Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-02-08


concludes that this rednc non of either Of the met
ais TO mere merchandise, Il again quote his exact
words would proba' ~ be 4 greater evil than oc-
cssoal variations in the unit from the fluctuations
in the relative value of the metal. especially If
care be taken to regulate the proportion between
them with an eve to their average commercial val
ue." | do not think that this country, holding
vast proportion Of tue worlds snpp of silver
in its mountains aud it, mines, can ahlrd to re-
duce the metal to the situation of mere merchsn-
disc" II silver ceases to be used as money in
+ IrOpe and America, the great mines of the Pa.
cthC slope will he closed aud dead. Mining en-
terpiises OF the gigantic scale existing IN this
country, cauuot be carried to provide backs
for looking leases aud to manufacture cream
pitchers and sugar bowls. A vast source Of wealth
to this entire country Is DESTROYED the moment
silver is Permanently disused a, money. Ii Is for
us to check that tendency, and bring the CONT
Dent of Europe back to e iHll recognition OF the
value Of The metal as medium of exchange.
StseHM. the question OF beginning anew the
coinage of silver dollars has aroused mach dis
cusson as to II, effect on the public
credit; aud the Sena or from OHIO, Mr..
Matthews, placed tn, phase of the subject
in the very forefront OF the dehate-n,is'Ing
ptematureN aud illoglcaily, think. on lrt OF
Judicial construction IN advance, nv concurrent
resolution If certain Law IN ease that law should
happen to be passed by Congress. NV own view
on thi, question can be stated very bi -hy | be-
licve tue public creditor can aii,rd to he paid 10
silver dollar that the nIted States can aft nd
To coin and circulate. We have forty thous and
millions of property 10 TIL, country, and a wise
seli-Interest will not permit Us to overluru us
latlons by seeking for inferior do lar where
with to settle the dues and demands of any cred
itor The question might be different from
merely selfish standpoint ii. on paying the dollar
to the public creditor it would disappear after
performing thar iunct on. Bat the trouble i that
the Inferior dollsr you pay the publ creditor
mains IN circu iatlon. to the exclusion OF the bet
ter dollar. ldat which you pay at home will
stay there, that which YOU send abroad will come
back. The interest OF the plbiic creditor Is lndI.
>olubly bound up With the interest of the whole
people. Whatever affects HIM Affects Us all; and
the evil that we might lntilct upon him BY pay
iug inferior dollar would recoil upon us with
"A vengeance a msni'o'd a, the sgregatc wealth
o. the Republic tian>ceuds the comparatively
small limits of bonded debt. And remember
that our aggregate wealth !, always Increasing,
and our bonded debt steadily growing les II
p AID 10 a good silver dollar, toe bOndhoder has
nohing TO complain Of If paid 10 an inferior
silver dollar he Aa, the same grievance that Will
he uttered stu more plaintively by the holder OF
the lega-ender note and Of the nltonsl-bank
bill, by The day laborer and by the countless host
of the poor, whom we have with us always, and
whom the most distressing ell, ct of Inferior
money will he ultimately pee plated.
But must say, Mr.. President, that the specific
demand iOr the payment OF our bonds in gold com
and nothing else, comes with an Ill grace from
certain quarters. European criticism is leveed
against Us auu Htfu names are hurled at Us
The ocean tor simply dailug to sta that the letter
Of our Law declares the bonds to be PAYABLE in
standard CON oi July IA, 1870; expressly and ex-
plcitly declared So aud declared so IN The interest
OF tue public creditor, and the declaration insert
ed in the very bJdy oil the eight hundred million
of bonds that have been issued since that date.
Payment at tha, time would have been as accept
able and undi,pnted IN liver a. in gold dollars
for both were equally valuable in the European
as well As 10 the American market.
SeyeH.eighth- of all our bonds, owned out OF
the county, are held in Germany and in Holland.
and Germany has demoaetlZed silver and Holland
has hetn fore. thereby 10 suspend rs coinage,
since the SUBJECTS of both powers purchased our
securities. The German Empir, the very wear after
we made our specific decla' alton for paying our
bonds IN coin, pa sed / w destroying so far a.
lay in their power the value OF silver as money.
do not say That it was specially aimed at thu
county, but ii was passed regardless of its effect
upon u, and was fol owed, acc riding to public
and undenied statement, by a large investment on
the part OF the German Cove nment in our bonds
with "a view, it was understood, of holding them
as q coin reserve fIr draw NJ gold from : to aid
in establishing their gold standard at home
Thus, by one move the German government
destroy ed far rs lay III it, power, the then
isliug value OF liver as moudV, enhanced conse-
quenily the value OF gold and then got into posi-
too to draw gold from Us at the moment of THEN
need, which would also be the moment of our
own sorest distress. ! do not say the German gov
Crument III these successive steps uiu sing
thing which II had net fleet right 10 do, but |
do ssy that the subjects of that Empire have no
right to complain of our government for the in
tial step which has impaired the value of one OF
our standard coin~. Aud the Germ An government
by joining with in the remon, liz alton Of silver,
place that standard coin its Old position aud
make it a, easy for thi, Government 10 pay and
a. Profitable for their subjects 10 receive the one
metal a the Other.
Eighth. When we pledged the public creditor
in 1870 that our obligations should be paid IN the
standard coin of that date, ii yer bullion was
worth in the London market fraction over sixty
peace per ounce it, average for the past eight
months has been about fifty -four pence the price
reckoned in gold in both But the large
difference l. due partly to the rise IN gold well
to the fall in silver.
Allowing for both these causes and striking the
difference. it will be found, in the judgment of
many of the wisest men in this coantIy, perfectly
safe to issue a dollar of 42j grains standard silver
that, anticipating the full and legitimate
influence of remonet zatioo, will equate itself
with the gold dollar, and etfectuaily guard against
the d. ain Of our gold during the time necessary
for internal ional confer ence in regard to the gen
eral re-estabshmeDt Of silver as money. And
when that general ree-tabishment shall be effect
ed with a coinage Of fewer grains. the dollar
which am now advocating will not cause loss or
embarrassment to auy one. The miner of the ore,
the Of the bullion the holder of the coin, and
the Government hat issues il, will all in turn be
benefited. 1t will yield profit on recoiuage and
will be advantageously employed in our CONNER
cal rela ions with foreign countries. Meanwhile
it will insure to our lsborers at home full dol
lars pay for dollars worth of work.
And think we owe this to the American lab
orer. Ever since we demonetized the Old dollar
we have been running our mints at full speed,
coming a new silver dollar for the use of the
Chinese cody and the Indian sepoy-a dollar con-
tanning 420 grains of standard silver, and with its
superiority over our ancient dollar ostentitiousv
engraved on its reverse side. To these "outside
barbarlans" We send this superior dollar, bearing
all our national embems our patriotic devices,
pious inscriptions, our goddess Of liberty, our
defiant eagle our federal unity, our trust iu God.
This dollar contains | grams more silver thaa
the famous "dolar OF the fathers" pr opposed to be
recoined 10y the pending bill, and more than four
times as MANY of these new dollars have already
been coined than were coined of all other
silver dollars IN the United States.
In the exceptional and abnormal condition of
the ii YER market now existing throughout the
world we have iolt compelled to increase the
weight Of the dollar with which we cary on trade
with the he .then nations of Asia. And sh all we
do less for the American ltborer at homei Nav,
shall we not do ltlle better and httle more Tor
those of our own blood and our own fireside ? If
you remouetize the dollar of the fathers Your
minis viii he at ouce Iut to WORK on two different
dollns different in weight, different in value diff