Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1876-04-25

He said the act of February p 2, 1873,
practically 4!et,Iished silver as rheneY,
and was a,grave wrong on the people
4of the whole civilized globe in the in
terests of.a few plutocrats in England
and Germany, and as certainly the
interests of the whole pagan world as
wrong npou3t!se natural tendency of
wealth toward equalization, and upon
the liberty of the people.,s-The sena-
tor proceeded TO argue in favor efSa
double, standard Of both gold and sfl-
yer mopty. In case no such amend
ment had been ma'ie to the pending
bill, AS had been offered by the sena-
tor from Missouri, the speaker had
intended tootfer q simple amendment
to restore the double standard of the
United States, and to base its system
of money upon the money Of the world
upon which it was now based The
wrong already done could not be, un-
done by indirection -lFhe undoing
must be as open and AS explicit, as
the dong was direct. The senator
stated that his plan Of argument was
this:
FIRST, to set forth the functions aud
nature of money and the various sub
-stt*tttes- w4.ttal, have -Aseen- used for il.
and the characters which have induced
the precious metals to be always re-
verted to for this purpose.
Second, to show that the7usc of mo-
iney and precious metals for <snoney,
were both na,ufa and voluntary acts,
not due To law edicts, and that there
fore money is of right and ought to
be free and untrammell6d by regnIa-
tions except Of a kind specified.
Thitd, to trace the stock of preci-
Gus. metals in the world from the-ear-
flest period, to Show its mutations
down te. the present time, and the
political and social phenomena which
trave accompanied these mutations
t-Efom this review to show that the
worlds stock of specie consist of
nearly one-haif silver, and that any
dlminuition or decrease, whether re-
sulting from failure OF HE Ha4aes, or
arbitrary legislation is. Taught with
Igraatest disasters, therefore there
are two measures to which the eouh-
try is committed by the existing law,
VIZ: resumption in specie combined
with .demeniriztion of silver, are
likely if attempted TO be enforced to
Tho. end IN diStFrss.
Fourth, Therefore, one of these
tmeasuFes Viii have 10 lse abandoned
and that one c-tS-demoellzitiell- of s1i-
I,ver. We shall have TO restore dou-
+ BILE the standard Of gold aud silver
which existed from 792 10 1873.
Fifth, reviews value of gold aud sill
Evcr from the earliest time to ttYe pre-
sent, aud show how constant that re-
i7iatfon t,s,s been Fafsseularly since the
discovery Of America and the open
ing Of the cast India and CHINA
trades, s,n2e which>>time and up to
flST3 II scarcely varied ffomits pivot
al point ot1l5l to |. One source of
these and long continued constancy
IofTelation are then, examined and IN
their nature found entire assurance res
lation will contthue to be constant in
future.
Sixth, The principal, and almost
only cause of alteration in this rea-
ton is found to be the various edcts
or enactments which in various coun--
tries and times have interfered with
the freedom of money Prominent
among these were demonetization Of
silver i'll England in 1916, the none
tary treaty Of FIVE hours in 65 the de-
monetlzation act-of the q. S. in 1873,
and pending measures of the German
government, these various means are
advocated and condemned as a mis-
chievous interference with trade;
Seventh, the impracticabiIity of the
adjustment of the double standard is
greatly strengthened by reference to
the annual supplies Of gold and silver
separately since the beginning of the
present century. From this reference
it appears the supplies of gold to the
world have huctuated between five
million and slS2 100000 per annum,
and that supply has been diminished
since 1852, and that it is at the pres
Eent ting insufficient to meet the de-
mand of the world for that metal for
use in arts: and to keep good the loss
| Of coin. On the other hand the an
nnal surplus of silver has always been
and is now but little above the aver
age. Moreover gold is shown to be
essentially British production, while
/ silver isIessentially American.
| Eighth, TO show the impossibility
I Of resuming specie payment in gold
! the disadvantage and danger OF at.
tempting to demonetize silver, imprac:
ticabilty Of demonitzing t permanently
and to discuss various objections tina,
have been urged against demonetiza-
tion.
/ Ninth, to show that the effect o,