Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-12-12
,Mlscf4sNa.
open Letter BY the Hon. schuy ylez
Colfax. aAT


| ON THE OAkS, NOVs AVs ACsvs- -
Dear Sir: To your request . write
to you brief letter for publication
on the silver question Cor to allow an
unsigned one Iwrote to your paper
last year to be reprinted Win my
nancy, cheerfully summarize my
convictions on the subject In few
propositions that seem to No almost
automatic. ss se
l. This is in theory and ShUuld be
in practice, - Government Df the
people, for the people, and by3Ae peo-
pie, )" where the popular will should
be obeyed. i ss9a
2. Ii to-day gold and silver were
both equally legal-tender, g NAen we
incurred our war debt and seaDended
specie payments temporarily r prop
osition, as . preliminary to E6Dump-
ton in 1879, to now demonetl66Silver,
and pay all debts, public and p1avate,
in gold alone, could not cNsIy the
popular vote Of any distrid IA the
Nation, North or South, N9ee or
West, and, If submitted TO q pular
vote, would be voted dowA mil
lions. M
D. NO C3uVUbO W0U 0voE ~ An
any district Of the Nation, eN1io1 to
the acts Of 1879 for the mesetislng
Of silver no popular asseNAlaGe or
convention Of the people, Of any par
ty ever asked for it ; no political plat
form Of any organization demanded
it.; no petition from the people Of
any section Of the Union sought Il !;
and. Of hundreds Of financial plans for
the relief Of the country, for the pay
ment Of the debt or for c0in-resump-
ton, which were published and advo-
ca.ed, none Of them proposed such An
act for the amelioration of our finsn-l
cial ills-not one.
4. The demonetixing act, therefore,
was passed, not at all responsive to
any demand, or desire, or petition of
the people, and was so ingenuously
concealed in . coinage act that neith-
er the President who signed II, nor
the present President who has to exc
cute il not repealed, knew not what
had been done till long after It had
gone into effect.
5 If this is really % government
of the people, and for the people, and
by the people," an act thus passed,
though It may have legal effect, Is
popular wrong that should he correct
ed by the servants of the people
promptly and cheerily--not halting-
ly, or grudgingly, or reluctantly. or.
evasively.
6. II the explicit language of our
National Constitution means anything
gold and silver are equally the Con-
stitutional coin of our land.
Z. If the explicit language Of the
first act of Gen. Grants administration,
.sthe act to strengthen the public
credit and which did strengthen II,
with our creditors and the world,
means snything, the Nation pledged
itself in March, 1869, to pay its debts
"in coin or its equipalent;;-not in
gold alone"
s. If the explicit language of the
funding act Of June, 1870, means any
thing, the nation again pledged itself
to pay the bonds funded under II in
"the standard coin Of that date"
which was gold and silver, and not
gold alone.
8. II. in 1861, 1869 and 1870, corn
and oats were both equally legal ten
der for debts, "between man and
man." as the phrase is, no considers
tion Of equity, honor or conscience
would require that debts incurred
under and in full of such promise
should be paid in the dearer of such
products, because the other happened
to be cheaper from over-production
or auy other cause whatever.
10. If the demonetizing act was q
popular wrong; if it was neither do
manded, desired or petitioned by the
people if it could not now, scere a
new and original proposition before
the people, who ought 10 be rulers of
the land, command even quarter of
their votes-ought it MOTTO be promp-
tly corrected? And then, when the
status quo is thus restored, would it
not be an excellent time afterwards
to propose an international commits
sion of European and American ma
tions to determine what should here
after be the relation of the two coins
to each other?
/ have endeavored, as briefly and
tersely as possible, to submit propo-
sitions that, to candid mind, would
seem to demonstrate themselves, with
out wearisome argument, and hence
omit all extended reference to the
optional plan of resumption 1 have
several times in the past years sub
mitted, as sure to avoid runs, unset
Ting Of values, and paralysis Of busi-
ness-namely for the government to
redeem, at its oicn option, in gold, or
silver, or national bond, as propos-
ed when the greenback was first is
sued, approximating, but not quite
equal to coin in value, and using the
greenbacks thus funded in the pur-
chase of our per cent. loans in the
open market, thus avoiding present
contraction, and ultimately reducing
all our government interest to 3 or A
per cent. This plan seems to have
but little chance Of success In Con-
gress and, as it is not necessarily con-
nected with the righting Of the wrong
done in abolishing silver ~ money
and legal-tender, omit any extend
ed reference to it.