d all preconceived opinions not
justified by existing facts and conditions.

"Upon one thing I believe that Congress and our constituents agree:
That both these extreme positions shall be rejected; that both
silver and gold should be continued in use as money--a measure of
value; that neither can be dispensed with. Monometallism, pure
and simple, has never gained a foothold in the United States. We
are all bimetallists. But there are many kinds of bimetallism.
One kind favors the adoption of the cheaper metal for the time
being as the standard of value. Silver being now the cheaper metal,
they favor its free coinage at the present ratio, with the absolute
certainty that silver alone will be coined at our mints as money;
that gold will be demonetized, hoarded at a premium, or exported
where it is maintained as standard money. The result would be
monometallism of silver.

* * * * *

"The two metals, as metals, never have been, are not now, and never
can be, kept at par with each other for any considerable time at
any fixed ratio. This necessarily imposes upon the government the
duty of buying the cheaper metal and coining it into money. The
government should only pay for the bullion its market value, for
it has the burden of maintaining it at par with the dearer metal.
If the bullion falls in price the government must make it good; if
it rises in value the government gains.

"The government is thus always interested in advancing the value
of the cheaper metal. This is the kind of bimetallism I believe
in. It is the only way in which two commodities of unequal value
can be maintained at parity with each other. The free coinage of
silver and gold at any ratio you may fix means the use of the
cheaper metal only. This is founded on the universal law of
humanity, the law of selfishness. No man will carry to the mint
one ounce of gold to be coined into dollars when he can carry
sixteen ounces of silver, worth but little more in the market than
half an ounce of gold, and get the same number of dollars.

"The free coinage of silver means the single standard of silver.
It means a cheaper dollar, with less purchasing power. It means
a reduction in the wages of labor; not in the number of dollars,
but in the quantity of bread, meat, clothes, comforts he can purchase
with his daily wage. It means a repudiation of a portion of all
debts, public and private. It means a bounty to all banks, savings
institutions, t