The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-02-28
67T7EIAND---sILvER.
nh. President-Elect on the
1nS question of the Hour
-, SILVER COINAGE SToPG
views on Matter Which
sound ~ Puzzling Legisla-
h'- TORS for Some Time
c,oveland's Letter.

February 27.-The following
Me- sanlv addressed by Cleveland to
j: 'l .;,rer coinage advocates in Con-
gess; go, o,to,. mem.
TO H, PM h Forty-eighth Congress;
SS'. THE letter which Ihaye had
6f' Hanor 10 receive from you invites
the h9n Soad obliges me to give express
and niu S5me grave public necessities,
sion 70 in advance of the moment
althous To- would become objects OF my
when 'r ooye and partial responsibility:
Official ,yS; 1it that my judgment shall
your S saan carefully and deliberately
nave - * entirely Just, and accept
iorlAe 'ui,,,ostion in the same friendly
the sG q which it has been made. 1t Is
sp sn inlly justified by the nature OF the
eelsso o ~, crisis which, under the opera
i i;aa nj the act OF Congress OF FEBRUARY
w SoL ieg5 is now close at hand.
~ d to, n5o,,nnIiance with the requirements
,Pok ~ tG all the vaults of the Federal
o. lL", have been, and are, heaped
iln ~ silver coins, which are now worth
luz luli II s. per cent. of the gold dollar,
les s. e,,1,c Is 1.-The unit of value" in
p PaefS,r "A Of the act of February Il,
I Ca and which, with silver certificates
I .or,esenting such coin, are receivable
i s't oil nnblic dues, being thus receivable,
While also constantly increasing IN
o1antity at the rate Of SOS, 00O, 900 a
year II has followed. OF necessity, that
he flow of gold into the treasury has
b nee steadily diminished. Silver and
eiIver certificates have displaced and are
now displacing gold, and the sum OF
cold in the Federal treasury, now avail
Sbie for the payment of the gold obliga-
iionof the United States and for the re-
Jemption of the United States notes
called "greenbacks, if not already en-
croached upon. is perilously near en-
enactment. These are facts which, as
they do not admit of difference OF
opinion, call for no argument. They
have been forewarned to US in the ON
cial reports of every Secretary OF the
Treasury from 1878 till now. They are
plainly affirmed in the December re-
Bort Of the present Secretary of the
Treasury TO the Speaker of the present
House Of Representatives. They ap'
pear in the official documents of this
Congress, and in the records of the New
York clearing house. of which the treas
ury is member, and through which the
bulk Of the receipts and payments o.
the Federal government and country
pass. These being facts, our present
condition, our danger, and our duty tc
avert that danger, would seem to bt
plain. ! hope you concur with me and
with the great majority of our fellow
citizens in deeming it most desirable, al
the present juncture, to maintain and
continue in use the mass of gold coin,
as well as the mass of silver already
coined. This is possible by the present
suspension Of the purchase and coinage
Of silver am not aware that by any
other method it is possible. 1t is OF
momentous Importance to prevent the
two metals parting company, to pre-
vent the increasing displacement OF
gold by increasing the coinage
OF silver, to prevent the disuse
Of gold in the custom houses of the Uni
ted States, in the daily business of peo-
pie, TO prevent the ultimate expulsion OF
gold by silver. Such financial crises as
these events would certainly precipitate,
we're it now to follow upon so long a
period of commercial depression, would
involve the people of every city and
every State in the Union and prolonged
and disastrous trouble The revival OF
plsiness enterprise and prosperity SO
a1dently desired and apparently sonear,
would be hopelessly postponed. Gold
would be withdrawn to It's boarding
places and an unprecedented contraction
IN the actual volume of our currency
would speedily take place. The
saddest of all, in every work
shop, mill, factory, store, and on
every railroad and farm, the wages
Oh labor, already depressed, would
surer still further depression by the
@sallng down of the purchasing power
VI every so-called dollar paid into the
.-, from these impending calamities it is
s SIutety Inc most patriotic and grateful
n ~us! OF me representatives OF the
people to deliver them.
ro,, am gentlemen, with sincere respect,
your fellOw-citizen,
a.. GROVER CLEVELAND.
-'i.aANY February Oath, 1885.