The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-01-23


was selected for the purpose.
ait was the depreciation in the value of the
precious metals and Of money, supposed to
gold, which made him the conspicuous advo-
cate of the demand that one of the metals
should be demonetized in order 10 redress the
idolatry 10 our midst at this time, has COM
mitted the mortal sin Of Initiation, and has
been cursed anu cs:-acised on that account by
the usGrers and money changers as well as It's
And il now both the precious metals threat
ened to increase beyond the wishes and inter
ests of this class they would be earnestly IN
which they could demonetize gold and silver
alike, and substitute diamonds or some other
scarcer and more difficult commodity to OBJ
tain as the basis of specie payments and the
money IN which all deDts due TO them should
be paid.
In connection with the alleged overproductton
anu initiation OF silver which requires alten-
tion. In the name OF good ialth ~ hss pee! 1een
urged here in this body and elsewhere that,
although silver is specifieI as plainly as gold
in all our financial legislation, yet IL was pro-
our national debt was created that the pur-
chasers of our bonds could not have reasonably
supposed they were ever 70 receive l. IN pay
ment of the same, notw1Jhs tandiug the law
expressly said they should. In other WORDS, IL
Is an argument to release the bondhoider from
OF the law on the ground that ne could not
foresee that the govern ment would ever nave
silver enough to fulnn the law; Inls Is s Ias
highest, bodest note of reputation ever heard
in this country; an open admission OF the law
and an open. square demand for It's VlolaI1On
No facts or surrounding circumstances at the
time the contract was made can for a moment
Justify such fragrant abrOgatlon OF us most
explicit terms, but even II outside conoltlons,
not expressed in its face, could be set up now
to defeat it. 1 assert that the conditions al
Ieged by the advocates fthis argument never
existed at all. 1 assert that when the law for
the payment OF the public debt was construed
by the famous act of March, lSts, 10 mean pay
ment in gold and silver both, the production
Of our silver mines Tor tnaI year year
was sll, 625,Occ, and had annually
averaged that amount since 1861.
It is contended that the purchasers OF our
the feeble supply OF silver. Did an annual
average production of nearly Sl2OO0,OOO Tor the
space of five years preceding the act OF March'
lS69, likewise escape their attention, when
they were framing that act in their own inter-
est and to suit themselves? But again, by the
refunding act OF July IA, 1870, authorizing the
issue of new coin bonds to be SUBSTITUTED LOT
the original 40 bonds, making thereby the
new contract of that date, u was agreed that
the bonds issued by virtus OF that act should
be payable in silver a we'll as gOld.
During that very year, the year Oh the con-
tract which is to be enforced in all its demands
against the flesh and blood OF labor, the gen,
erouS silver mines of the United states yielded
Slo,OOO00. Was not this sum sufficient 10 put
the authors of that enactment, the bondhold-
in Europe and America, on their guard
against making q solemn stipulation 10 re-
ceive silver money in payment OF their bonds,
unless they INTENDED at the same time TO do
30? During the years ISL and lM2 many
hundred millions of ponds were issued under
the act of July IA, 1870, and received In ex-
change for 5-20s. They were all payable by the
express terms of the law either In silver or
gold, at the option of the government; ana
the production OF silver, when they were thus
voluntarily received, amounted, according 10
our mining statistics in 1871, to SS3C0OOOO, and
in 1872 to SS750,0O0. 1t Is no doubt true that
the product of these two latter years eX-
sited the fear of silver imitation which has
since deepened into the absurd panic now
prevailing, but how can ii with any fairness
be pretened that the bondholder N released
from receiving silver according TO his agree
ducing that metal when the laws governing
the contract were enacted?
And fit was not coined in amounts as large
as it has been since, yet it was well known
that the law made its coinage free and un I'M
tied, and no one has right TO complain OF
the enforcement OF a law OF which ne nad Iull
knowledge at the time his rights and nabilt-
ties accrued. The argument Is unSOund IN
law and uuSus.ained by the facts n fact, the
entire movement demonetiZing silver Is To be
explained solely and alone on the principle OF
contraction; and this brings me, in this con-
neotion, to consider more fully that destruc-
tive principle, and especially to examine the
policy and the effects of the law OF January IA,
1875, for the resum Dtfon of specie payments by
bearing legal tender currency OF the country.
The law Of February, 1873, taking away silver
money from the people, and the law OF jan jan
in advance, when the greenback shall also
perish, are twin monsters OF evil, bora OF the
same Dar6QId4e ana IOStbutI lOI tnc
destruction of all money save gold. In their
discussion, therefore, they are entitled TO
joint recognition.
Sir. in tie entire catalogue of crimes against
human society not one can be found so awful
In a its consequences, both immediate and
remote, as . government commits when it
deliberately destroys the money of its own
citizens. Wherever in all the regions or
time such measures have been accom-
taken place. No shrinkage in the amount OF
money, no contraction of the currency IN the
hands of the people was ever enforced by law
broken lives, ruined hopes, despair, lost honor,
and all the vices springing from the lowest
depths of poverty and human misery. The
worst Ingredients OF war, pestilence. and
famine all flow from the act of a government
violently tearing from the hands OF the LABOR
Murder, theft, robbery, prostitution, forgery,
embezzlement and fraud of every hue and
mien curse the land that is deprived of a full
and sufficient circulating medium on which
to give employment to its tOiling men and
women. The social statistics of mankind will
show that wherever the supply of money has
been scant and labor poorly paid, or LETT en-
trely Idle, there the gallowS-tree has borne
most frequently it's hOrrid burden; there the
jails and the penitentiaries and all the haunts
of infamy have been most crowded. The we'll
clothed and well-fed PhaTisee may ostentar
tiously thank God that he il better than sucn
as these, but he is not. When the strong hand
OF the government is engaged in abolishing
money, and thus tnterposing between the
laboring man and the laboring woman and
their last chance for bread by honest work,
their sins for representation are less odious
TO their merciful Father than the prayers of
the usurers who have driven them to ruin.
It l. said in highly Intelligent quarters tn at
at this hour there are three millions OF our
own people unemployed, who have no
other dependence Tor food and shelter
than the labor OF their hands.
and one-han of whom are now tramping from
place to place for crumbs of charity. Pitiable
and dangerous spectaclel 1t never happened
before In this land OF bounteous nature, nor
would IL now but for the fact that IN these
tofs. q 81 hos rio in
Is benefited by the scarcity OF money, and the
consequent destruction Of all those great indus
brfes which afford employment to labor. Nor
sympathy with human misery, deep and inde-
scribable as that must be. The loss to the
country in actual wealth arising from the alb
solute idleness Of three million persons is very
great. II has been estimated that at one dollar
per day as wages IL would amount to enough
.la.a dlA