The Republican journal., 1883-07-26
The Democratic Record on the Currency

l
Among the doctrines to which the
Democratic party is Historically devot-
ed," the Charleston News and Courier
mentions ''an honest currency of gold
and silver" and the Boston Post copies
the statement approvingly. Let Us eX-
anime this claim for a moment in the
light of cold facts. The act providing
for the coinage of silver to take the place
of fractional paper currency, and fixing
the date for the general resumption of
specie payments at Jan. |, 1879, was
passed 10y the United States Senate Dec.
%, 1874. Every Democratic Senator
present voted against the act The same
measure passed the House Jan. I, 1873,
by a vote Of 136 to 50 Every Demo
cratic member present voted against it.
The Democratic National Convention
of 1876 met at st. Louis on the 9th of
June. Among the resolutions adopted
was one which in express terms denounc-
ed the Resumption act, and called fo1 its
repeal. Mr.. Tilden's letter of acceptance
quoted this declaration of the platform,
and described the Resumption act as "a
barren promise Mr.. Hendricks, in his
letter Of acceptance, declared that to re-
peal the resumption clause of the act of
1879 would not be Ia backward step in
our return to specie payments, but the
recovery Of a false step"
In 1876 the Democrats made their chs
toric' attempt to repeal the Resumption
act. \ resolution instructing the Com
mlttee on Banking and Currency to re-
port bill for that purpose was introduce
ed in the House by Mr.. Holman on the
18th Of January, and received Il2 attir-
native votes. OF this number, I02 votes
were cast by Democrats. On the l4th of
February, 1876, a resolution introduced
III the House by Mr.. Hale, declaring that
prompt measures should be taken to en-
power the Secretary OF the Treasury to
carry out the policy Of the resumption OF
specie payments, was disagreed to, yeas
-, nays l39 OF the l39 members voting
against this resolution, l26 We're Demo-
Gratis On the Goth Of March the matter
came up again-thiS time on direct
proposition to repeal the Resumption act.
introduced by Mr.. Atkins. This propo-
SltiOn received 10 affirmative votes, and
Of these % were cast by Democrats
In lS77 the Democratic assault upon
the Resumption ACT Was renewed. i bill
to repeal the act was introduced on the
3lst of October. 4 motion made by a
Republican member to lay the bill on
the table was voted down, yeas llG,
nays lbs. Only 81 Democrats voted
yea. On the ed of November this rnpeal
bill passed the House by vote of 1873 to
l2O OF the 133 votes in favor Of repeal
l05 were Democrats In the Senate, Oh
the 18th of June, 1873, only about six
months before the date fixed for resump-
tion, Mr.. voorhees, introduced till which
repealed the resumption clause of the act
Of 1875 This bill was disagreed to, yeas
%, nays y and of the % affirmative
votes 20 We're cast 10y Democratic Scna-
tors. On the 18TH OF June bill WAS in
troduced III the House repeating so much
Of the resumption act as authorized the
sale of bonds for resumption purposes,
and for this Is votes were east, OF which
90 We're Democratic
From the recital of these facts it ap-
pears that the Democratic Vote in both
houses Of Congress was originally cast
solid against the Resumption act; that
the act was denounced and its repeal de
manded 10y the Democratic National Con-
venton; and that the Democrats made
repeated ana almost successful efforts to
repeal the act, the last effort being within
six months Of the date fixed for resump-
tion. These being matters of record it
savors somewhat OF audacity when the
Charleston News and Courier and the
Boston Post arise to claim that the Dem
ocratlc party has been Historically de
voted to IAN honest currency of gold
and silver" This is not the first time
that the Democracy has felt the ncon
Venlences Of having record. Boston
journal.