The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-08-22

coin, aces 1lOt WCGlOe Nl6 uUNOTHy W issue
"the paper of The Government as money and
"in this judgment of the House, the Con-
"stitution no where Confers upon Con-
"gress the power to issue, in time Of
"peace the promise or obligation of the
government as legal tender in pay
"ment Of debts"
On the foregoing resolution Mr.. Foster
voted "yes." If he believed in the dec
laration which he then voted for, "that
"the constitutional authority to coin
"money, ETC., does not include The authority
ITO issue The paper of fMe government as mon
"eH" then he could hardly have been a
consistent greenbaCk man, in favor Of
issuing the paper of the government as
money, for the bed rock upon which the
greenback faith is founded, is the propo-
silion that the government has the pow
er ITO issue its paper as money" and that
it ought to exercise that power. 1t Mr..
Foster believes now, as he then voted,
which we suppose he does, that the
"Constilution nowhere Confers on Con-
"gress the power to issue, in time of
"peace, the promise or obligation of the
government as legal tender in payment
"of debts" his simple declaration that he
has always been "greenbaCk man" will
90 but little ways toward capturing the
greenback vote of his district, which his
Upper Sandusky speech was undoubted-
ly intended to do,
The greenbaCkers want q representa-
tive who believes that Congress has the
the power to issue greenbaCks, and make
them a legal tender, and who is willing,
if necessary, to carry his belief into exc
Cution.
On June 10Th, 1878, Mr.. Foster voted
against bill reported by the committee
on Banking and Currency, to retire the
outstanding National Bank notes and is
sue greenbaCks in their stead-and at
another time during the last session of
Congress, on a bill directing the pay
Tnent of custom dues in greenbaCks from
and after Jan, 1st, 1879, he voted mo"
along with the gold bullionists. Here
were two fine opportunities for Mr.. Fos-
ter to demonstrate his greenback pro.
clivities, if he had any; but up to that
time it is fair to presume that Charley
had not taken in the situation in the Sth
district. From the record of Mr.. Foster,
as we have examined it, a portion only
of which we have given to our readers,
we are constrained to remark that what
ever else Mr.. Foster may be, he is any.
thing but a reenbaCker-either origin
ally or gotten up for the occasion. In
this connection we are pleased to state
that Mr.. Finley voted "yes" on both the
foregoing propositions. Mr.. Foster not
only stultified his record by asserting
his greenback proclivities, but stepped
aside to glorify himself for having voted
for the silver bill last winter. True, he
did vote for the Democratic measure re-
storing the silver dollar of 4l28 grains,
as legal tender, the dollar which Re-
publican Congress, Of which he was a
member, had demonetized; but for this
he deserves no credit, for he only did it
when he found the united voice of the
country, especially the west, demanding
its restoration. 1t was the voice of Mr..
Fosters constituents, and not Mr.. Foster,
that voted for the silver bill last winter
Less than two years before he voted on
two occasions against tremonetizing silver
as follows:
On March 9th, 1876, Mr.. Regan offer.
ed the following amendment to q bill
pending before the House, on which Mr..
Foster voted no." as appears from the
Record
"That the silver coins of the United
Estates, of the denomination of one dollar,
"shall be legal tender at their nominal
value in any amount not exceeding fifty
"dollars IN one payment"
On June 2Sth, 1875, as appears from
the Congressional Record, Mr.. Landers
offered an amendment to a bill reported
from the committee on Banking and
Currency, in these words:
"That the Secretary of the Treasury is
directed to authorize the coinage OF the
STANDARD silYerd dollar of the same weight
"and fneness in use Jan. 1st, 1861, to-
"wit, 4123 grains), and said dollar shall
"be a legal tender in payment for all
"debts, public and private"
On the above amendment Mr.. Foster
is recorded as voting mo" So, giving
Mr.. Foster full credit for his vote on the
silver question both ways, for and against
we do not see that either he or his friends
need point with pride, or organize very
many admiration societies over his votes
on the silver question.
AS noticed in our last weeks issue, Mr.
Foster undertook in that neat little ten
minutes speech, to give out the impress
sion that Mr.. Finley had voted in favor
of reduction of tariff on wool, when, al
we have shown, by the Congressional
Record, as any person can see for him
self, and as Mr.. Foster we'll knows, the
tariff on wool was not voted on in the
House at all. In so doing he left it to bC
inferred that he was in favor of a higE
tariff on wool, and had voted accordingly
We are not prepared to say how Mr., Fos
ter would have voted on the question
last winter had an opportunity occurred
but upon examination of his record, WI
can say, that on May Goth, 1872, he voteC
to reduce the then existing tariff on woo
ten per cent, which he may think nov
is reduction enough.-Craagford Co. F0
| ,,lIg,o