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PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER. PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY THE PEOPLE’S PAPER PUBLISING COMPANY. 117 1-2 Whitehall St. THOS. E. WATSON, - - President. C. C. POST, - - - Vice-President. D. N. SANDERS, - - Sec. & Treas. R. F. GRAY, - Business Manager. Subscription, One Dollar Per Year, Six Months 50 cts., Three Months 25. In Advance. Advertising Rates made known on appli cation at the business office. Money may be sent by bank draft, Post Office Money Order, Postal Note or Registered Letter. Orders should be made payable to PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER. ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT. W. H. Lowe, Room 8, 171 Peachtree Street, is the advertising agent of this paper. TO ADVERTISERS. The circulation of Hie People’s Party Paper is now 17,000 copies to actual sub scribers. No better medium could be found for reachihg the farmers of Geor gia and of the South, and advertisers are requested to consider its merits. The following certificate of the postmaster at Atlanta, Ga., the office of publication, needs only the additional remark that the paper used in the publication weighs 44 pounds per ream to fully explain itself: Atlanta, Ga., July 25, 1892. This is to certify that The People’s Party Paper, during the week ending July 23d, 1802, mailed sixteen hundred and sixty-three (1,663) pounds at this office. J. R. Lewis, P. M. The circulation is steadily increasing, and most advantageous arrangements can be made for space. PEOPLE’S PARTY TICKET. FOR PRESIDENT, JANIES B. WEAVER, of lowa. FOR VICE PRESIDENT, JAMES G. FIELD, of Virginia. For Presidential Electors, At Large—A. L. NANCE, of Rail. W. R. KEMP, of Emanuel. 1. GEORGE H. MILLER, of Chatham. 2. A. It. JONES, of Thomas. 3. JOSEPH J. STEWART, of Sumter. 4. J. W. F.. LITTLE, of Troup. 5. W. O. BUTLER, of Fulton. 6. W. F. Sill TH, of Butts. 7. A. F. WipOLEY, of Bartow. 8. GEORG IE T. MURRELL, of Clarke. 9. J. N. TWiITTY, of Jackson. ~ / 10. D. N. SANDERS, of Taliaferro. 11. R. G. HYMAN, of Johnson. For Governor, W. L. PEEK, of Rockdale. For Secretary of State, W. R. GORMAN, of Talbott. For Comptroller General, A. W. IVEY, of Thomas. For Treasurer, J. E. H. WARE, of Fayette. For Attorney General, J. A. B. MAHAFFEY, of Jackson. For Commissioner of Agriculture, JAMES BARRETT, of Richmond. Please Take Notice Os the change m price of this pa per in clubs. Our temporary offer of the People’s Party Paper in clubs of 10 for 50 cents per year is with drawn, and in the future we will be compelled to have 75 cents in clubs. We will, however, permit those who are now making clubs on that rate to complete the clubs already begun at the 50 cents rate, but after that will be obliged to require 75 cents. TO OUR READERS. Notice is hereby given that the offer to send the People’s Party Paper to subscribers for two months at 10 cents is withdrawn. All per sons who have collected money on lists under the 10-cent offer will please forward at once, without seek ing to add to the number, and the paper will be sent as ordered. Henceforth, besides those who have already paid the money to some one kindly acting for us as agent, no names will be entered on our subscription books for less than 25 cents and three months. Notice To Subscribers and Club Raisers. In all instances the cash must ac company the names sent in. No paper can be run on credit. In another column it will be seen that the 10 cent offer has been withdrawn, and no subscriptions for less than 25 cents will tee received. Long term subscriptions are better all around. Attention. Voters of the People’s Party of Berrien county are hereby respect fully requested to meet in mass meet ing in the court house at Nashville oh Aug. 27, by 10 o’clock, for the purpose of electing delegates to the Congressional and Senatorial conven tions, also to nominate a man for legislative honor, and attend to other matters of impoitanee. N. E. Patterson, County Chairman. FREE COINAGE OF SILVER. March 24, 1592, Hon. Horace F. Bartine, of Nevada, delivered a nota ble speech in the House of Repre sentatives, in behalf of free coinage of silver. The following extracts com prise a considerable part and are commended to those who would study the question from a philo sophical standpoint: * * * We ask that silver shall be restored to the position it ©occu pied for 4,000 years prior to 1873; and when we make this just demand, the sanctimonious souls of the bond holders and the money-lenders are shocked at what they deem our moral depravity. [Laughter.] Their Christian virtues that have been sleeping in sweet repose for lo I these many years, are all aroused, and in a flood of pitying tears they beseech us to have pity upon the widow and the orphan, and the hard-working, poorly-paid servant girls. It is per fectly astonishing what a wealth of sympathy the Eastern bankers have for the servant girl whenever the silver question happens to be men tioned. And yet I fancy that the cases are by no means rare in which those same servant girls can be found toiling like slaves in the kitch ens of these same sympathetic bankers for the magnificent stipend of $2.50 per week. [Laughter.] But, while conceding that the sil ver producer is actuated by a desire to improve his condition, is it not equally fair to assume that there is a little, just a little, selfishness behind the virtuous demand for “honest money” that comes rolling up in thunder tones from Wall street? Is it quite reasonable to ask the people of the country to believe that the money-brokers and the stock-jobbers are the personification of all that is honest in American finance? The money kings of the East, as such, are engaged in no productive industry. Their business is simon pure specula tion. Their dealings are very largely with things that have no tangible value except for speculative pur poses. They organize corporations and joint stock companies upon a basis scarcely more substantial than the ethereal frostwork of a winter’s morning. They water the stock so as to multiply the number of shares, thus giving them a wider field for speculation. Then the “bull” exerts all his en ergies to force the prices up, while the “bear” labors with equal vigor to force them down. They build up great mountains of credit, and when the collapse comes it carries ruin in to every quarter of the country. There has never been a “Black Fri day” or any other paralyzing com mercial panic in America that cannot be traced directly to the wild specu lations of the money kings, who have in the main dictated the finan cial policy of the United States ever since the outbreak of our great civil war. [Applause.] Is there a gentleman in this House who really believes that in presenting a united front in opposition to silver, the great money centers of the world are actuated by a desire to benefit the poor man ? If so, that gentle man presents a picture of innocent credulity as beautiful as it is rare. I assert that the great money centers of the country have never given their sanction to any monetary law that has had the slightest tendency to ameliorate the condition of the poor. Every scrap of such legisla tion which has been placed on our statute books with their approval has been in the interest of the national banks for the enhancement of the value of our bonded debt, national, State and municipal, for the benefit, in short, of every man with a fixed income, or an accumulation of money, and the injury of every debtor and tax-payer thoughout the length and breadth of the land. [Ap plause.] * * * WHAT IS THE SLVER QUESTION? What is this “new-fangled scheme” of finance, as our opponents term it? Before the year 1873 the “silver question” was unheard of in America. Through innumerable centuries of time gold and silver had the two great money metals of the world. In some countries gold was the principal currency and silver oc cupied a subordinate place. In others, and indeed in most of them, silver was primary and gold was secondary, while in a third class the two metals were used upon equal terms at a fixed ratio to each other. The first were called gold standard countries, the second silver standard, and the last double standard. But these terms are misleading. The action of the bimetallic coun tries that is, those in which both metals were freely coined and en dowed with full legal tender func tions, in linking them together, had the effect of h 4din<* them at a fixed o ratio even where, <uid a 1 uati ns comroercia ly connected transacted their business substantially on the basis of the double standard. For example, when England adopted the gold unit it 1816 it made no differ- ence in the value of an ounce of gold. It remained, as formerly, just equal to 15|- ounces of silver, and the prices of commodities were not af fected. Silver was no longer avail able for currency purposes in Eng land, but it continued so available almost everywhere else. Hence this action on the part of England oper ated simply as a local currency regu lation. She sent the silver aboad to ex change for commodities and kept gold at home for use as currency. But wherever that silver went it con tinued to form a part of the world’s stock of standard coin and weighed in the great balance against the gen eral stock of the world’s commodi ties. For this reason the change of the monetary unit in England pro duced no disturbance of values, and property of every species in the United Kingdom continues to be measured by the double standard, as before. So I lay down the broad proposi tion that at the beginning of 1873 the great mass of gold and silver coin, linked together at the ratio of ounces of silver to 1 ounce of gold, made up the aggregate volume of primary money of the world. This metallic money constituted not only a large part of the currency in actual circulation, but it was also the foundation of that immense struct ure of credits which modern business methods had brought into existence. I now take a second step and lay down the further proposition that at the date mentioned there was not even a pretense, publicly expressed, that this aggregate mass of money was any too large for the business requirements of the world. When the great gold discoveries of California and Australia were made some writers thought that gold might become super-abundant, thus destroying the ratio of 15| and in juring creditors, who, it was assumed, would be paid in the cheaper metal; but so far as I know n®t one ever took the position that there was at any time actually too much money. That was not the idea which induced any country to demonetize either metal. England adopted the gold unit upon the advice of Lord Liver pool, in the interest of what he deemed to be commercial con venience. The double standard was thought to involve slight fluctuations that caused more or less trouble to merchants engaged in the foreign trade and interfering with the close prevision of accounts. The question of aggregate volume was never considered in the matter at all. The same is true of Germany. Whatever the shrewd and cunning financiers behind the scenes may have intended, the reason given was that Germany ought to be in accord wi h the monetary policy of England because of their close commercial re lations. In the United States the matter was not discussed at all. The silver dollar was just dropped out of the coinage and nothing was said about it. So, I repeat, that up to the begin ning of 1873 there was no such thing as a claim that there was any too much metallic money in the world. If this be true, it follows as a logical and inevitable conclusion that anything which deprived the world of a considerable portion of the money which it then had, left it with an insufficient supply. It is impossible for any man who has a logical idea in his head to get away from as plain a proposition as that. If you have none too much of a given thing, and a portion of that be taken away, it must leave you with too little; nor can it make any dis ference, save in degree, whether the result be brought about by actually destroying a portion of the thing or by depreciating its quality so as to render it less effective in satisfying the popular demand. The law of supply and demand applies to money just as perfectly as it does to any thing else. DEMONETIZATION OF SILVER. In 1873 the German Empire and the United States of America both demonetized silver and adopted gold as the sole standard of value. About a year later France and the other States of the Latin Unim 1 mit d the coinage of silver, and in 1878 ceased its coinage altogether. Silver was not completely destroyed as money by this action, but its efficiency was greatly impaired. It was rele gated to a secondary position. It continued to pass from hand to hand iu cash transactions, but gold became substantially the sole support of the great fabric of credit, by means of which, perhaps, nine-tenths of the business of the world is transacted. At the time of this demonetization gold and river were used in just about equal proportions, and the dis carding of stiver a iiouuted in effect to the virtual destruction of nearly one-'i. It of the money supply of the wo<l If it be true that the law of supply and demand applies to money the same as to other things, what wt Uid be the natural effect or thus reducing the supply? Mani festly each remaining unit of full standard money would become more valuable. That is to say, its pur chasing power would be increased. Other things would become the cheaper. That is precisely what took place. Upon this point there is no dis ference among economists. No mat ter which side of the silver question they may take or how much they may differ as to the cause, they are agreed upon the fact that the period extending fron 1873 down to 1890 has been one of almost constantly falling prices. The Economist’s In dex Numbers show a decline of about 26 per cent; the table of Dr. Soetbeer shows the same decline. The figures of Prof Sauerbeck show a fall of 31 per cent; of Robert Gridin 37 per cent; and the Ham burg Tables indicate an average de cline of 33 1-3 per cent. These are the most eminent authorities who have investigated the subject. The Economist, Soetbeer and Griffin are strong advocates of the gold standard, while Sauerbeck and Pal garve lean to bimetallism. The feeling of the compiler or compilers of the Hamburg table I do not know. A fair average of these figures shows a decline of 30 per cent., which indicates that gold has appreciated about 30 per cent. It is proper for me to add, how ever, that these figures are only brought down to the beginning of 1887; but the fact is generally recognized that the decline has con tinued since then, save as it was checked temporarily by the momen tary legislation of this country in 1890. The Economist Index num bers, though, have been extended on to 1892, and they show a decline of 3 per cent, more since the date I have given. And it is fair to assume that prices will continue to follow the same downward course until the cause is removed, subject, of course, to ephemeral spurts which may re sult from short crops or other causes, materially diminishing the supply of commodities. THE CAUSE OF THE FALL. While these facts are generally admitted, there are many who deny the conclusions, stoutly contending that the demonetization of silver has had nothing to do with it, and in sisting that gold has remained con stant while the other things have fallen. This is the sheerest nonsense. I would be justified in using a much stronger term. The value of any thing is what it will exchange for. The money value of anything is the amount of money it will exchange for, and the value of money itself is the quantity of commodities or prop erty that it will exchange for. To say that a gold dollar will ex change for more of other species of property than formerly, and at the same time assert that its value has not changed, involves about as fiat a contradiction as it is possible to ex press in the English tongue. Still it is one of the stock arguments that have rung in our ears ever since this agitation began. It lies at the foun dation of all this cry about the “dishonest 70-cent silver dollar.” The only way on earth that our op ponents can figure out a 70-cent dol lar is by supposing that gold has remained constant. In the light of the figures that I have given, the ab surdity of this supposition ought to be apparent to any man of ordinary intelligence. It is a matter of per sonal knowledge to most of us that the value of the silver dollar, con sidered as mere bullion, has never been materially, less than 70 cents in gold. This shows a relative depre ciation of 30 per cent., almost ex actly the same as the average decline in the gold price of commodities. The testimony with those familiar with the conditions existing in silver using countries is all to tbe effect that in such countries there has been no material change in prices since 1870. That money and goods continue to exchange at the same rates as before. It can, therefore, be safely affirmed that silver has remained stable or nearly so, while gold has risen more than 40 per cent. And such a result was perfectly natural. The demand for gold has enormously increased. Robert Griffin candidly admits that the divergence between the two metals has been caused by an in creased demand for gold rather than a diminished demand for silver. As a matter of fact, Germany reached out and seized upon $400,- 000,000 in gold. The United States gathered in $700,000,000 and Italy $100,000,000— about $1,201,000,000 m all. This is very nearly one-third of the total amount of gold coin known to exist. To deny that this extraordinary demand for gold coin enhanced its value is to repudiate the law of supply and demand. To ad mit it is to completely destroy the whole argument leveled against the silver dollar as a dishonest and de graded coin. To acknowledge that tte' divergence has been mainly caused by an increased demand for gold ex; lodes at once and f. rever the claim that this metal is a fixed and unchangeable quantiiy in economics. WHAT HARM HAS IT DONE? The fact being established that gold has been greatly appreciated in value, manifesting itself in a general fall of prices, tbe next question is, what harm has it done? My answer is that the resultant injury and in jus lice have been simply incalculable. The primary business of the world consists in producing tho.-o things which are necessary for the susten ance and comfort of man. Speaking generally, it may be said that the people of the world are divided into two classes—producers and non-pro ducers. A fall in the price of tbe product, therefore, means an injury to the producer for the benefit of the non-producer. Again, every debt must be? paid out of the products of labor. If the price of the product fall it is the same thing as an increase of the debt. Hence, a fall in prices means the injury of the debtor class for the benefit of the creditor class. A fall in prices diminishes profits, checks productive enterprise and causes business stagnation. Regardless of what any economist may have said or written, it is a matter of common every day knowledge that low prices, depressed markets, and dull times are inseparable companions. When the margin of profit is un duly narrowed, money is withdrawn from the legitimate business of pro duction, and naturally floats into what are called the “money centers,” where it becomes, at times, super abundant and interest ranges low. One class of money-owners seeks permanent investments, while an other plunges into those wild, specu lative ventures in which a few gigan tic fortunes are amassed through the destruction of innumerable small ones. A diminution of the money supply makes it easier for a few men to control it, and widen the gulf be tween the rich and the poor. [Ap plause.] Accordingly, the period extending from 1873 down to the present time has been one of wide spread, almost universal, complaint among the pro ducing classes. This fact is recognized by nearly all investigators, and with scarcely an exception they draw the line sharply at or abont the year 1873. In 1885 the Queen of England ap pointed a commission to inquire into the reason for the depression of in dustry in that country. This com mission consisted of twenty learned and distinguished men, of whom Lord Iddesleigh was the chairman, and its investigation was of the most exhaustive character. The evidence elicited w'as simply overwhelming that depression existed to a degree that was without a precedent. The witnesses were practically unanimous. They were further agreed that it was the producing classes who were the most seriously affected through the general and.continuous fall in prices, in its final report the commission clearly recognized these facts, as the following quotations plainly indicate : Paragraph 3: “ Those who may be said to represent the producer have mainly dwelt upon the restriction and even the absence of profit in their re spective businesses. It is from this class, and more especially from the em ployers of labor, that the complaints chiefly proceed. On the other hand, those classes of the population who de rive their income from foreign invest ments, or Irom property not directly connected with productive industries, appear to have little ground of com plaint; on the contrary, they have profited by the remarkably low prices of many commodities.” Paragraph 55: “We have observed above that the complaint proceeds chiefly from the classes who are most immediately and directly concerned in production; and there can be no doubt that of the wealth annually created in the country, a smaller proportion falls to the share of the employers of labor than formerly. The view, therefore, which we are disposed to adopt is that the aggregate wealth of the country is being distributed differently, and that a large part of the prevailing com plaints and the general sense of de pression may be accounted for by the changes which have taken place in re cent years in the appoitionment and distribution of profits. The reward of capital and management has become less; and the employment of labor is, for the time at least, not so full and c mtiuuous; so that,even where the rate of wages has not been diminished, the total amount earned by tne laborer has been less, owing to irregular and par tial employment.” Paragraph 71: “Another element of great importance in the situation is the serious fall oi prices to which we have above referred. There can be but little doubt that production and commercial enterprise are stimulated to a greater extent by rising than by falling pneas. Whatever may be the inconvenience of a rise in prices, it certainly encour ages a greater activity in production and au extension of credit. When prices are rising, capital is constantly endeavoring to find new means of em ployment; and a spirit of enterprise animates ail classes engaged in com mercial operations, m times when prices are falling, on the other hand, speculation, even of a perfectly legiti mate kind, is checked, and production tends to diminish. buppo»e a manu facturer to borrow a fixed sum at a fixed rate of interest. This he has to repay, whatever the result of the oper ation may be. Meanwhile prices may fall. Not only does he buy nisraw ma terial at tne higher price and sell his goods at the lower, but he has also to pay interest and repay principal on the higher value; and in addition to this, it is found that wages uo not re spond to such movements as quickly as tne price oi commodities. The trader, u.o, is afiecled in the same way, and he does not know what the value oi his stock will be at the year’s end, or what profit he will be ab Ie to sec ur e u P«« b ‘t ca *****’ I | - when trade is crippled lrf " Aji o f production should halt The prices, which has been m pro*rt during the greater part of ihe te years has become much more » iark ™ in the last two, and its full eflec . checkiug production and depressing trade has therefore scarcely become ap parent. But the slight diminution in the production of some of our left ding industries, which we have noticed above (paragraph 41), afr °rds some evi dence that this influence is begmning to operate, and should prices continue to fall we think that a tUj ; tbe r. oU Z^ t l ” ment of production can hardly tail to ensue.” These extracts fully confirm the statement which I have made that the producing the men who arc engaged in building up and de veloping the world, have been the sufferers by this change, while the non producers, those in the enjoy ment of fixed incomes and possess ing accumulations of money, have been the principal beneficiaries. For the purpose of connecting this testi mony with the affairs of our ow n country, it is proper for me to say that the Director of the United States National Bureau of Labdr, in his re port for 1886, expresses the opinion that the industrial depression exist ing in this country was exceeded by that of none other except Great Britain. Many reasons were given for the general decline in values. The commission did not feel itself au thorized to go into tbe silver ques tion, and its inquiry was not extend ed into that field. But that it had an important bearing upon the ex traordinary industrial situation was fully appreciated, In its third re port the matter was referred to in the following language : In recent years the purchasing pow er of gold has increased, or, in other words, the prices of commodities in general, as measured by a gold stand ard, have fallen; and this appreciation of gold, taken in combination with other circumstances, has disturbed the relations between the two precious metals. An inconvenient depreciation of sil ver, as measured in gold, has for some time prevailed, and is still proceeding. Without going into minute details, we may point out that these changes re sult from a twofold set of causes. Not only has the supply of gold but the demand for it has increased. That is to say, the actual production of gold from the mines has declined, while the demand for it has been largely increased by its substitution for silver in Germany aad other coun tries; at the same time the supply of silver has been increased, »uth by the somewhat larger production of the mines, and by "the ueiafonetiaed silver thrown on the market by Germany and Holland. Then the commission proceeds to advise the creation of another com mission for the express purpose of investigating the causes which have zJ produced the change in the relative I value of gold and silver. Now, in I my opinion, while particular I causes may have had certain local I effects, the primary and general cause I has been the legislation of 1873, I which, to a great extent, destroyed I silver as money and practically made I gold alone the stmdaid by which I everything else is measured. In my advocacy of the free coin- I age of silver I do not occupy the po I sition of a croaker. For the man in I public life whose sole argument con-1 sists in picturing the calami' ies of the I people, I have no special admiration. I Certainly not enough to iiduce nifc I to follow his example. I recognise I the fact that during the last twenty I years the wealth of the country has® greatly increased, that the population■ has increased, that the volume of® business has increased, and that the | census returns indicate a degree of® national prosperity unequaled bytbt.i® of any other country in the worlutß But the aggregates of national wealth® and growth are not the only things® to be considered. The welfare of® the individual is even of grealerim-® portance ; and the manner of the dis-® tribution of wealth is vital to that® welfare. The era of which I have beeni speaking has beheld an accumulation® of individual fortunes ®f which wej find no parallel in the history of any! other period. The whole of the times has been towards the! concentration of wealth. Nearly alls the important industries of the coun try, outside of agriculture, are now in the hands of great firms, corpora tions, syndicates and combines. A few years ago a millionaire was a curiosity. To-day a five millionaire commands scarcely a passing notice,, and the cases are by no means rare in which we find ten, twenty, fifty and even a hundred millions of dol lars in the hands of a single indi vidual. And while this has been go ing on the whole country has been traversed by armies of tramps look ing for work or begging for bread, and one long cry of distress has gone up from the ranks of legitimate in dustry in every part of the civilized world. [Applause.] I mean no discourtesy to any fair minded opponent when 1 state that I have never heard what strikes me as a valid obj< ction to our demand for the free coinage of silver. ***** IECREASED PRODUCTION. J It is claimed that the reason why prices have so fallen is that i produo-