Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-10-26

debt as they should have been, but offices
haze been multiplied and salaries increased
anu p0Dllc money squander5d on enterprises
ana schemes which were sometimes worse
thRR that, and upon others which, though
uss9ai, might nave been postponed until re.
lief WtAs brought to the people by the leduc-
ton OF the public debt. The Re ublican par
ty hss held unlimited power until it has be-
CONS aui per1ous and pharisaical in its preten.
tlons. 1t claims the exclusive merit of hav-
ing saved the country from dissolution, and
asserts such vas compensation for lis patriot
lsm that now it seems TO think that
| the government no longer belongs
to the people, but to the Re-
| publican party. It's title to the goyei nment is
| considered absolute and indisput3ble. 1t is no
longer govern ent OF the people, for the
| people, by ths people, but government of
| the republican party. 1t conquered the re-
| belion, ami therefore acquired title 10 the
| country and offices, as well as that which did
| nC- rebel as that which did; and now the Re-
| pu 1llcau patty, clothed in fine raiment and
| taring sunptuOusly every day, ike the proud
! Pbsrisee OF Old stands in all the public places
! and, lifting its solemn eyes 10 heaven, thanks
| GCd that the Repu oltcan party is not as her
| men, and especially as tnese poor rebels and
which the people elect their rulers is a
| long term of power, and IL is certai MY a COM
| pItment to the Republican party that it has
| been able for so great period to retain the
confidence of a large majority of the people
| but the time has come when 1t behooves the
| country to pause and consider well what is
! boat for its best interests. If that shall be
1 dJle, tnere must be change of rulers.
THE CURRENCY-SILVER.
Another matter of great moment:to us is the
| subject oil the currency. Our present currsn-
| half OF which Is legal-tender notes, and the
other hall national bank notes. The Repub-
ltcan party in its platform, says that the faith
| of the government is solemnIy pledged to
! make provision at the earliest practicable
! period for redemption of the United States
notes in coin. Nay, more, the Republican
party in 1875 passed a law by
| which the redemption OF these notes
| is TO begin the first of January, 1879
R1th favor nOipV
demptIon of the legal-tender notes in coin
and of making coin the basis of currency. But
the manner by which this result is to be pro-
duced is widely different. The constitution
provides that congress shall have power to
coin money and regulate the value thereof;
tnat the states shall make nothing but gold
and silver legal-tender in the payment of
debts. States may make gold and silver a
legal tender in the payment of debts, but
they cannot coin money, regulate its
value; and if congress refuse to coin gold
or silver and regulate its value the States
can have no such coin. Gold and silver
were the money of the consti tuition, and silver
was as much money as gold up to the year
1915, when the Republican party demonettzed
silver and struck the silver dollar from the
list of American coins, so that silver is no
longer q legal-tender to be used to pay debts
and is only to be used as subsidy or change
coin. Instead OF having bimetallic standard
of value, or double standard, we have sin
gle one, and that is gold. At the same time
with this legislation, came the panic of 1873
which has lasted until now, and shows as yet
no sigus OF letting loose Its hold. Let me call
our legal-tender notes in coin; we have no
cOtn but gold, and therefore they must be paid |
in gold. Again, in 1869, congress provided, by
lava Republican congress, Ioo-that the |
bonds of the United States should be paid in
coin. When the legal tender notes were is |
sued, and in 1863, when the Republican party, |
by Iaw,required that our bonds should be paid |
in coin, silver was coin, was legal l-tender,
and with il the notes and the bonds might |
have been paid according to the letter |
and spirit of the law. The silver dollar was |
then of greater va: :ue than the gold dollar. |
The grand discoveries of silver in the Rocky |
mountain States and Territories, and the |
large productions of the mines, together with |
other temporary agencies, caused silver to fall |
IN value, and the increasing scarcity OF the |
gold production made the price of gold RISE |
Then the Republican party, true to the policy |
1t has always pursued of discriminating in |
favor of the ricn creditor class against labor
and the debtor class, demonetized silver, and
said you shall not pay your bonds and notes
it is worth more than silver" 1t said to ev ~
man who owes dollar, Z" We are going to re-
deem our legal-tender notes with gold, and
you must pay your debt in gold." Again, the
United States is the greatest silver producing
country in the world, and 1T is debtor ma
tton. Every national bank in the United
states holds its bonds. The mOneyed capital
lists of the country hold its bonds; and its bonds
for millions upon millions are held by for
eign capitalists. Gold is scarcer than silver
and worth more. If the bonds are paid in
gold it costs the United States more
and is worth more to the bondholder than
silver. That is, The taxpayer isstaxed for the
benefit of the bOndholder whether that bond
holder be bank, a capitalist or foreign cor
poration. Our European bOndholders are
tOuud chiefly in England and Germany. Eng
land and Germany are creditor Dations, and
m 'T sG re re interest OF the creditor tnat debts
denlonetized silver because 1t is to their ad-
sva1tages to do so; for, as they owe us nothing,
and we owe them many millions, a payment
in gol1 gives them more than q payment in
silver, but just as much as they make we lose
by the operation, ard all this when the very
terms OF our contract allowed US the option of
making payment in silver or gold. And not
~ NrNfV, IA
nal1ng against our own great pIoductlon-
silver. Under the Republican policy, every
debt becomes gold debt, and neither the
government or the people have gold,
so that il it be carried out, we have
not yet seen the shadow of the darkness,
terror and distress which must enveiop us.
