Judge, 1891-02-14 · page 16 of 16
Judge — February 14, 1891 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge cartoon illustrates Treasury Secretary William Windom's 1891 speech opposing free silver coinage. The cartoon depicts Lady Liberty (center, with torch labeled "OUR CREDIT") surrounded by figures representing monetary chaos and danger. **The Satire:** Windom warns that unlimited silver coinage would flood America with foreign silver, draining U.S. gold reserves and destroying the nation's financial credit. The speech excerpted below the image uses poisoning metaphors—debased currency acts like deadly toxin in the body politic. **Key Figures:** The well-dressed man on right (likely Windom or a conservative politician) watches Lady Liberty struggle as a demonic or chaotic figure (representing free silver advocates or economic disaster) threatens her. The burning buildings and chaos symbolize financial ruin. **The Point:** The cartoon endorses Windom's hard-money position against populist demands for free silver, warning that this policy would invite economic catastrophe and international exploitation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
FROM WINDOM’S SPEECH, JANUARY 25, 189. “As poison in the blood permeates arteries, veins, nerves, brain and heart, and speedily brings paralysis or death, so does a debased or fluctuating currency permeate all the arteries of trade, paralyze all kinds of business, and bring disaster to all classes of people. It is as ims- possible for commerce to flourish with such an instrument as it is for the human body to grow strong and vigorous with a deadly poison lurking in the blood. Such a currency is bad enough in domestic trade, but it is absolutely fatal to the prosperity of foreign commerce. Free and unlimited coiniage of silver by the United States while the other reat nations pursue an opposite policy would invite all the owners of that metal throughout the world to exchange 37: grains of pure silver, worth about eighty-three’ cents, for 23.22 grains of pure gold, worth everywhere one hundred cents, Nearly all the nations of Europe are anxious to exchange their silver for gold, and they would at once ac- cept so tempting an offer. The mint statistics of the treasury depart- ment show that the stock of full legal-tender silver in Europe amounts to $1,101,400,000, and that of this amount the banks of France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Netherlands, and Belgium bold $48,866,665. A large part of these vast stocks of silver would be ready for transfer to us at once, and the swiftest steamers would be employed to deliver it to the treasury, in order that with the proceeds the owners might buy old exchange on Europe before our stock of gold should be exhausted."* WINDOM’S WARNING WORDS: “Look before you leap!” comicbooks.com