The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-03-30

them and the railroad corporations.
By thus securing control of the great
newspapers at the centers of trade
they are in position to manufacture
public opinion, or rather press
opinion, to suit themselves; and by
paying for the use of the Associated
Press Agency, which they do most
literally, they can thus circulate
their own views broadcast through
out the Union.
This was done without stint pend
ing the passage of the Silver Coinage
bill. To have taken up any Ameri-
can newspaper at that time, any
stranger would have concluded that
the intelligence and moral force of
the country were in favor Of gold
standard. Such was not the case by
any means, however. It was simply
a bankers trick to juggle with public
opinion, and keep the labor and in
dustries of the country in their iron
grip. At the last moment their SER
vitors of the press were driven to the
front, and the humiliating spectacle
was presented to the world of the edi-
tors Of the leading newspapers of
Neutrality-suspicious. who should have
commanded respect by reason of their
great ability and pOsition-trooping
to Washington, and appearing before
the Senate Committee impIoring it
to report adversely to the Silver bill,
as, in their judgment, its enactment
would destroy public credit, render
resumption of specie payment impos-
sible, and, as a natural consequence,
ruin the industries of the country,
close it's mills and workshops, and
throw wage earners everywhere out
Unemployment. Yet,despite these dec
larations by the editorial reserve of
the bankers column, the Silver bill
was passed. It was vetoed by Presi-
dent Hayes, and passed over his veto
| without debate. What followed? Was
there q great financial cataclysm?
| Did the ruin predicted ensue? Not
at all. The Secretary of the Treasury
resumed specie payment on basis
of gold and silver, at the date fixed
by the law of 1875, which contem-
plated the resumption in gold only +;
and yet no bonds were sent from
Europe to deplete the Treasury.
So far from the public credit being
| impaired, las predicted, it was strength
ened and improved by the passage
of the Silver Coinage bill, and al
| though Secretary Sherman did his
best to nullify it while in office, he
was able, by virtue of it alone, to re-
fund a large portion of the public
debt at 4 per cent; and his successor,
Secretary Window, actually con-
verted the maturing and 6 per cent
bonds at 8 per cent, without authority
of law, Congress having adjourned
without making provision to pay
them, nearly the last official act of
President Hayes having been to veto
the 81 per centTefunding bill passed
by Congress to meet this demand
upon the Treasury. This he did
avowedly in the interest of the Ma
tional Banks, so late in the ses-
sion that it was impossible for
Congress to make other provision.
And these continued per cent bonds
were payable at call at the option of
the Government either in gold or sill
yer. But this is not all. 1t is now
admitted by all banking authorities
| that the United States could refund
all its national securities at D per
cent, although England, with it's
gold standard, the other day failed to
convert it's per cent consols into p
per cents, thus showing that it's finan-
cial status is lower than that of the
American Republic, which has a
double standard.
Now, it is very clear that it was the
resumption of silver coinage which
accomplished all this. It cheapened
| money-that is, it lessened the active
demand for gold, and the natural re-
suit followed. Property values en-
HANGED, manufactures were resumed,
wages advanced, while the cost of
living deprecated. The condition Of
the wage earning class was greatly
| improved. Production was stimu-
lated; and, with increased exports,
renewed immigration, and favorable
exchange, gold began to flow back
into the United States instead of out
of it, which was the case while it was
held at premium.
This was not new experience in
American economics, however. From
1921 to 1880 the premium on gold in
the financial centers of the United
States ranged from 5 to per cent,
"and had for that space of time COM
pletely expelled gold from actual cir
culation. eve quote from the New
York Bankers Magazine of Febru-
airy, 1867 This induced the then
Secretary of the Treasury, Mr..
Ingham, to recommend, not very
strenuously, but still distinctly,
a single standard, and by a very de-
cided preference that of silver. This
recommendation, however, found
little favor Albert Gallatin opposed
it with his accustomed vigor, APP
IL.