Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-02-04
THE SILVER WA
The Issue Boldly and Clearly De-
fined.
Bondhoiders, Bankers and Money
LENDERS on pDe Side.
Laborers, The Middle Classes and
Debtors on the other.

Laborers, The Middle Classes and
Debtors on the other.
Speech of Hon. John IT. Reagan.
The House being in Committee of the
Whole on the state of the Union for the pur-
pose of considering the Presidents mes
sage
Mr.. REAGAN said:
Mr.. CHAIRMAN: Awaiting myself of the
latitude of debate allowed in Committee Of
the Whole | propose now 10 offer some re-
marks on q question OF great interest to our
people.
THE ISSUE.
The controversy about silver coinage is a
contest between the bondholders, bankers,
money-lenders, and those having fixed in=
comes on the one side, and the laborers, mid
die classes, and debtors of the world ON the
other side.
Those who desire the decentralization OF
silver are fraudulently endeayoring TO have
this done in violation of existing law and
contracts in order to further enrich them
selves at the expense of other people, while
the working people who have to earn the
means to pay all public Indebtedness, the
middle classes who live ulnn their current
earnings. and the debtor class generally. ask
public and private, according to the law and
the contracts under which they were created.
1t is, therefore, contest besween dishonesty
and honesty, Between fraud and fairness, be-
tween wrong and right. And the great ques-
ton involved is, which of these shall be the
rule by which the people OF this great, free
Republic are to be governed
The rich mOneyed met first conspired to
degrade silver as compared with gold, and
having accomplished this part of their wick
efal,sa ,fI.-
and thereby reducing the values OF property
and labor doubling the value of all evidences
of debt, and doubling the amount of labor OF
the working men and women of the country
which would be required to pay these debts
the same men then turn 10 the people and
tell them they are injured by the use of sill
yer coin, that the value of their labor is re-
duced by the fact that the standard silver
dollar is not the equivalent of 100 cents in
gold. and that to restore to them profitable
wages and good prices they must join in the
crusade against silver and help to strike il
out of existence as a part of the worlds
metal money.
l know Of no writer on political economy
who does not maintain that Il liberal amount
Of circulating money Is essential TO the pros
perity OF country. | know OF none who
do not insist that an Inadequate amount of
circulating money checks enterprise and ini-
pOYerisheS the people. These two PROPOSE
tons may be accepted as automatic truths,
questioned by no one but the selfish and
greedy g0ld-mononetallists and tlfeir hired
or deluded advocates, who have the unblush-
ing etfrontery to tell the people they will he
made better of by reducing The present vol
ume OF our money! because then the smaller
sum of money viii be worth more than the
larger, and that their smaller wages win buy
more in the markets. These men, who by
their scltshncSs and greed deceive them
selves, are engaged in the u9patrOtic, insin-
cere, and unjust effort to deceive the people
into the belief that they wilt be benefited by
q policy which would double the labor they
must perform, in order TO pay off the many
billions of dollars OF national, State, munich
pal, corporate and private Indebtedness of
the country. It Is the old trick of the dema-
gOgueS-n0 longer to be successful with the
intelligent people OF this c0untfy-tO Try to
luli them into a sense of security by profess
ing devotion to their interest. in order the
more certainly and securely to be enabled to
rob and degrade them
The action of Germany displays tie ami
mus. the motive of those Wee seek to do
away with silver money in ls]i, on account
OF the very large amount OF g0ld which had
been taken in the few preceding years from
the mines Of California and Australia, gold
had become more abundant and relatively
cheaper than silver, and the bondholders,
money-lenders, and bankers Qf Germany and
Austria induced those governments to de-
monetize gold ami To adopt the silver stand
ard. because that was the Scarcer and deaTer
metal. AiterWard. When those mines ceased
to yield so mitch gold, and when the mines
OF the United States began 10 yield silver in
greater abundance than gold, making gold
the scarcer and ticarcr money, Germany then
demonetized silver IN 1871, and adopted the
gold standard, edcb tnic SeeilHg by reduc-
ton Of the v0 uuie at ndnay to increase the
value OF their securities AID the value of
their money as compared With other prop
erty.
-f4 4.
because that is tie real object Of this move
ment. The fear that this can not be accom-
plished has caused them 10 declare now for
a suspension of silver coinage. And this is
no doubt what the President and the Secre-
tary of the Treasury really desire. But the
men who are controlling and giving life to
this movement mean to do away with silver
as money. And either the suspension of the
coinage or the increase OF the weight of the
dollar, though not at once meeting their
wishes, would still further degrade silver
and give them better opportunity to secure
its complete decentralization hereafter.
We should continue silver coinage and pre-
serve our bnnetalllc standard, too. as one of
the means OF increasing our trade and of con-
trolling larger part OF the commerce of the
silver countries OF Mexico and Central and
South America. We should in this respect
have an American policy and not be court
ing the privilege OF making this country
mere appendage and help to British and
GeFman p0Hcy
IT'S MAGNITUDE.
This is more than n national question. 1t
involves the interests OF all commercial ma
tons, of all civilized peoples This is so be-
cause gold and silver have through all the
ages been recognized as the money of the
world, the only international money. Many
nations have had bank notes and other kinds
OF paper money current within the countries
which authorized its issue, but not current in
other countries, and therefore properly de-
signated as local money, as eOntradistin-
guished from the worlds money-gold and
silver These are recognized as the worlds
money not because all commodities are paid
for in coin, not because all exchanges of
commodities are made by the aid of gold and
silver, but because these measure the value
of all other money in transactions between
different countries and natonalities. The
value OF all exchange between different
countries IS determined mainly by the
amount of metal money available for com
mercial use, and the value OF all local paper
money is largely controlled by the amount
OF metal money.
We can better understand the magnitude
of this question by keeping in view some inn
portant facts. The national debts OF the
world are alleged to amount to over S24, 000-
100000, and they are steadily and rapidly in
creasing. The debts of the railroad eompa-
MES are estimated to amount to about &c.
0OO,0O0,O00; the debts of states, municipalities,
&c to about So, DOC, 600 0-aggregatiug S35-
900, 100000 The private indebtedness Of tie
world would probably be the double of this
sum. The amount of metal money in the
world is estimated to be about 81 000, 600 GOO
The following table, furnished to me by Mr.
Burchard, the Director of the mint, on the
Goth of June last, shows the estimated
amount of gold and silver coin and bullion
in the countries named. lhaye added the
aggregates of these sums: