Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1878-02-27

ing nutiOn, Nh NllW W puOllc lullu.
Our first duty is to DO just TO the pco-
pie. This involves and includes exac.
Justice to all with whom the Govern
mcnt deals, but il does not include n
sacrifice Of the means Of the Govern
ment tn pay claim that has no found
alton in oithor law or morals We
have seen il has no foundation in the
terms Of tho contract What founda.
ton has II in morals Are VIC morally
bound to shape Legislation so as to in
crease the value Of commodity in
which VIC are to pay orr debtsY Gold
is rising. Must we 20 legisate as TO
continue that rise, because our debt is
payable in gold2 II tle bond gave
notice that Il was payable in silver, at
our option, and silver was falling when
the bond was bought, must we make
good the differonce2 Silver was falling
iron 1873 TO 1877. Nesnch moralright
exists in either case Have we the
moral right to enaft astatute tochange
the character Of tie coin in which debts
contracted since 1873 were payable 2
| This is the very thing that was done
in 1873. As toall contracts in exist
ence before that, silver coin could have
been rendered in payment. The law
gave the optien to do 80 But the act
Of 1873 denied this right and compell-
ed payment ingold. lithis was sound
in morals why is it not sound to re-
store the option to pay in oigber2
The legal.tender iunction--the pow
er of paying debt-opr Experience
teaches us, is worth something, even
when stamped npcnpaper' How much
moro valuable when TINS power OF Inc
sovereign IS impaired 70 metal OF m
trlnsic value we base the example
OF our subsidiary colnnge' IN Which
iorty.two cents IN SILVER passes current
Tor my cents ana that o. Dnglalid' IN
which bullion bought al nily'nve pence
per ounce Is coined ana paid out ut the
mint at siNty-six pence. Inc total
sn osldiary com IN circulation ~ ureat
bniian ls nearly SlooVou'ouo' ana lis
iegaitender eapae'ty Is only ior'y shil'
llngs' Inc nriusn pnpnc' Wnose On
ample as 10 the goa slapua,d Mr DOW
On, oi tue commission sanu ihose VINO
follow him seek To hav9 us initiate, ac-
tually take and Keep ~ circulation, at
u face value OF one hundred cents nor
an actual valnc Of eighty cents, more
silver than all ol our mlntH eould com
IN dollars IN three years, ms Is the
power OF legsl-iender junction even ~
capitalowniug, lAbor-depfessing, mon
ometallic England.
Seyd, writing in 1868, attributes the
difference between the price OF bullion
and Of coin. which then was siS aud
I two fiihs per cent, exclusively 10 the
effect of the legal-tender power given
by law. Is there not Just ground Tor
the belief, then, that bullion apprccia
ted by demand and coin vested with
debt. paying power will span the differ
encc between gold and silver bullion as
il exists to day ?
Germary, by her law changing from
silver to gold, retained the silver tha-
Ter as legal tender because of an APP
prehension OF danger from too sudden
!! demonstration aud whila other silver
at once deprecated this projected com
retained ITS relative value to gold ana
passes current within the empire ut
lot to !, or one goid marx ior three
silver thalers.
Is the Tact that lor more than elghty
years one hundred cents IN SILVER were
worth more than one hundred cents IN
gold OF no value IN gauglng the iutnre
shall we add 10 the value oil the 4lza-
grain dollar by increasing the quaint.
ty Of silver therein without practical
proof of the necessity, while eighty
years Of our own history have shown
none such to exist2 The gap between
tho subsidiary coinage and the dollar
Is already wide enough. Our true path
is TO learn by experience tue real rela
tive value between the metals and then
supply u lu Valued silver coinage and
ADJUST the relative value as often us is
found necessary. If we adopt the re-
lativc value fixed by the rest of the
world this necessity will occurat very
rare intervals.
This Is one of the arguments for the
single standard that we must legis-
late TO adjust the value between them.
but from the very necessity of the case,
from the character Of the metals them.
selves. Won must legislatc as to their
relative valua even III von nlaee silver
in an cxclusivelv subsidiary attitude.
Gold will NOT measure the ySlne of even
,be necess;,ios NJ a dav's cxistenoe I'm
their many subdivisions Yon cannot
coin in gold the value of a neck of no
tatoes or Joint of meat. You arc
driven to tho white metal. Ii having
a dxed value bv statute ought of riehi
10 bnve its correspondinp parts of the
samo relative proportion in value, IL
4 the o,d maxim ot atake care of the
nenre and the nonnds will take cnre of
themselves The necessities of The
overv.dav liG, of our people must be
careI for mon a inst basis You can.
moi and Won dare moi make n dollar in
gold worth twenty dimes. You must
Isgislate and that legislation il moi
more important to the dollar than TO
,be dime
If we incroase the weight of a silver
dollar 10 the ynlue of one of cold we
widen the can between the subsidiary
coins and The unit of value. 1t would
under euoh eirouns,ance- bo indiepou
sable to recoin the whole of il or the
peoplo would reject il. for the inius.
iicc and Inconvenience of maintaining
"A coinage with so wide n variation in
proportional value arc apparent to all.
The cost of this recoinagc is no small