The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1878-01-17


tocraey. Il may be that this hate
alternative is to overtake Us. Tner,
are dark and plentiful omens~ iu on
recent history indicating such con
clusion. There is q numerous and
powerful class in our midst who be-
Iieve, as Alexander Hamilton declared,
the British government in this, as well a.
on other points, is the best ever de-
visod by the wisdom of man. Thoss
entertaining this opinion have thus ia,
tnumphed in the financial legislation
of the United States, and the time has
now arrived when their victories must
be reversed, or soon this government
will cease to be republican and the
people no longer be free. He argued
that to great extent our whole fnan-
cial system is an organized crime
against the laboring and taxpsy-
ing men and women of the
United States, and those who
thought as he did, that q great work
of financial reform is demanded IN or
der to secure the people from slavery
| in fact If not in name, were denounced.
He spoke of unholy ayarlce having its
stronghold, and there privileged classes
have entrenched themselves, and said
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 %, 1862, as the beginning
of our bonded debt. The precious
metals were found TO be unequal to
the emergency of war; specie payments
were abandoned as soon as the hour of
trial came, and gold and silver cow
cred in the rear, while the legal tender
dollar went to the front with the flag
and stayed there. He was among
those who doubted our right to issue
it, but experience had shown it to be,
all 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 stipulate
for payment in coin was made
payable by the express words of
the law in legal tender notes. He
quoted from the language of tho
late Thaddeus Stevens to the effect
that even the payment of the interest
on the bonds in coin was an odious
and unjust discrimination in favor of
the bondholder. He also quoted from
speeches of Senator Sherman to show
that he expressed the opinion that the
bonds were payable in legal tenders.
Mr.. Voorhees, characterized the acts
of Congress proposing TO pay the bonds
in coin as the beginning of reputation.
The present Secretary of the'Treasury
was the chief of the regulators, fore
most among the violators of the con-
tract and leader among those who
have in no instance kept the good
faith of the government with its own
people moment after they found that
bad faith would bring them richer
gains.
He commented at some length on
the act of 1869, to pay the bonds in
coin, and said that in some countries
the babit prevailed CT building a
cairn-s pile of stones-to mark the
spot where a tragic event had hap
pened; so let the American tsxpay-
ers, whenever the act of 1869 is cited,
each cast stone upon il, to mark the
place in American history where repu-
diation began and where the
rights of the American people were
mercilessly and trescherously slaugh-
tered. He next commented on the re-
funding act of July IA, 1870, and said
it was brought in to bind the false as
sertion 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
interests of the bondholders and under
their dictation; but sven under these
acts the bonds were payable with eth
er gold or silver coin, and not payable
with gold alone. Senator Voorhees,
then spoke at some length in regard to
the advantage of silver coin, and said
the silver dollar came to us with the
faith of our government. 1t was de-
vIsed as a unit of value by Thomas
Jefferson and adopted by Congress IN
the days of Washington, Hamilton and
Morris. 1t stood as honored as gold
through every storm that beat upon
this government. 1t is associated with
all our developments, our strength,
our growth and our glory. He then
spoke of the act OF 1873 demonetizing
il, and said it was passed without q
note of warning to the American peo-
pie that their favorite coin was about
to be destroyed as money. us enact
ment was as completely unknown to
the people-and, indeed, to four-fifths
of Congress itself-as the presence of
a burglar in house at night to its
sleeping inmates. He argued that the
silver dollar was eliminated from our
money system under cover of false pre-
lenses, and that silver had not failed
in its functions as spt Gle basis any
more than gold. OF the entire trad
ing and commercial population of the
earth, 500, $50, 900 more people have
silver alone as their standard of value
and transact all their business upon it
as a specie basis than those who have
gold alone for similar purposes; 754,
200, 900 more people use silver. alone
than use gold and silver both as their
metallic currency. Referring to the
specie resumption act Ct January IA,
1875, he said an attempt to force the
resumption of specie payments with
gold and silver both as a metallic basis
would be cruel failure at this time.
He spoke Of the great shrinkage in
values arising from the shrinkage of
money In circulation, and said It was
the immediate cause of the general
bankruptcy and ruin which now fills
the land. If the policy of this gov.
ernment has been to iDfict the great
est misery upon the greatest plumber
Its success has been complete. He
was not an infstlonist in any sense /;
that would disturb the true interests
OF trade and commerce. Bring the
whole four years of 1864 Sc to-
gether, when the volume Of our cur
rency averaged over Q thousand mil
lions, and the business failures of the
entire country reached only 2167, less
IN number than occurred IN any three
months of the year Just closed. Dur
ing that period, which is now stigma
tized as one of initiation, the windows
of business houses were not darkened,
and business men did not go as mourn
ers about the streets. The laborer did
not go home without bread to his wife
and children. Helpless millions did
not cover and tremble at the ap-
proach of winter for the lack
of food and shelter. The public peace
was not broken by the riots in resis-
tapce to starvation wages. The courts
we're mot principally occupied in en-
forcing collections, foreclosing mort
cages, ordering sheriff's sales, or in
puBIshing the destitute and the out
cast. These are some things that did
not take place: Others that did are