that subsequently
to 1873 more than 400,000,000 have been coined. True, there were only
about 8,000,000 dollar pieces made of the silver metal, but there were
more than $8,000,000 made because of the silver, for as France had a
ratio of 15-1/2 to 1 against our ratio of 16 to 1 our gold stayed at
home and the silver was at a 3 per cent premium over the gold according
to the French ratio, then a $100 block of gold drove a $100 block of
silver to France, and drove from France to America a block of gold
large enough to make $103. So we had our gold made into $100, and the
gold that came from France in exchange for silver made into $103,
making a total of $203, whereas we could only have had $200 if one
metal had not gone at a premium. History, arithmetic and common sense
prove the correctness of this proposition.

Abraham Lincoln once said he did not know much about the tariff
question, but he thought he knew enough to know that if we bought $20
worth of steel rails of a foreigner the foreigner would have the money
and we would have the rails; but if we made the rails in America and
bought them of an American, America would have the money and the rails,
too. Now, my Republican friends, don't you believe that? I do. I may
not know much about the money question, but I think I know enough to
know that if under the gold standard we borrow $20,000,000 of a
foreigner, when we pay it back the foreigner will have the money and
the interest, too, but if we coin the silver, which is an American
product, into legal tender dollars, borrow $20,000,000 of an American,
when we pay it back it kind of seems to me somehow that America will
have the money and the interest, too. What say you, Lincoln
Republicans? But another objection is that we would have a great
commerce destroying flood of silver in this country. Let us examine
that proposition as seekers after the truth. Here comes Mr. Foreigner
with a carload or two of silver, the United States mints coin it into
legal tender American dollars and hands it back to Mr. Foreigner. Now,
Mr. Foreigner will either take that silver money away with him or else
he will leave it here. If he takes it away it will not flood this
country, will it? Well, if he leaves it here he will either give it to
us or buy something with it. Now, if he gives it to us, will not you
Republicans be willing to take your share? Won't you Democrats
willingly receive your share? And, I ask, is there a gold standard
banke