The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-12-07
<s-s-.or Blaokburn On the PrOposi-
ton g stop the Coinage of silver.

<sva-nor blackburn on the Proposa-a
ton to stop the Coinage OF silver'
III. Burchard, the Director OF the
MINIS. in his last report recommends
that the coming Of the silver dollar pe
suspended. President Hayes having
failed to prevent the reconciliation OF
silver with the veto, persistently advised
that course. Secretary of the Treasury,
John Sherman, made the same recon-
mendation. The Massachusetts, Repub-
licans in their last State Convention
declared for the same policy. The
National Banks, the bonded capitalists
who insist upon being paid, principal /
and interest, exclusively in gold have |
constantly kept up the war cry against
the silver dollar. The report of D1rec-
tor Burchard foreshadows the course OF
the Arthur Administration. Its to be
war all along the line to destroy the
measure remonetiziDg silver. 1t Will De
assaulted front, flank and rear. Some
are saying the silver dollar is too cum
bersome others that it does not contain
silver enough. The opposition of the
bondholding, or privileged class, is
natural. By demonetizing silver IN the
first place, Congress destroyed large
part of the money with which the bonds
were contracted to be paid and to that
extent increased the amount the people
would have to pay.
The Shylocks have never been salts
fed with the law restoring the silver
dollar to its constitutional functions,
and in one way and another have kept
up the hue and cry against it, notwith-
standing the dollar for the coinage of
which the silver bill provides is precise
ly the dollar in weight and fneness and
quantity which the agreement between
the government (the people, and the
bondholders prescribes that the bonds
shall be redeemed with. Until these
bonds are paid, the law must stand !;
or the people will be defrauded. The
legal relation between gold and silver
in the United States is Is pounds of
silver to 1 of gold. In all the Europe
an countries, it is 152 of silver to l OF
gold. showing that we rate silver lower
in the United States than in any other
country; and yet in the interest of
capital, It is said that the law remone-
thing silver is all wrong because it
rates silver too high.
Alarmed by the formidable movement
to stop its coinage and Danish it from
circulation, Governor Blackburn in his
recent message to the Kentucky Legis-
lature, directs the attention of that body
to the subject. Referring to the act of
demonstration he says;
'With the demonstration of silver came
9 the contraction of wages oflabor, the profits
of all our industries, and consequently
thousands were involved in utter ruin.
This act of spoiation was committed so
silently and secretly that the debtor class
did not even know it until they felt the
tightening grasp of relentless creditors, and
failures and bankruptcies abounded on
every side. A wall of distress went forth
: from the people, and, fortunately for the
, country, nearly four years ago this lnlqui-
tOus law was repealed. Nearly hundred
millions of silver dollars have since been
coined, and with this came back the fulness
of prosperity and the active renewal of
every branch of commerce, industry and
trade"
He answers at length the objections
to the law remonetizing the silver dol
lar. And in reference to the deter
mined effort to repeal it, he recon-
mends the Legislature of Kentucky to
do as follows:
As the States have given the Federal
Government the power to coin money and
: regulate the value thereof, and the Federal
: Government alone coins it, the States which
compose this central government have a
right to be heard, as they jointly control il
through their representatives, and hence
my remarks upon the subject. l am happy
to believe that the Senator's and Represen-
tatives in Congress from Kentucky are all
alike opposed to the demonstration of
I silver and the retirement of greenbacks;
' but, in order that the wishes of our people
| upon these important questions may be fully
r understood at home aud abroad, [ recon-
! mend that the General Assembly pass a
q resolution instructiug our Senators and
=, Representatives at Washington to use their
best endeavor and influence to prevent the
passage OF any law for the decentralization
Il of silver or against its further coinage, and
that they also protest and vote against al
e measures for the retirement of what are
a known as greenbacks or treasury notes. II
: such resolutions are passed by you, it will
a greatly encourage our friends everywhere,
as it will Enthusiastically show the determi-
nate position of Kentucky upon these all
important subjects of such vital interest to
the whole Union. Should Congress again
l demonetize silver and retire greenbacks
' we should again witness, as surely as We see
the setting sun, the same commercial disas-
: ter and ruin and bankruptcy that followed
e in the wake of the legislation of Congress il
the fatal year of 1873.
A Department of Agriculture.
AT its session of 1880, the Nationa
Grange passed resolution declaring
that the Commissioner of Agriculture
e should be made Cabinet officer at the
head ola separate departmentrepresen