The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-03-05
The Silver Ones IN


has never contributed to the enactment
OF measures looking to the safety of bust
ness and settled policy of commerce.
There has been constant tendency to
disregard sound principles of finance and
consult loose notions affecting the curren-
cy which appealed to ignorance, idleness
and cupidity. In 1868 the Democracy
favored paying the national debt in IL
redeemable greenbacks. In 1876 they
strenuously opposed the enactment of
the redemption law and return
to specie payments in 1879. In 1878
they succeeded in passing the silver
bill over President Hayes veto, which
is now the subject of serious concern in
the business centres, and the question.has
caused the first conflict with their elected
President. Without regard to public de-
mands, it ordered the coming of two mil
lions standard silver dollars every month.
as the minimum, with a maximum of
$4,000,000. Whether there is a necessity
existing or not, under the law the mint has
to coin two millions, any way, with an in
trinsic value less by nearly eighteen cents
than the gold dollar prescribed as the
'unit of value" and maintained by all
the great powers with which we have i'm
portant commercial relations. Upon al
most every feature of our financial policy
the Democratic party has been unsound
and it was for this reason that the coun-
try had refused to repose confidence in it..
One Of the causes of the widespread de-
preston in business which now exists. is
this want Of confidence in the ability or
disposition of the Democratic party to
deal with the finance question in a states
manlike way. The members of Congress
from the rural districts" want more
money for their constituents, whether
they have anything to exchange for it or
not. They do not seem to think that dol
lars do not circulate where there is no
values created to exchange for them or
if created are not exchanged because of
inadequate prices. The low price Of wheat
operates. to prevent the farmer from sell
ing, unless his necessities compel him to
do so. Where farming is the principal
pursuit, this condition necessarily oper-
ates to cause Il restriction in currency,
while there are millions of it lying idle in
the centres of trade. Complaint comes
up then that there is a great scarcity of
| money, and the rural member reaches the
conclusion that to remedy this there must
be more silver dollars coined. OF irredeem-
able greenbacks issued. He does not con-
slider that ''his people" must have some
thing to exchange for dollars before they
can get them, and that without this the
more dollars issued the greater will be the
| accumulations in the centres Of trade. The
people cannot get something for nothing.
The surest source of prosperity is diversi.
| fed industries, and where these do not
exist, stringency and depression are sure
| to come when there is 4 disturbance of
| trade relations.
The silver bill of 1878 was vetoed by
President Hayes, but few Republicans,
| interested in silver mines, united with the
| Democrats and passed it over the veto.
| We have stated its provisions above. It
compels the coming of $2.000,0OO month,
whether there IS demand for it or not.
| The bullion holders find market for their
| product, whether any other kind of pro-
ducts cansbessold or not. They have the
national law as their defence. 1t com.
mands the agent of the -government.to.buy
their bullion .andsconyertlit.rinto dollars
whether they can be used OF not. OF the
| $19S, 100000 thus coined under this law.
very little of it goes into circulation. For
eighty-one years from the establishment
of the United States mint, the whole
| number of silver dollars coined was
$S,000,000. From the date of the pas
sage of the silver coinage act over the
veto of President Hayes in 1878, that
amount has been coined every month, I'M
til now we have the immense volume of it
named above lin order Etto accommo-
date, not the demands of trade, but pri-
vate individuals who were and are inter-
ested in silver mines. Gold, the more val
| uetoAC ihOtttl, lltto tiitlO DCCll lOlCCQ W Ut
paid out, while the silver is piled up in the
Treasury as substituted Treasury reserves,
while gold is the accepted standard of the
world.
1t was in considering this threatening
condition of the currency and the business
Of the country. that Mr.. Cleveland
| requested his Democratic friends to
have clause inserted in the sundry
civil appropriation bill authorizing the
President to suspend the coinage of
silver for one year. 1t was an unusua
| request, but excusable under the cir
cumstances. There was no time to ma
ture and pass a separate bill, and hence
the suggestion of discretionary power,
in the premises, being invested in the
| President. This would have been OBJ
| jectionable, it is true, under ordinary
| circumstances. 1t would have trans
ferred responsibility and duty from Con-
gress to the President, and been an admis-
sion of weakness on the part Of Congress.
The emergency seemed to justify the sug-
gestion, but Mr.. Cleveland s party friends
met it with rebuff. The vote stood, for
inserting the clause looking to the suspen-
sion of the silver coinage act, as Mr..
Cleveland desired, lis, and against it, 149.
OF the lis supporting the policy of Mr..
| Cleveland, 81 were Democrats and GA Re-
publicans. Of the 149 votes opposed to
him lis were Democrats and 81 Republi-
cans. OF the Virginia members Messrs.
Barbour, Bowen, Garrison and Tucker
voted in the minority, and Messrs. Ca
bell, O'Ferrall and Geo. d. Wise with the
majority. Messrs. Hooper, Libby and Jno.
S. Wise are not recorded as voting.
The vote as recorded on this proposition
or question is significant in several re-
spects. 1t demonstrates that Mr.. Cleve-
land will enter upon his administration
with a majority of his party in the House
of Representative against him on an i'm
portant of governmentalpolicy. It
shows that in marking out safe financial
policy, he will have to depend on Republi-
cans to sustain him. 1t furthur Illus
trates that the Democratic party cannot
be trusted with the management of the
government, and that.if dangers are to be
avoida6 and tho countrv Savad FROM,