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FREE COINAGE OF SILVER. SPEECH OF HON. WILLIAM BAKER, OF KANSAS, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Monday, March 21, 1892. On the bill (H. R. 4426) for the free c o i n a g e of gold and silver, for the issue o f c o i t i notes, and for other p u r p o s e s - Mr. Baker said: Mr. Speaker: There is a period in the history of every legislative body when it becomes their duty to raise themselves above party consideration and to stand upon the broad platform of patriotism. Is such a period upon us now? The question now before us for consideration is one, as I understand it, that must and will affect the interests directly or indirectly of all classes of citizens. Such being the case,4 it becomes our duty to inquire in what way will it affect them. Will it be for their betterment? A s a representative from an agricultural and stockrasing section of the West, I shall treat this question first from the standpoint of an agriculturist. T h e basic principle upon which all wealth founded is agriculture; and as no effect can exist in nature without an adequate cause to produce it, we shall inquire first, what effect the free coinage of silver will have upon the agriculturists of this country. Will it bring to them prosperity; and if so, in what way will their prosperity affect other branches of industry? Can a nation as a whole be prosperous unless the agriculturists thereof are prosperous? A s the giant oak springs from a healthy germ planted in rich soil, nourished by sunshine and moisture, so must the agriculturist have the-elements which are essential to give inspiration to thought, t<s quicken the pulse of inquiry, and to give vigor to mind and body, that h6 may be enabled to perfectly fulfill his mission. This hypothesis we believe to be true, viz., that prosperity is essential to man's happiness, and that unless the agriculturist is prosperous he will be neither contented nor happy. This leads us to this inquiry: What changes have been wrought in his condition by legislation in the last twenty-fivefyears? Twenty-five years ago farmers owned their homes. IX In fact they were then the most independent class of people in this country. A ready market was found for all their products, and each man was proud to say " I am a farmer.'' But how is it now? The farmer of to-day is in many cases a tenant at the will of a landlord. Does the farm cease to yield its natural increase? Does the farmer spend less hours in labor to-day than then? W e believe the fault is with our legislation rather than our farmers. From i860 to 1870 the average price of wheat in New York was $1.99 per bushel. Corn was 96 cents per bushel; other farm products in a like proportion. From 1870 to 1880 farm products had declined, wheat from $1.99 to $1.38, corn from 96 cents to 63 cents; other farm products in like proportion. From 1880 to 18S7 wheat had declined from $1.38 to $1.07; corn from 63 cents to 46 cents; other farm products in like proportion. The man who bought a farm in 1S65, paying $10,000 for the same, to-day finds his farm worth from four to five thousand. What has become of £5,000 t at he invested in his farm? Has he destroyed it, or has some one else got it? If $1 represents a day's labor, and if the farmer has lost by the shrinkage of his property £5,000, has he not lost five thousand days' labor? John Stuart Mill, in Principles of Political Economy, page 103, says: If the whole money m circulation was doubled, prices would double. If it was only increased one-fourth, prices would rise one-fourth The very same effect would be produced on prices if we suppose the goods (the uses for money) diminished instead of the money increased; and the cnntrary effect if the goods were increased or the money diminished. So that the value of money, all other things remaining the same, varies inversely as its quantity, every increase in quantity lowering its value, and every diminution raising it in a ratio exactly equivalent. Ricardo ?ays— That commodities would rise and fall in price in proportion to the increase or diminution of money I assume as a fact that it is incontrovertible. That such would be the case, the most celebrated writers 011 political economy are agreed. T h e value of money does not wholly depend upon its absolute quantity, hut en its quantity relative to the payments it has to accomplish', and the same effect would follow cither of two causey, from increasing the uses of money one-tenth, or from diminishing its quantity one-tenth, for, in either case its value would rise one-tenth. M. Wolouski said, in 1869, before a French monetary convention: T h e sum total of the p r e c i o u s metals is r e c k o n e d at fifty m i l l i a r d s , one-half gold and one-half silver. If by a s t r o k e of the pen