The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-09-16

Ill6 0uklc ulll nan ctSlo was "ulilOlAOu,
the dollar b ing the unit an | the stand
ard OF valu all this time a. d up to and
till the lamonted repeal OF its legal-ten-
der quality. And now it j by the wise
men Of our day degraded ind dishonors
ed for all sums over So and / would
ask, why h I'VE you left it legal tender
for any sun if it is so dishonored, so
dish onest? | presume the gentleman
will say, q well, it will do to pay off
small debit; do to pay i)r days labor
do to pay small tradesmen with.
All, Mr.. Speaker, if it is good enough
to pay the poor hired girl for a week. s
work or go)d enough 10 pay the laboring
man for II days wo k, is it not good
enough to pay the bond-holder, mas
much as he agreed to take it? Mr..
Speaker, ills cry oi dishonest money
will not do or all ears, Ii it is dishon-
est money, Why vii gentlemen pay it
out for honegt labor? The poor man
must take it, 1t is legal tender for
him. but the ri, h having large amounts
must have better money. This doctrine
of the distinguished gentleman, with all
respect to him pers nally, | may be al
lowed to charaCteri 9 as monstrous.
The purchaser of real state or any 9TH
er valuable thing must Sake it subject
to the chances as to WI ethe. it shall rise
or fall in value. And so it chould be
with bonds, bills, or gold or silver
Congress cannot stand ready to reg
late the value of one to ruit the other,
Mr. Speaker, | have no prejudice
against the bond-holder none in the
world. | have none aga Inst anybody.
They got our bonds chea,; they have
made a handsome profit in eir advance
and ought to be content; al \ so far as
l am concerned, they must 5e. / would
nay them all we owe them according
to the bond and the contract, AM moth
ing more We have some ights rcServ-
ed to ourselves, and for ore, | am rot
willing to yield them; not willing to pay
them so many millions mere than we
agreed to pay. And, more than all, |
am not willing 10 reduce orr volume Of
money by dishonoriug all the silver we
have and all our mines may produce.
Now, Mr., Speaker, it seems to me that
if we are disposed to resume specie pay
ments we should hold all our resources
ready to subserve that end. If we can
redeem our paper currency in any kind
of precious metal, is il not best to re-
serve the right to do so? Should we de-
monetize and discard that metal of
which we have mos and which our
country produces? Let it be understood
in this House to-day that he who votes
to sustain the report of this committee
votes to continue the demonetization Of
~, ,,,I tl,,4 l,D f, 1nYN,i,-o
the government of that much of its wealth
and of its ability to meet its demands,
that much Of its ability to redeem the
legal-tender notes and pay its bonds in
coin. He who votes to disagree to this
report votes, IN my judgment, to retain
all that we have with which we can
make good our promises and votes to
promote the prosperity OF the country.
Mr.. Speaker, it seems to me that our
duty is plain; that we should retain
within our control every means we have
to redeem the promises we have made;
and, mark you, every dollar of indebt-
edness which this Government owes was
contracted when the silver dollar of
standard value of 37lt grains was le-
gal tender; and every bond-holder who
bought bond at from fifty to seventy
five cents on the dollar took the bond
with the understanding and agreement
that he might be, and in all probability
would be, compelled to take his pay in
silver coin of the United States. Why is
it that gentlemen from the East come in
here and so eagerly insist that we must
pay our debts in better and more val
liable coin than that in which they were
contracted to be paid?
MR.. KELLEY, OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Mr.. KELLEY. Mr.. Speaker, what
has deprecated silver? We and Ger
many by demonetizing it have deprived
it OF its use and consequently Of its val
ue. Silver is valuable as money. 1t is
no longer used as plate. Families, do
not have it converted into table services;
they can get white metal in forms of
equal beauty and the robber will not
carry them off, for he cannot melt it into
ingots as he can silver. Nickel-plat-
ing is cheaper and more durable than
silver-plating. So that, by demonetiz-
ing silver, we who own the most valua-
bic silver mines of the world, depreciate
its value and will soon close the least
productive mines, and will thus deprive
another class of laborers of opportunity
to earn wages We it is who are run
ming up the price of gold, measuring
the price by all our commodities, inclu-
ding silver. We are running it up as
rapidly as the mercury went up few
days ago in yonder thermometer, prov
ing that our interchangeable standard is
OF ever changing value. y 1T @
Speech OF Mr.. Garfield OH the Sill
yer Question.
Mr.. GARFIELD, of Ohio. can hard
ly conceive a situation in which the
House could be brought more directly
face to face with what seems to present
on the one hand public honor and on
the other the deepest public disgrace
than the alternative propositions now
presented to this House in this report.
Everything in the way Of controversy
hinges upon the proposed amendment
OF the gentleman from Indiana, Mr..
LANDERs. 1t claimed that, by the terms
of the act of 1862 it would be lawful
for us to pay the public debt in silver
dollars such as might have been coined
under the law as it stood in 1861.
Now desire to recall to the mind of
the House the letter and the spirit of
that law. After all the doubt and the
turbulent excitement about what the
actual obligation of the nation was in
regard to the public debt the first act of
the Congress, approved by President
Grant, made a solemn declaration
designed to put all those doubts to
rest, 1t was declared by Congress
that
The faith of the United States is solemnly
pledged to the payment
In what? Not in silver, not in gold,
-, oos,,