The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-09-25

| the Democrats fell back 4 little, aban-
doned the fiat notion. and confined them
| selves to an attack on the Resumption
act To resume at the date fixed by the
law of 1915 would, they declared, be
ruinous to the business interests of the
country, and they tried to make it ap-
pear, as the day for resuming drew nigh,
that universal bankruptcy was impend-
ing-that every thing was going to the
dogs. On this issue they fought two sue
cessive campaigns i'll the West. In Con-
gress they were SO successful that they
would have swept the law off the stat
ute books long before it took effect, had
it not been for the obstacle of the Presi-
dents veto.
Seeking always to deprive the public
creditors of portion of their just due,
| the Democrats next started the silver
craze. They resurrected an abandoned
coin which had never got into general
circulation and which through the depre-
citation of silver had come to be worth
only about eighty cents, and sought
to compel the government to mint it i'll
unlimited quantities and force it upon
the people by Il legal tender provision.
They We're SO far successful that their
bill passed and became a law, with some
notifications, however, made by Repub-
lican effort, which limited the amount of
! b 1,o f,o+, ,,+n +1n ,ha
dollars. The folly of this measure is
now apparent. The treasury is so bur-
dened with silver which nobody wants
that additional vaults have been con-
structed for its storage. If forced into
circulation it will drive gold from the
country and bring the paper currency
down to its own value.
One idea has run through all the tinan-
cial schemes that the Democratic party
has preached since 1S61-to dilute and
cheaper the currency in order that pub
lie and private debts may be discharged
in money that will not he worth what it
pretends on its face to be worth. Sensi-
| Dlc llcll, WIZ HtNC Il tllCCU III
the stability of the currency and a pa
triotic interest in the honest payment of
the national debt, naturally ask them
selves as q Presidential election ap-
proaches. what this party, so fertile in
projects for initiation and reputation
will do if it obtains complete control of
the government.
The reply of the Democratic leaders is
| that all these notions have been out
grown, and that the party platform of
1880 favors sound money and 4 strict full
tillment of the nations obligations. This
is somewhat reassuring. but what guar
anty have we that some fresh financial
mania, as dangerous as the old ones, will
not arise, or that one of the beaten and
discredited heresies of recent years will
revive? Evidently the Democratic party
cannot be depended on to resist new
movement to expand and depreciate the
currency, and to cheat the bond-holders.
If the past furnishes any lesson, it is that
the Republican party is the only polit-
ical organization to which people have
any reason to look for sound financial
legislation and administration. True
the majority of the Democratic leaders
in the East have steadfastly combated
the cheap money schemes. but they do
not control their party. They can shape
4 national platform with view to carry
ing the close States of New York, New
Jersey, and Connecticut, but when it
comes to congressional action they are
lost in the crowd of Western and South
ern members, and have no power save
when they ally themselves with the Re-
publicans.
The probability of fresh assault on
the debt and currency may be thought
to be very remote by people who live in
rooted is the cheap money notion i'll the
Western mind. The surface growth has
been cut down, but the roots are still
alive, and will sprout again whenever
there is the slight check to business pros
perty. Nor are the ignorant masses of
Democratic voters in the East at all trust
worthy. More than once in the past they
have threatened to break away from their
leaders and Join the Western Initiation
lists. In 1915 the soft money movement
got such strength among the Pcnnsylva-
| = l,,,t. St,t.
convention and adopted the Ohio plat
form, on which William Allen was run
ming to his defeat. The chief danger to
the present safe and honorable financial
policy Of the government lies, however,
not in the North but in the South. Tn
fortunately the Southern Democrats great
ly outnumber their Northern colleagues
in Congress, and by the power of the eau
Gus have obtained full control over leSiS-
lation. Whatever professions they may
make in campaign, it is not human ma
ture that they should regard rs sacred
the debt contracted to defeat them upon
the battle fields Of the war. and to crush
their slave holding Confedcracy.
Besides they lack the keen Northern
sense of financial honor. They have re-
pudiated, or scaled down. the debts of
their own States, contracted to build
railroads, canals, levees, turnpikes, and
public buildings, for no other reason than
that they are not willing to pay the taxes
| ,,,ta 1,Ii
Is it reasonable to suppose that these
sticklers for State rights and State honor
will have more regard for debt which
represents to them all the bitterness and
loss of the beaten rebellion! Every
scheme for getting rid of this debt i'll
some other way than by honestly paying
it will meet with a quick welcoming re-
spense from the South. This is an ugly
fact of our political situation which no
prudent man overlook. AS long as there
is but one party in the South, and that
the party which carried on the rebellion,
the care of the public debt, and of the
paper currency which is a part of thai
debt, cannot safely be confined to an adj
ministration elected by Southern votes
supported by a Congress controlled by
Southern members. This consideration
has taken strong hold of the business
class throughout the North, and will
have a great deal to do in determining the
result of the present canvass.
Another form Of currency disturbance
is more directly Threatened by Demo.