t h e y s u p p r e s s one o f t h e s e metals in the m o n e t a r y s e r v i c e , t h e y d o u b l e the d e m a n d for the o t h e r metal, to the ruin of all debtors. Now, Mr. Speaker, in submitting the statements of Mill, Ricardo, and Wolouski, you will see that we have the key that will solve the problem of the situation of 3 our people to-day. Wolouski very clearly points out the motives that have actuated the capitalists in controlling the legislation of the last twenty-five years. Granting that the statements of those three men are true which are sustained by many other able writers as well as by the observations of every intelligent citizen of our country, we find that the wealth of the creditor class has not only been doubled, but has been quadrupled by legislation. In 1865 men of great wealth in this country were very rare indeed. T o - d a y statisticians tell us that a little over thirty thousand of our people own threefifths of all the wealth of this country, and that the sixty-three million own but the two-fifths. I ask you, Mr. Speaker, is this a happy condition of affairs? O r rather is it not one to be deplored by e v e r y lover of his county? Is not history repeating itself very rapidly in this country of ours? Does not the same dark cloud hang over us that destroyed almost every nation of antiquity? Let us for a brief time revert to the changed condition of the debtor class of this country. Mr. Jones in 1865 borrows $1,000, agreeing to pay 6 per cent interest per annum, note 10 be paid July 1, 1S75. During that time owing to the financial policy of the country the value o f his note is doubled, and instead of canceling his debt with $1,600 it takes $3,200 worth of his labor or products of labor to pay the debt. L a b o r divided against itself has allowed our present unjust financial policy to become law, and labor united must overthrow the wrong and establish right and justice in its place. A buys a farm in 1875, price $20,000. H e pays$io,000 in cash and gives his note for $ 10,000, one-tenth to be paid annually with interest at 6 per cent. H e pays his interest regularly for ten years, but has been unable to pay the principal of the note. H e has at the expiration of ten years paid in principal $10,000, and in interest $6,000, o r a total of $16,000. H i s farm has shrunk in Value between 1875 1885 from $20,000 to $I2,O:K>. W e can readily see that the farmer's* condition is one of insolvency. That there has been a steady decline in value of all classes of products is acknowledged by everyone. A r e we to-day a nation of debtors or creditors? In 1865 McCullough, Secretary<of the Treasury, is reported to have said that the American people as a people were then virtually out of debt. " B u t , " says some one, "McCullough never said t h a t . " It matters little whether he said it or not. It remains true just the same, and no less a personage than Senator Plumb, on the 6th of June, 1890, said: T h e debts to-dav resting on the American people would aggregate $20,000,000. W e find that in 1865 there were but 520 failures i n the 4 United States, and they aggregated but little over $17,000,000. In 1870 there were 3,551 failures, aggregating a little over $88,000,000; 1873, failures 5,180, their aggregate $228,000,000; 1875, failures 7,740, aggregate $201,000,000; 1878, failures 10,478, aggregating #234,oco.ooo. There was a regular, steady reduction in the volume of money, with but slight variations from 1865 to 1890, ^nd as the volume of money decreased the number of failures increased. The shrinkage in the volume of money has brought ruin upon the debtor class in our country and if debts and failures are evidences of prosperity. we may then well claim to be a very prosperous nation. Some may claim that there has not been a gradual decrease in the volume of money. W e have decreased it by Increasing the demand for it. If there is to-day five times the amount of business done in this country that there was in 1865, will it not require five times the amount of money to transact it? No man will attempt to argue that the food which will nourish a thousand men can be made to support five thousand in a healthy condition. It would be just as sane a proposition to say that five times the business could be transacted with the same volume of money we had in 1865. That apart of our people have enjoyed an era of unparalleled prosperity for the last twenty-five years, that many have accumulated immense fortunes, that millionaires have become more numerous here than in any other country on the face of the globe, and that nearly all these vast accumulations of wealth have been effected within the last few years are facts beyond question. Knowing as we do that wealth is the accumulation of labor, it is the duty of the legislator to enact