Golu is scarce-sIlver plenty, therefore you
snail not pay your debts IN silver, but must
pay them in gold. Nothing is clearer than If |
our legal-tender notes are 10 be paid in coin, |
and specie payu2 at is To be resumed, we can |
pay and resume with gold and silver, both |
much more cheaply and easily than with |
gold alone. 1t costs US less and we make
more. hesitate not to say that If the Re- |
publican party had done no other act for |
which IL should forfeit place and power its de- |
monetlzstion Of silver should be the fatal |
step which would wreck its political fortunes. |
The remOnetizing of silver Is sn absolute ne |
eessty, 1t will give us q volume of currency
mple for the wants OF busineSs-a valuable |
currency and the currency OF the constitution
with which banks can redeem their issues. 1t |
will stay contraction, and not leave us at the |
mercy of the fluctuations of the value and
quantity OF gold. Let our mines go on prOduc- |
ing silver. Fut OuI mints to work coming sill
yer dollars, until we can redeem our notes
and pay our bonds, as the law authorized. In
ny Judgment no question in the campaign
overshadows this in Importance, and 1t has
out one side. The old American dollar
weighed four hundred and twelve and half
grains. 1t is no longer coined. The object |
appears from another section of the revised
statutes, section 1886: "The silver coins OF the
United states shall be a legal tender at their
nominal value Tor any amount not exceeding
five dollars in any one payment" These light
coins will do to pay the la6orer or mechanic
which the rich man owns, Gold for the rich,
demoralized silver for the poor. That is Re-
puoIicanism for you, and the rich mans gold
demOnetized dollar is worth more than the
broken-up monetized silver dollar of the poor
man by from fifteen to twenty cents. All this
Republican legislation is had while the silver
mines OF the United States are producing sew
enty million dollars a year, and our gold
mines but about half that sum. oppose the
discrimination of the Republican party which
makes one dollar for the itch man and an
other of less value for the poor man. Let us
have the old silver dollar by the millions and
hundreds OF millions, and let them pay
the rich mans bond as well as the
Door man for his days work. The legisla-
lion OF the Republican party has been
in favor of the meney OF the creditor. |
Take, for example, the resumption act of 1875, |
payment on the first of January, 1879. Our
circulation is about seven hundred million |
legaI-tender notes and the notes of national |
banks. The government must redeem, with |
gold its legal-tender notes, commencing lit |
Tie more Than two years hence. The issues of |
the national banks are redeemable in these |
Iegal-LeDder notes. AS the first of January, |
1879, approaches, these banks VIII draw in |
their issues ana will hoard legal-tender notes |
to redeem such of their issues will remain |
outstanding. This will vastly contract the
currency in its volume but will increase its |
value and reduce the value of other property. |
The value of money, ard debts and Obliga- |
tions payable in money, will be increased and |
all other values dimished; but when the first |
day of January has come we Will have no bank |
notes. They will have been retired or re- |
deemed. Our volume of currency, by this |
process, will BE- reduced nearly one half, and
we will have nothing to supply the place of
these bank notes at least until the banks can
adjust themselves to the new order of things.
The shock to business must be terrible, and
the hard times and distress now existing are
as nothing to the fearful prospect before
us, If something be not done to
avert the calamities threatened by
this Jaw. Let me refer you to another act of
Republican legislation. OF our bonded in
dehtedness, more than half, one billion three
hundred million dollars consisted Of what
are called nve.thirty bonds. The government
could pay them at any time after five years.
and they became due absolutely at the end of
thirty years. They were payable In money.
tender, and these bonds could have been paid
with them. The bonds were sold by the gov
ernment for legal-tender notes at par, when
the discount upon them was, as compared
with gold, much greater than in 1869, or now.