The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-11-19
The Next Session Of Congress Party
Measures.
THE SILVER QUESTION.

The session of Congress which will
meet in two weeks, viii be constant
struggle between the Democratic and
the Republican parties for the vantage
ground in the Presidential election.
The Democrats will act in mindfulness
of the fact that by their
measures, their votes and their
words, the purposes of their party Will
be judged Upon their craftsmanship
and sound Judgment the fate of the
| Presidential election will depend. II
they can strike the happy mean between
the prudence which degenerates into pu-
sillanimity and the courage which devel-
OPS into rashness, either of action or of
speech, amid temptations the most
trying, they will have done well. No
doubt they will approach the FINANCIAL
question with deliberation. OF all the
nerves of the body polite, its finances
are the most sensitive. They are now
/ in condition to be touched with tender
hand. The demand for an increase of
the circulating medium has been met by
causes which no human agency alone
could have created much less anticipa-
ted. The failure of bread crops i'm
Europe creating a demand in that
quarter for American supplies and the
unprecedented rise in cotton, have
produced an immense influx of precious
metals into the country. They are
permeatinq and vitalizina all the depart
!--~---- industry, trade and commerce.
Before there is any tinkering with the
currency, it would be well to await the
results Of this unexpected movement,
except to
REMONETIZE SILVER.
Upon this question, the Democrats of
the House took their stand at the extra
session by the passage of the Warner
bill. 1t was designed to carry out the
pledges of their party to restore silver
to the status it held as a measure Of
value when at the bidding Of the money
power it was surreptitiously demonetized
in 1873. Equally with gold, silver is
the money of the Constitution, and it
had answered all the purposes of a legal
tender for all debts public and private,
since the framing Of that instrument !;
but the money power which held the
bonds Of the government decreed that
it should be destroyed in order to en-
hance the value of gold which, by a
series Of measures they had enacted,
became the only currency with which
| their securities, principal and interest,
could be paid. The Warner bill estab-
lished the weight of silver at its former
standard, 4121 grains; authorized the
owners of bullion to deposit the same at
any mint made the standard silver
dollar legal tender in payment of all
debts required the United States
Treasury to pay out silver coin the same
as gold in liquidation of all the obliga-
tiOns of the government and author
lied the issue of certificates to depositors
of silver and gold coin, or bullion, and
also the issue of certificates representing
coin in the Treasury in payment of
interest on the public debt, both to be
receivable in payment of duties ON inn
ports.
This bill passed the House by the
votes of all the Democrats but eight,
and in spite of the opposition of all the
Republicans but eight. In other words,
it is a DEMOCRATIC MEASURE. The
party can afford to stand by it, and as
it is intrinsicaily just, they can afford
to fall by it. The measure is now
pending in the Senate and the Democats
of that body will defy the sentiment
of their constituents if they hesitate to
pass it substantially as it is. 1t is a
favorite dodge of the bondholding in
terest represented by the Republican
| leaders, who have been their plant tools
i'll Congress for the last fifteen years,
! that the weight of the silver dollar
should be increased to 400, and some 90
as high as AGO, grains. This is but an
obstacle thrown into the way of the
measure to defeat the restoration of the
metal to its original status The law
under which the bonds were issued, in
express terms declared them to be
| ''pdyable IN coin of the standard Udl0e then
IN existence" and that is the same weight
and fneness provided in the Warner
bill, which in that respect was a re-en-
actment of the old law. This is the
contract, and it would now be illegal,
dishonorable, and nothing short of
downright robbery of the people to
require them to pay more than it calls
for, by change of the standard of
value. The weight and fineness of gold
were 25.8 grains, and of silver 2123
grains, when the bonds were purchased.
During the 45th Congress a resolution
declaratory of this fact, and declaring
that the bonds were payable in metals
of this standard, was offered by Mr..
Stanley Matthews, Republican, in the
Senate. 1t passed both houses. The
Republican leaders themselves had not
at that time been so inspired by the
money power, as to take their stand
against it. The new dodge of an in
crease of the weight of the silver dollar
has been invented since, not really be-
cause they care about the weight, but as
an obstruction to remonetizing the
metal. They would oppose it all the
same if the standard was fixed at a
higher rate than 2123 grains. The
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