Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1875-10-27
Democratic Hard Money.

4NSN Ai"NSiI oii iiNt.1 w S'i''SSt ""S'
an able and forcible presentation of
the Democratic doctrine of hard
money as applied to the present stu
ton. Coming at a time when the
loudest advocates of initiation and of
financial idiocy are arguing for Re-
publlcanism and paper money in the
same breath, it has special pertin-
ency, With Wendell Phillips and
Gen. Butler preaching an irredeem-
able currency in Massachusetts, with
Judge Kelley hawking his ''nter-
convertible bonds" over the country,
with Morton, an iDveterate paper
money advocate, imported to aid
Grantism in Maine, and with not a
single unequivocal declaration in favor
of hard money in any Republican
platform throughout the country, the
rebuke of this growing heresy must
come from the Democratic party, if at
all. Senator Eaton has promptly
taken up the challenge offered by the
Republican Judge Kelley in his re-
cent imitation address at New Haven,
dealing clearly and powerfully with
the whole question. Gold, said Sen
ator Eaton, is the only basis of cur
rency recognizedin in the business trans
actions of the world, OF acknowledged
in the written Constitution of the
United States as money. 1t was onl y
under the pressure Of the necessities
of war that Congress set aside the
Constitution by the issue Of legal
tender in paper, and assumed the right
of governing wrong The Supreme
Court, after notorious manipulations
by Republican Congress and Presi-
dent, condoned this great wrong but
could not justify its continuance. 1t
stands as n violation Of the law Of the
land, equally intolerable in either re-
lation.
Passing from the Constitutional
question, Senator Eaton discussed the
theory of initiation in its practical
debt under which the country labors,
accumulated as the direct result of a
diseased currency. He pointed to the
depression of business that has existed
and continued while the amount of
currency is vastly larger than the
country can use; and he illustrated
the folly Of those teachers who urge
the relief Of industry by further de-
preciating the value of the medium in
which the laborers wages are pald.--
The issue of paper money as legal
tender, said the speaker, is a ''sln
against reason, against justice and
against the letter of the Constitution.
In explaining whence safety is to
come. Senator Eaton showed distinct
ly the difference between the Repub-
lican and Democratic parties on this
question. The former, having upheld
imitation for ten years, now sets a day
for resumption, and expects it to come
of itself. The Democrats say, with
Senator Eaton, "FmSt, be economical
Save $5O,oO0,0OO year and resump
ton will come" This brings the ques
ton down to hard-pan. Richardson
five-cent silver resumption aud Sher
man delusive bill, passed at the last
session, do not touch the root Of the
matter. That is found, as Senator
Eaton shows, in the corruption, ex-
travagance and inefiiciency of the
Government itself Until there is {
reform in the Administration. sounc
finances are impossible and this it i:
at which the people aim. The coun
try has run a mad race under Repub
lican guidance, and to check Its career
before financial ruin comes it Is neces
sary to make the reform thorough and
complete. "Strict economy and Of
fetal responsibility" is the watchworc
given by Senator Eaton, speaking fo1
the Democrats of Connecticut. -
Boston Post.