

 1888 contains this plank : 



