Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-12-19

1.-The silver dollAf, below STANDARD
weight, 60 subj nIary cokns: Also
new coin to b. el1led1 the trade dollA
land to contain 90 grains OF silver
never intended ~ circulation in thi
country, but ~ Asiatic commefce
land prohibited t. particMlGr coin
from being . legM tender for more
than i've dollars many one payment
| No allusion wha1Q0er, calculated X
arrest attention Wq1 made in the &C
to our silver doSIAf, and II would
have been unaffect0d by It but for tht
seventeenth sectio4 which 10 In thest
words: "No coenA either Of gold
silver, or minor coinage, shall here.
after be issued from the mint Other
than those OF the denominations
standards, and Welghts herein rel
FORTH" The coin1gU Of the silver
dollar was here ceSes4ly smothered
Under q rule adfoitIy invoked and
enforced, the bill was not even read
ON its passage through the House
and this provision, ffanght with such
serious conseQ uences, passed sHb q.
lentio into law. ~ ts not pretend.
ed anywhere that tll6 anthors and
Ipromoters OF this measure did
not know ct the time. that Il
would have the effect of demOnetizing
silver, and they wsf0 the only per-
sons IN the counsfx who did
know It. II IL manif6st that th0 Pres
ident, Con. Grant who 4pprovOd the
bin, did not know II, for "A hle letter
Ito lr. Cowdry, written Oct; = 1873,
soma aight months aftoRst Det9lde Q
jlaw, he says: II wonder that Silver
| IL not already coming into market TO
supply the deficiency in the circulat-
ing medium. Experience
has proved that It takes about $4O,-
OOO, ,OOO Of fractional currency to make
the small change necessary for the
transaction Of the business Of the
country. Silver will gradually take
the place of this currency, and fur
ther will become the standard Of val
ues which will be boarded In email
way. estimate that this will con-
sumo from 500, 600, COO to $500, OO0, ,O0O,
In time, OF this species of our circulat-
ing medium. - I confess to q
desire to see limited boarding Of
money, but I want to see boarding
Of something that Is . standard Of
value the world over. Silver is this.
= Our mines are now produc-
ing almost unlimited amounts of sill
yer, and It is becoming . Squestion,
what shall we do with iii? I sug-
gest here solution which will an.
swer for some years: To put it in
circulation, keeping it there until it
10 fixed, and then we will find other
markets" Nor Is this all. The dol
lars that had been coined prior to the
act, and which then remained, were
not affected by it. They were still .
legal-tender. To put them out of the
way the following section was placed
in the revision Of our laws, which
was passed iu 1874, upon an assur-
ance given by the revisors that it was
merely q revision of existing laws
without any change or Introduction
of new matter. "The silver coins of
the United States shall be legal.
tender at their nominal value for any
amount not exceeding IS in any, one
payment" The market value of sill
yer began to decline in Europe in
1875, and it reached its lowest point
in Iuly, 1875, when its market price
in London was 46Ad. per standard
ounce. When this decline commence
ed its market price was about Cid.
per ounce. Attention to tho subject
soon discovered that the most efficient
cause of this decline was the demone-
tizatiOn of silver, by which from
500, ,OOO, 900 to $500, 600, 600 had been
cast out Of the money stock and
thrown upon the market in the form
of q commodity, and our own coun-
try, in the quiet OF profound ignor-
ance, had largely contributed to this
result in its committal to this policy
by the act of 1873. The authors and
promoters of this baleful measure
now say that they did not intend by
II apY iNiRfY t0 thAfe d Elh0b AHe H y mnns nl
Il IL due. This will NOT 40. Persons
in Office must he considered as havinu
intended the natural and ohvions CON.
sennences Of their acts and measures.
In no other way can official RESPONSE
biliiy be upheld. B
A bin is now pending in Congress
to restore silver to the place it occu-
pied in our monetary system prior to
the Act OF 1873, and the question is,
Should this bill become law?
Anart from the question Of the
propriety Of demonetizing silver, we
cannot tolerate the mode of legisla-
tion by which, in this case, it was ac-
|complished. We cannot endure 1t as
an example. When q measure with
the evident purpose OF eluding OBJ
servation has stealthily crept into our
statutes in the manner this found its
way there, 1t should not be allowed
to remain. The people OF this coun-
try cannot afford to be tricked by leg
islation affecting so delicate subject
% that which measures the value OF
their property. twill invite the use
Of stratagem and artifice IN securing
the passage Of objecti0nable meas
ures through Congress 90 long as 1t
remains in the statute book. The .e. re-
peal of this feature OF the act OF ~
is demanded for its moral eifect, II
for no other reason, and then II silver
10 to be demonetized let 1t be done in
the clear light of day, and after q
full discussion of the subject. The
burden is, therefore, upon those who
favor q single gold standard to FUR
nish valid reasons for demonstrating
silver. The affirmative is with them
and not with the advocates OF the
double standard.
In support Of their views, they say
that silver must be excluded from the
money stock by taking from II i.s lie.
gal-tender quality, otherwise the
Government will be in 9 position
where Il can pav its bonds II silver
whenever this Is the cheaper Of the
two metals; and this would tempt
the government to dishonorable act
The nations honor is more pre-.
cious than silver or gold, and must
under no circumstance be tarnished
Nor are we 90 wanting in healthful
patriotic sentiment as TO suppose thai
: sentative regard for the national
Honor is peculiar to any section Of
lour country. The severest rule Of
commercial integrity requires : mar
to perform his part of the CONTRACT
}. into which parties have freely enter.
ed as it is interpreted by the law in
view Of which il was made. and thu
llaw alwavs 0iyea effect ia the nlair