Old Soldiers And Free Silver

The old soldiers have received their quarterly stipends, and to most of 1,hem the amounts, siiiaü as they are in many cases, are needed to meet the actual necessities of living. The money with which the governinent paya its pehsioners is gold or the equivalent of gold. The The dollars have full purchasing power. But will that be the case should Mr. Bryan be elected next November with a Congress pledged to carry out the provisions of the Chicago platform? If the experience of other nations in matters of finance be worth anything as a guide, it is very certain that the establishment of free coinage of silver would render the government unable to maiutain the circulation of gold, silver and paper on equal terms with each other. Following a lav? which has always asserted itself whereever the experiment has been tried, the chcaper metal will crowd out the dearer and gold will disappear as rnoney and become a commodity. The silver must inevitably go the bullion basis, and the dollar, having been deprived of its gold support, will drop to 53 cents as compared to gold in purchasing power. The paper money will drop to the same level. What will be the coudition of the pen■ioner in this new order of things? His certifícate from the United States pension bureau calis for so many dollars per month, and. he will continue to be paid in dollars, but they will not be dollars as good ai gold. His pension will be practically cut in two. That would out Herod Hoke Smith. In his most determined onslaught on pensions -he never dre&med such whelouUe reduction as that. The old oldier vho supports the Bryan-Sewall ticket will vote with both eye open for a policy whlcli means larg personal Ion t himself and to all his conirades. The time was when tobáceo was nsed as money in this country. Wonder woat "crima" demouetized ltï v