National Republican., 1885-09-26
Mr. CLEVELAND AID SILVER.
The Text Of His Letter In Reply to the

The Text OF His Letter In Reply to tho
Congressional Memorial.
To the Hon. A. j. WARSEn and Others,
members Of the Forty-eghth Congress
GESTLENEN: The letter which have had
the honor to receive from you invites and,
indeed, obliges me to give expression to
some grave public necessities, although in
advance Of the moment when they would
lcccme the objects of my official care and
partial responsibility. Your solictudc that
my judgment shall have been carefully and
deliberately formed is entirely Just, and 1
accept the suggestion In the same friendly
spirit in which It has been made.
II 10 also fully justified by the nature OF
the financial crisis which, under the opera
ton Of the act Of Congress Of Feb. %, 1873,
js now close on hand. BY compliance
with the requirements OF that law all the
vaults Of the federal treasury have been
and are heGpcd full Of silver coins, which
are row worth less than 70 per cent. of the
gold dollar prescribed as the unit OF value
IN section IL Of the act OF Feb. IL, 1873 and
which, with the silver certificates represent
ing such coin, are receivable for all public
dues Being thus receivable, while also
constantly increasing In quantity at the rate
Of S2i,CC0,G00 a year, II has followed, OF
necessity, that the flow Of gold into the
treasury has been steadily diminished. Sh-
yer and silver certificates have displaced
and are row displacing gold and the SUN
Of gold In the federal treasury now avail
able for the payment Of the gold obliga-
tious Of the United States and for the re-
dCmptiOn OF the United States notes called
"grccnhucks,n II not already encroachcd
upon, is perilously near such oncrOachment.
These are facts which, as they do not ad-
t,.tt t.,f ..f, t,,fn van FNN ~
cument. They have been fOrewarncd TO us
In the official reports Of every Secretary of
the Treasury from 1873 till now. They are
plainly affirmed in the last Dccemberreport
of the present Secretary Of the Treasury to
the speaker Of the present House OF Repre-
sentativcs. They appear In the official doc
uments OF this Congress and in the rec
oIds Of the New York clearing house (of
which the treasury is n member) and
through which the bulk of tho receipts and
payments Of the federal government and Of
the country pass. These being the facts of
our present condition, our danger and our
duty TO avert that danger would seem to
lie plain. hope that you concur with me
and with the great majority of our fellow
citizens in deoming IL most desirable at the
present juncturc to maintain and continue
In use the mass of our gold coin, as well as
the mass Of silver already coined.
This is possible by Il present suspension Of
the purchase and coinage OF silver. | am
not aware that by any other method II is
possible. tits of mOmentOus Importance to
prevent tie two metals from parting com
pGny; to prevent the increasing displace-
mcnt of gold by the increasing coinage OF
silver; to prevent the disuse of gold In the
custom houses Of tho United States In the
daily business of the people; to prevent
the ultimate expulsion of gold by silver.
| Such financial crisis as these events
would certainly precipitate, were 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 IN prolonged and disastrous trouble
| The revival of business enterprise and
prosperity, so ardently desired and appar-
, emily so near, would be hopelessly post
pODed. Gold would be withdrawn to its
q boarding places, and an unprecedented
! contraction IN the actual volume OF our
| currency would speedily take place. Sad
dCst Of all, in every workshop, mill, fac
tory, store, and on every railroad and farm,
the wages of labor, already depressed,
would suffer still further depression by a
scaling down Of the purchasing power Of
every so.called dollar paid into the hand of
toll. From these impending calamtics il
is surely most patriotic and grateful duty
Of the representatives of the people to de-
liver them.
am, gentlemen, with sincere respect,
your fellow-citizen,
GROVER CLEVELAND.
ALBANY, Feb. "a, 1855.