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

[Mr. PAYNE, that it must have been In
the interest of somebody else than the
taxpayers. Aye, Mr.. Speaker the story
is told in few words. 1t was in the
interest of the bond-holders, and hence
it was done,
The honorable gentleman says that
silver has deprecated; that 1t is not
honest now to compel the creditor to
receive his pay in silver because it is
not par with gold. This, he says, would
be cheating our creditors. Dishonest, is
it? All! was not silver q legal tender
when he, the creditor, the bond-holder,
took his bond? Did he not then know
that he might be lawfully and in honor
paid in silwer2 Did he not in taking
the bond assume and in like manner
promise to take his pay in silver coin ?
l say that the taxpayer ought to hold
the bond-holder to his contract
Mr.. Speaker, the bargain was-be-
cause the law defining what our coin
was and what its quality was, was a
part of the contract between the tax
payer and the bond-holder-that the
debt was to be paid in the coin of the
United States, either silver or gold
We had, and in my judgment still ought
to have, the option to pay in either
We were and are a silver producing
country; and shall we voluntarily and
to our own great damage yield to the
desire of our creditors and pay them in
the most costly metal, and thus virtually
throw away one-half of our precious
metal so far as using it as money at
least goes, the certain effect of which
will be to increase the value OF gold and
thus increase the value of our bonds,
thereby enriching foreign bankers and
impoverishing ourselves, and make it
more and more difficult for the people to
secure the desired coin-gold-with
which to pay our debts ? Mr. Speaker,
the position gentlemen take amazes me.
All, but silver has deprecated, it is
said. 1t is not honest money. | wish
to ask the honorable gentleman this
question: Suppose that gold should de-
preciate; suppose that by the discovery
of some immense bonanza in our own
country or some other country, gold
should become so abundant Us to be-
come deprecated, what then would the
gentleman do? Will he come in here
with q bill in the interest Of the bond
holder, and say that as gold has depre-
ciated, and that it is dishonest money"
and that we must pay him in diamonds
or some other more valuable commod-
ity?
Mr.. Speaker, are we to dance to the
caprice of Shylocks, and become ridicu-
lous and run mad in trying to please
our creditors, and insist on paying them
more or something more valuable than
we and they at the time agreed should
be paid? Wherefore is it that gentle
men manifest so much interest in our
and so little in ourselves
They bought our bonds at greatly de-
preciated rates. Our bonds have appre-
ciated, and are worth frcn 25 to so per
cent. more than we got for them. We
do not complain Of that, but are willing
to pay them in full in the same metal
mentioned expressly and by implication |
in the contract And now that the
bonds have appreciated, we are asked,
and by our own countrymen, too, to
purchase the most costly metal and pay
with it, and to abandon silver-our own
most abundant product-as money, and |
not ask our creditors to take it as pay,
although they agreed to do So
Sir, we all profess to be desirous to re-
turn to specie payments, do we not? For
one, that is my earnest desire, | may |
not be so very anxious about it as some |
of my friends farther EaS; but / wish !
rnnyh st,oatn houi- no. erc,, no ,,Isli k,l5 /
by the road of economy and prosperity
| would do nothing to delay the coming
Of that day when a greenback shall be
par And we all wish to pay for our
demands in coin as soon as we can con-
'istently with national prosperity. Now |
ask gentlemen to consider this question:
Ii we discard this vast volume of
precious metal which carNbe coined into
money, and thereby reduce our means at
east one-half, and thereby make it i'm
possible to resume as soon by perhaps
years, are we not then travelling from
resumption, and not toward it? How
'an we resume without precious metal,
md what are we to gain by discarding
1ne-half of what we have2
Gentlemen are certainly hard to please.
The greenback is not good enough for a
currency because they say it is
below gold. Silver is not good enough
or the bond-holder because it is depre-
,iated below gold and is not honest
money.
But, Mr.. Speaker, by demonetizing
silver they are approaching gold and
making it more dear and still widening
he margin between it and the green
1ack, and making it that much harder
o resume, and putting off the desired .
lay that much longer. Are you not,
in fact doing all you can to
'etard resumption, as you certainly are
1oing all you can to increase our debt |
md make it harder to pay, and placing
80 much more burden upon an overload
ed people? / beg gentlemen 10 pause
md consider.
BY demonetizing silver you throw
away one-half your means essential to
specie payment Will some f.
nancier tell me how he expects to reach
specie payments thereby?
All, Mr.. Speaker, l hope for no re-
by this road and with all re-
3pect to the gentlemen, say that, in my
Judgment, the result will not be promo
led by this measure.
In my judgment there is a conflict
now pending between the debtor and
creditor classes, and the creditor class
has secured the first advantage by de-
silver, thus making bonds
and other evidences of Indebtedness so
much the more valuable and also depri-
wing the debtor class of that much of
their means to pay.
Property may rise and fall in value,
but Indebtedness remains at the same
amount, measured by dollars and cents.
And so it is that the creditor gains by
the value of the dollar. If that class can
by any means or measure increase the
value of money thev increase the value