just and equitable laws, ihat the laborer may enjoy the product of his own labor. A very pertinent question here would be, how may thisbe v done? The capitalist says: '•Reduce the number of laborers by increased use of machinery." The debtor says, "Increase the volume of products by increasing the demands for them, and in order to increase the demands for them you must increase the ability of the people to purchase the products of labor/' and how can this be done? First, we must have a good currency, placed on a sound basis, of sufficient volume to transact the legitmate business of the country. If in the history of the past gold and silver have proven such a basis, let us have* them. If the present higher civilization can give us a better basis than gold and silver, let us have it. In either case let us have a sufficient volume of money to transact the legitimate business of the country. The people demand it and the people will have it. IX Baron Rothschild said: T h e s i m u l t a n e o u s employment of the t w o p r e c i o u s metals i s satisf a c t o r y a n d g i v e s r i s e to no complaint. W h e t h e r g o l d o r s i l v e r d o m i n a t e s for the time being, it i s a l w a y s true that the t w o metals c o n c u r together in f o r m i n g the monetary c i r c u l a t i o n o f the w o r l d , and it is the g e n e r a l m a s s of the metals combined w h i c h s e r v e s a s the m e a s u r e of t h e v a l u e of t h i n g s . T h e suppression of s i l v e r w o u l d a m o u n t to a v e r i t a b l e d e s t r u c t i o n of v a l u e s w i t h o u t any compensation. Professor Laveleye said: D e b t o r s , and a m o n g them the S l a t e , h a v e the r i g h t to pay in g o l d or s i l v e r , a n d t h i s r i g h t c a n not be t a k e n a w a y w i t h o u t d i s t u r b i n g the relation of d e b t o r s and c r e d i t o r s , to the p r e j u d i c e o f d e b t o r s , to t h e e x t e n t of p e r h a p s one-half, c e r t a i n l y one-third. T o i n c r e a s e all debts at a b l o w , i s a measure so violent, so r e v o l u t i o n a r y , that I c a n not believe that the g o v e r n m e n t w i l l p r o p o s e it o r that the c h a m b e r s w i l l vote it. These two authors agree in this one thing, that the two precious metals together concur in forming the monetary circulation of the world, and that they form the measure of the value of things. Has not the demonetization of silver proved a veritable calamity in reducing the value of labor and its products on the one hand and doubling its debts on the other? From reports of the comptroller of the currency we find that there is between fifty and sixty million ounces of silver mined in this country annually. W e find also that the price of silver and the price of farm products have run very nearly parallel for the last nineteen years; that when silver advanced farm products advanced, and when silver declined farm products declined. We thereby learn that silver rather than gold is the measure of farm products. Such being the case, let us examine and see if we may not ascertain the reason for the low prices of farm products during the last fifteen or twenty years. Let us illustrate: It the products of the farm amount yearly to $3,000,000,000, and the farmers suffer a reduction on their products of 25 per cent caused by demonetization of silver, you will readily see that it m a k e s a difference of $750,000,000 annually in thjir income, and in twenty years would amount to the nice little sum of $15,000,000,000. Give the farmer the fifteen billions he has lost by the demonetization of silver and let him pay his debts. He will not then be as prosperous as the manufacturer or money-Ioaner. If by legislation we double the debts of the debtor do we not confiscate his property? And if we double the debts of the debtor do we not double the capital of the creditor? Will a just government confiscate the property of one class of her citizens that she thereby may quadruple the capital and income of another class? Has not the unjust legislation of the last twenty-five years impoverished nine-tenths of her citizens to enrich onetenth? If this be true, as stated, that nine-tenths of our 6 people are debtors, we have then but one-tenth belonging: to the creditor class. [Applause.] Daniel Webster said: T h e freest g o v e r n m e n t c a n not long endure w h e r e the tendency of the law is to c r e a t e a r a p i d accumulation of p r o p e r t y in the hands of the few and to r e n d e r the masses of the people poor and dependent. Mr. Speaker, is not that the condition of our country to-day? Horace Greely said: W e h a v e s t r i c k e n the s h a c k l e s from four million human b e i n g s , and b r o u g h t all l a b o r e r s to a c o m m o n level; but not so m u c h by elev a t i n g the former s l a v e s a s by p r a c t i c a l l y r e d u c i n g the w h o l e population, w h te and black, to a state of serfdom. W h i l e b o a s t i n g of our noble d e e d s we a r e careful to conceal the ugly fact that by our ininiquitous monetary system w e h a v e practicalh- nationalized a system of o p p r e s s i o n w h i c h t h o u g h more refined is not less cruel than the old s y s t e m of c h a t t e l s l a v e r y . W e have not only demonetized silver, but we have continued to contract the volume of paper money which was in circulation, notwithstanding the wonderful expansion of business in this country. W e may learn how history is repeating itself by turning to Allison's "England in 1815 and 1845," wherein he said: T h f e p e r i o d o f a c o n t r a c t i o n of the c u r r e n c y and consequent fall in the money p r i c e s of all the articles of human consumption is one in w h i c h g r e a t profits are sure to be r e a l i z e d by the l a r g e r c a p i t a l i s t s and g r e a t losses sustained by the smaller. T h e f o r m e r p r o s p e r bec a u s e t h e m a g n i t u d e of their t r a n s a c t i o n s enables them to r e a l i z e a h a n d s o m e income upon t h e w h o l e from a d e c l i n i n g and at length almost i n c o n c e i v a b l y small amount of profit from e a c h t r a n s a c t i o n ; a n d they g r a d u a l l y g e t t h e monopoly of the market in t h e i r o w n line of b u s i n e s s by the e x t i n c t i o n o f smaller c a p i t a l i s t s w h o m the fall in the price of c o m m o d i t i e s h a s ruined or the d i m i n i s h e d profits h a v e repelled f r o m e n t e r i n g into c o m p e t i t i o n w i t h them. * * * Smalt t r a d e r s , t h e r e f o r e , and f a r m e r s w i t h o u t c a p i t a l are s p e e d i l y ruined in such a state of things, and the l a b o r i n g or destitute condition is only t e n d e r e d the more d i s t r e s s i n g by the c o n t r a s t w h i c h it a f f o r d s to the w e a l t h and splendor w i t h w h i c h the h o l d e r s of l a r g e c a p i t a l in the same line of b u s i n e s s a r e surrounded. * * * A period of c o n t r a c t e d c u r r e n c y is one o f e m b a r r a s s m e n t , difficulty, and generally It) the end of i n s o l v e n c y to the small f a r m e r and m o d e r a t e landholder. * * * If a supply p r o p o r t i o n e d to the i n c r e a s e of men and the w a n t s o f t h e i r c o m m e r c i a l i n t e r c o u r s e is not a f f o r d e d , the c i r c u l a t i n g medium will b e c o « e scarce; it will rise in p r i c e from that s c a r c i t y , and b e c o m e a c c e s s i b l e only to the more rich and affluent c l a s s e s . T h e i n d u s t r i o u s poor, or those e n g a g e d in b u s i n e s s but p o s s e s s e d of small c a p i t a l , will b e the first to suffer. In speaking of some of the evil results produced by that act, Doubleday, in hU Financial History of England, says: T h e d i s t r e s s , ruin, a n d b a n k r u p t c y w h i c h now took place w e r e u n i v e r s a l , a f f e c t i n g both the g r e a t interests of laud aiwi trade; but a m o n g t h e l a n d l o r d s w h o s e e s t a t e s w e r e b u r d e n e d by m o r t g a g e s , j o i n t u r e s , settlements, l e g a c i e s , e t c . , t h e effects w e r e most m a r k e d a n d out o f the o r d i n a r y course. In h u n d r e d s of c a s e s , from t h e tremendous r e d u c t i o n in the p r i c e o f land w h i c h now took p l a c e , t h e e s t a t e s b a r e l y sdld for a s much as would pay off the m o r t g a g e s , and hence t h e o w n e r s w e i e s t r i p p e d of all and m a d e b e g g a r s . This we find to be the result of the legislation which 7 prevailed in England from 1815 to 1845. W e find that history is not only repeating itself in this country, but in Germany also. There 80 per cent of the farm property is mortgaged. T h e cry "honest money" comes with an ill grace from the creditor class; they, who have been the violators of contracts from 1865 until the present time; they, who have sought by repeated legislation to enhance the value of their hold ngs until, by such legislation, onethird of their holdings of to-day has been gotten by the confiscation of property belonging to the debtor class. It is they who do "not want honest money. They know that the products of labor are measured by the silver standard; and yet we find them demanding that labor shall give one and one-third times the product of her labor to pay its obligations. In fact, the most potent objections in the minds of a great many to the remonetization of silver are that it is honest money; and that should free silver be adopted they would be compelled to receive honest money in payment for the obligations of the debtor class. These obligations of the debtor class were contracted on a financial yardstick measuring 36 inches. That yardstick has been ignored and the demand is now made for us to settle our obligations upon ai golden yardstick measuring 48 inches, thereby increasing all indebtedness 3 3 ^ per cent. There is not a responsible writer, ancient or modern, but condemns these demands of the creditors as unjust, inhuman, and revolutionary in their character. A s the resources of the debtor classes are their dependence to meet their obligations, so the resources of a nation are the only means by which she can meet her obligations. And as the value of the products by which she meets her obligations is the measure of the quantity of the products, we thereby discern the importance to the debtor class of a fair compensation for the product of their industry. A bushel of wheat that is worth $1 on a silver basis, is worth but 75 cents on a gold basis. Therefore, a farmer must give 13,333 % bushels of wheat to pay the debt on a gold basis, while 10,000 bushels would pay the same debt on a silver basis. Our nation has established an arbitrary value for all products in establishing a gold standard. The productive industries in this country have or are said to have increased 500 per cent during the last twenty-five years. But the standard of values has decreased rather than increased during that time. Do not equity and justice demand that we shall establish as near as possible the same basis for the settlement of debts of our nation and people as existed at the tithe of their contraction? W e believe that every right s minded man would say yes. Let us, then, remonetize siiver and thereby restore, as far as we can by such an act, justice between the debtor and creditor class. Let us lessen, if possible, the great gulfthat has been growing wider and deeper year by year between the rich and the poor. And now, Mr. Speaker, let me offer in conclusion a few lines from the pen of James G . Clark: T H E VOICE o r T H E PEOPLE. L e t the f a c e and the h a n d of the M a s t e r N o l o n g e r be h i d d e n f r o m v i e w , N o r t h e lands He p r e p a r e d for the m a n y Be trampled and robbed by the f e w . T h e soil tells the same fruitful story, T h e s e a s o n s their bounties d i s p l a y . A n d t h e flowers lift their f a c e s in*glory T o c a t c h the w a r m k i s s of the d a y . W h i l e our fellows arc treated as cattle T h a t a r e muzzled w h i l e t r e a d i n g the c o r n . And millions sink d o w n in life's battle W i t h a - s i g h for the d a y they w e r e born. Must the sea plead in vain that the r i v e r M a y return to its m o t h e r for rest, A n d the earth b e g the rain-clouds to g i v e her Of d e w s that h a v e d r a w n from her b r e a s t . L o ! t h e a n s w e r comes b a c k in a mutter F r o m d o m e s w h e r e the q u i c k l i g h t c n i n g s g l o w , A m i from h e i g h t s w h e r e the mad w a t e r s utter T h e i r warning lo dwellers below, A n d w o e to the r o b b e r s w h o g a t h e r In fields w h e r e they n e v e r h a v e s o w n , W h o h a v e stolen the j e w e l s from labor A n d builded to M a m m o n a throne. F o r the s n o w - k i n g , asleep by the f o u n t a i n s , Shall w a k e in the summer's hot b r e a t h , A n d d e s c e n d in his r a g e f r o m the mountains, B e a r i n g t e r r o r , . d e s t r u c t i o n , and death; A n d the t h r o n e of t h e i r g o d shall be c r u m b l e d , A n d t h e scepter be s w e p t from h i s hand, A n d t h e h e a r t of the h a u g h t y be humbled, A n d a s e r v a n t be chief in the laud; A n d the T r u t h and the P o w e r united Shall rise f r o m the g r a v e s of t h e T r u e , A n d the w r o n g s of the Old T i m e be r i g h t e d In the midst and the l i g h t of the N e w . F o r the L o r d of the h a r v e s t h a t h said it, W h o s e lips never uttered a lie. A n d his p r o p h e t s and poets h a v e r e a d it In s y m b o l s of earth a n d of s k y : , T h a t to him w h o has r e v e l e d in plunder "rill the a n g e l of c o n s c i e n c e is dumb, T h e s h o c k of the e a r t h q u a k e , and thunder, A n d tempest and t o r r e n t shall coine. S w i n g i n w a r d . O g a t e s of t h e futures! S w i n g o u t w a r d , ye d o o r s o f the p a s t ! A g i a n t is w a k i n g ' f r o m slumber A n d r e n d i n g h i s fetters at last. F r o m the dust w h e r e hts p r o u d tyrants found h i m U n h o n o r e d , and s c o r n e d and b e t r a y e d , H e shall r i s e w i t h the sunlight a r o u n d h i m , A n d rule in the realm be h a s m a d e . [Applause.]
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