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ESSAYS IN PERSUASION

PART

important to him than those of eggs and bacon;and, in short, that he had better not be tooprecipitate. Some of our chairmen were likehim who, being asked whether he believed that,when he was dead, he would enjoy perfect blisseternally, replied that of course he did, butwould rather not discuss such an unpleasantsubject.

Like last year there are two distinct issues,—the abstract merits of the gold standard, and thedate and the mode of our return to it. Thefirst is a question about which, as Mr. McKennajustly said, “we are still in the stage of inquiryrather than of positive opinion, and there is noformulated body of doctrine generally regardedas orthodox.” The supporters of MonetaryReform , of which I, after further study andreflection, am a more convinced adherent thanbefore, as the most important and significantmeasure we can take to increase economic wel-fare, must expound their arguments more fully,more clearly, and more simply, before they canoverwhelm the forces of old custom and generalignorance. This is not a battle which can bewon or lost in a day. Those who think that itcan be finally settled by a sharp hustle back togold mistake the situation. That will be onlythe beginning. The issue will be determined,not by the official decisions of the coming year,but by the combined effects of the actual ex-perience of what happens after that and therelative clearness and completeness of the argu-ments of the opposing parties. Readers of the