The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-01-24
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/ ton OF silver. f.ly's, >tJt, f.s
tiit ,rnei WAsHIHGToH, y ahuaFy Is.
In the Senate this morning the xaile-
ries were full and elli the vacant spaces
in the chamber filled. .a;S .aa9a y Z S.
Senator Voorhees, of Indiana, called 20
the resolution submitted by ihim on the
18th Of December last, declaring that il
is Of the highest Importance that ahe
financial credit of the government be
maintained, and in order TO do so the
! government itself in all its departments
should in good faith keep alliM CONTRACT.
| and obligations e1tcfed into with. its own
citizens. He referred to the continued
agitation of the financial question, and
said that it would never cease until the
10 in process of extinction upon princi-
pies ofjustice to taxpaying labor. or un-
til Oh the other hand they are subjugated
into ailep' submission aud the govern.
ment itself becomes changed In spirit
! and form into q moneyed aristocracy.
1t may be that this atter,alternatiye is
to- overtake us. g'hU:a are deyk and
| plentiful omens in our recent history in
| dicating such conclusion, and there is
numerous aud powerful class Ia our
midst who believe, as Alexander Ham,
| ilton declared, that the British Govern
ment on this, as well as ON other points,
Is the best ever devised by the wisdom of
man. Those entertaining this opinion
have thus far triumphed in the financial
Legislation of the United States, and the
| time has now arrived when their eicto-
ries must be reversed, or this govern
| ment will soon cease to be Republican
and this people be no longer free. ra,s
| Ae aTSuad tiat 10 great extent our
whole financial system is an organized
crime against. the laboring, taxpaying
| men and women of the United States.
and those who thought. as he did, that q
great financial, reform is demanded in
order to aecure, the people from aintery
| in fact, If not in nume, were denounced.
He spoke of unholy avarice having its
atrongholds, and privileged classes Ray-
ing entrenched themselves, ana aaid this
plea of good faith now so loud in our
| ears, has been invoked in behalf of every
wickedness. that ever cursed the world.
He then spoke of the act Of February
25, 1862, as the beginning of our bonded
debt. The pIccious metals were found
to be unequal to the emergency of war.
Specie payments were abandoned as soon
as the hour of trisl came, and geld geld and and
silger covered in the rear, while the
legal-tender dollar went to the front with
the flag, and stayed there. He was
amongst those who doubted .onr right TO
issue it, but experience had shown 1t tall
things considered) the best money that
ever circulated on American soil. He
argued that by this' act, and by. SIM
liar legislation at subsequent periods,
! every bond issued by the government
which did not on its face etipulate for
payment in, coin, was made, payable by
the express %ardsAof law in legal-tender
notes. 2 He!quoted from thu. language Of
the late Thaddeus Stevens to the effect
that even the payment ofthe interest on
bonds in coin was an odious and unjust
discrimination in favor of the, bond
holder. He also quoted from the. speech
es of Senator Sherman to chow that he
expressed the opinion that the bonds
were payable in legal tenders. The
speaker characterized the acts of Con-
gress proposing to pay the bonds in coin
as the beginning of Reputation. The
present Secretary of the Treasury was
the chief of the repudiators, foremost
among the yiolstors of contract, and q
leader among those who have in no in
stance kept the good faith of the Govern
ment with its Cwn people moment after
they found that bad faith would bring
them richer gains. - si
I Mr. Voorhees, commented. at some
length on. the act of 1869 to pay the
bonds in coin, and said that in some
countries the habit prevailed of building
o cairn, o pile of stones, to mark the spot
where some tragic event had happened.
So let American Taxpayers, whenever
the act of 1869 is cited, each cast o stone
upon 1t to mark the place in a merican
history where repGaiation began, and
where the rights Of the people were mer-
cilessly and treacheronsly slaughtered.
He next commented on the refunding
act of July, l4th, 1870, and said that it
was brought in to aid in the false asser-
| tion of the act of 1869, that our whole
bonded debt was payable in coin. He
argued that both of these acts were
framed in the interest of the bondholders,
and under their dictaioE. But even
under these acts the bends were payable
with either gold or silver coin, and not
payable with gold alone.
/ Mr.. Voorhees, then spoke at some
length in regard to the advantage of all
yer coin, and said that The silver dollar
came TO us with the birth of our govern.
ment. 1t vas devised as unit of value
by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by
Congress in the days of. Washington
Hamilton and Morris. It stood as hon.
ored as gold through every storm thai
beat upon this government. It is asso-
4 ciated with ali our Developments, oui
! strength, our growth, and our glory. He
then spoke of the act of 1873 demonet-
izibg silver, and said it was passed with.
out note of, warming to the American
people that their fayorite coin was about
to be destroyed as money. Its enact
Inent was as completely unkuown to the
people, and indeed TO four.iiiths of Con.
gress itself, as the presence Of o burglar
in O Louse at midnight to its sleeping
inmates. He argued that the silver dol
iar was eliminated from our mouey sys
tenn under cover of false protences, and
that silver had not failed in its functions
gs specie basis any more than gold
or the entire trading and commercial
:, populations of the whole earth, 696, 300,
900, moro have silver alone as theil
staInara or values, ana transact ali tshei
business upon it as o specie basis thhI
those who have gold alone for eimilal
purposes, and 754 100000 more peopi,
use silver alone than use gold and silvc
both as their metallic currency. Re
ferring TO the specie resumption act %
January IA, 1876, he said that an attemp
90 force the resumption of specie pay
ments with gold and silver both aa ou
, metallic basis would bo q cruel failure a
this time. He spoke of the great shrink
, age in values arising from the shrinkag
, | or raoney IN circulation, and said it Ta