The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-02-14
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SHALL WE PAY IN SILVER.
Senator Thurman Says Yes, aud Gives His Rea-
sons For II.

90 on Dec. Is to give expression TO pub
lie opinion on the Silver bill. More
than 5000 persons assembled, and every
utteranCe in favor OF the provisions oi
the bill now before the Senate met with
an enthusiastic By some over.
sight the proceedings of the meeting had
not been sent forward until now. Mr.
Davis then presented the resolutions, fa-
voring the RECOMMENDATION of silver, and
declaring that the Government could not
waive its right to pay the bonds in silver
or gold.
Mr.. Hamlin rep, Me.) presented a
communication from William M, Evarts
in regard TO present from the Emperor
of Russia to Lieut., Green, US. A. Re-
ferred
The Senate went on with the Silver
bill.
Mr.. Thurman, (Dem,, o. said that he
should appeal to no passions, attack no
men or class of men, assail no ones mo
tives, or waste time defending his own.
He would speak plainly; and he feared
he would be dull as pipe stem, for he
had no ambition to make great speech.
Silver and gold had been the metallic
money of the world for thousands Of
years They were also the money of the
Constitution. They were the metallic
money of the colonies, and afCerward of
the United States, from the declaration
of independence until silver was demon.
etized by mistake, and without knowl.
edge of the people or Congress in 1874
Silver WAS money among a large majori-
ty of the human race. 1t was especially
suited for small transactions, and might
therefore be called the money of the
poor The burden of proof rested on
those who insist that silver should be de.
monetized. To remonetize il would not
defraud the public creditor; would not
defraud individual creditors. The for,
mer agreed to take coin. The latter, as
matters stood, had to take greenbaCks,
and who doubted that, if the silver dol
lar of 4l24 grains were made full legal
tender, its value would be at least equal
to that of the greenback2 In two years
(the maximum average duration of pr-
vate debts, not over fifty million dollars
of silver could be coined, and nearly ev.
cry dollar would 90 for customs duties. -
The silver dollar of 4l24 grains, if made
full legal tender, would not be of less
value than the gold dollar, and hence the
latter wohld not be driven out by it,
The silver FIVE franc piece was equal in
value to the gold five franc piece, and
there was more gold in France than in
England and Germany put together. If
the Latin Union maintained par be.
tween silver and gold at the ratio of l5@
to one, why could not we at a ratio of Is
9S-l00 to one2 The depreciation in the
market value of silver bullion was the re-
suit Of demonstration. Remonetize it |
here, and the probable effect would be to
put stop to demonetizaCion elsewhere. |
Ifthe greenback, which had no intrinsic
value, no circulation outside of the Uni |
ted States, and was but a limited legal |
tender, was within less than two per cent. |
Of par with gold, why should not silver
which had an intrinsic value,
which circulated over the greater part of
5he globe, if endorsed with the full legal
tender faculty, rise to a par with gold ?
At the worst, $500 600 600 in gold could
not be driven out by an issue of $50 000-
JuU III bllNoi' IL BOlu WGI6 Ca pGli6O' IL |
would not he so much by asilver Curren
3y as by our small notes. The one and
notes tended to expel both
gold and silver, while the five and ten.
dollar notes drove gold out of circulation.
The fear that we would be fl )oded with
silver was groundess. He did not think
hat we had anything to fear from an ex-
'essive product of our mints. He had
lot been considered an inhationist, but
le knew of no valid reason against en-
arging our specie basis; if we were to
lave and maintain specie payments, it
must be enlarged.
1t had been argued that the national
,rediJ would be destroyed. How? By
,aying our bonds as we promised to pay
hem. The United States needed no
uch prop as a single gold standard to
upport its credit. Their resources were
90 well known. He would be glad to ee
,ur indebtedness held at home and not
broad, Our currency would continue
o be small paper money. But we could
lot maintain paper currency convert.
lie at all times into coin unless we EN-.
'loyed silver as well as gold for its base.
Unless silver should be made legal ten
er the idea Of specie payment in the
United States would soon be abandoned. :
very opponent to an irredeemable paper I
urrency and every friend of specie cur. '
ency should insist upon the full remon. /
tization of silver. Silver was an Amer.
ian product. Many millions of dollars ,
nd the labor of thousands of meR were :
mployed in its production in this coun- !
y, and to destroy or cripple this indus
~ would be cruelty unjust. =
Mr.. Herman (Dem., N. Y } said that he s
ad painful feeling that the result of a
ne adoption of this bill would be detri. :
rental to the interests of the country ,
le would be glad if we could hold our f
Onds at home, but ours was new Coun. =
y, and needed capital as cheap as possi- =
le to develop it. If the bonds came !,
ONE, our capital would be invested in a
lem. He yielded to no man in sympa- i
~ for all suffering and especially for the a
echaniCs and laboring men. but this
III would not bring them relief Had
g after the war gone on steadily and not Z
astily to aspecie standard, we would not
ave been where we are. The Resump.
on act did not cause collapse. The
'llapse came in 1873, two years before
10 act was passed. 1t was not forced A
which broke down our in. p
lstries, but extravaganza and fluctu. o
ing currency. This bill would con- d
lue the evils. He was willing to unite C.
any legislation which would utilize the t.
liver dollar without disturbing our cur O
ncy. He favored gold and silver cur. n
ncy circulating together; but as long as Il
lver was deprecated below gold it q
ould drive the gold dollar from US. The 2
actical effect Of the bill was to demon. =.
ize gold, Our greenbacks would be !, =
'nvertible into gold to-day were it not '.
r the uncertainty produced by this sill. II
,r discussion. Had those who urged the n
usage of this bill no fears that there o
as something behind it to be guarded d
,ainst2 He was afraid it would take Il
back to an unredesmable paper cur Il
ncy. He favored making the silver "