National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-01-30
ME. syMEs,s SILVER SPEECH.


/
New Congressman from Colorado.
The silver speech which Hon. George G..
| symes, OF Colorado, so ingenious!y inter-
poated into the debate in the House
has attracted widespread attention from
its radical and rather novel argument. Mr..
symes was addressing the House on resolu.
| ton offered by himself that it would be un-
| wise, ineXpedient, aud preJudicial to the ma
| terial industrial, ana commercial prosperity
| ofthe country to suspend the coinage of silver.
The first proposition discussed was the state
| ment made that silver would not circulate.
lie held that silver could not be put Into CirCu-
| lation unless the Secretary of the Treasury paid
| out that coin in meeting the demands upon the
treasury. He said the pensioners, the soldiers
| ana sailors, and the government employees had
never refused TO accept silver for wages or
amounts due them. lie said It was false pre-
tense for Mr.. Manning to say that It was i'm.
possible 70 put silver In circulation. Ii one.
fourth OF the ordinary expenses of the govern
menl had been paid In silver there would be
no surplus In the treasury
Last August there was an effort made on the
part OF the monometallists OF the east to get up
q panic against silver. They said the gold In
the treasury was falling below It's limit. The
report Of the secretary of the Treasury shows
That ON the 3st Of July last there was In the
treasury sl26OlS, by5.2O IN gold coin and sl7,3l2.
$40 IN gold certificates, being total OF net gold
in the treasury of Stij, 400 Vlj.2D on the 3l Il
OF August there was net gold coin aud cerllh.
Gates IN the treasury sll3,D7S, 1879; on sept 80
there was slbj 5l26GL2p; on Oct. 81 there was
sli3,45i, 1929. Tho gold certificates held in
the trca ury as cash IRE n legal tender for all
so.callGd kOld obligations the same rs gold
coin.
III referring to the question OF gold obliga.
lions Mir. SymCs said:
ut seems TO me, sit, the time has arrived
when the people Of this country should know
whether the statutes, ana the contracts ma 10
III nutsnnhce of them, create any gold OOlgn.
tOis.' IL Is time they should know whether
the statutes of the United states, plssel by
their representatives in Congress- are to be
enforced II they suit the ideas aud financial
views OF lht GihcialS who temporarily occupy
positions in the Treasury Department, or ig-
norCd ard violated II they do not. II is TIM
for tie Congress of the United States to know
whether the laws they pass over the veto Of
he President by more than twO.thirds ma.
iortty, are to he treated as dead letter IL they
come IN conflict with the supposed Interests
OF tic bondholders, the monDmetnllisLs, aud
the capitalists Of the money centcrs."
AS TO the question of silver now in Circula.
ton, on the 3ist day OF October, 1885, there
was IN actual circulation % ll6,Ii2 silver dol
laIsin certificate FORM sSl, O16,5lt in silver GER
tilCatts held as cash In the treasury and 3d..
ii2te9 in circulation In coin. There was at
THIS time IN circulation approximately, SjJ,-
OOO,OJO IN fractional silver coin, so there were
nbout one hundred and ninety.lhreo millions
Of silver In circulation in coin ana certificate
iom, about one hundred millions OF which
circulate In coin. There IL no such amount of
gold coin In circulation among the people OF
this country. This one hundred millions OF
silver coin is In active circulation among the
People. 1t IS peculiarly the money OF the peo.
pie, and the silver certificates would be In
more active circulation ifthey were not orsnch
large denominations. They circulate upon II
par with gold certificates aud answer the same
purpose in every way.
The ant..silvcr men have said that the con.
tinucd coinage Ot silver would drive gold out
Of country. 1T IL significant fact" he
said, that from 1873, whCff silver was demone-
tized, to 1873, when the Bland bill passed, there
was n continued excess OF exports over the i'm.
ports Of gold coin aud bullion, which amounted
during these five years to sl27 500, O36, and from
The year 1875, 0fler the passage OF the Bland
bill, to end of fiscal year 1885, there has been O
continued increase OF the imports over the ex-
ports, which, In the aggregate during these
seven years, amounts to about two hundred
millions" Mr.. Symcs referred to the Gresh lm
law, which, he said, had been imperfec ly
understood and greatly misrcpresented. Whel
the balance OF trade Is In favor of q country on
account OF her industrial, commercial, and
mater ial prosperity, she will receive from other
countries the accumulation OF the dcarer
money. Whena nation is internationally rich,
has lecome creditor nation, and has great
industrial aud material prosperity, she will
receive an accumulation OF the dearcr money
from The other countries less rich and less pros
porous.
The arguments in favor of decentralization
from 1870 to 1873 were mostly based upon the
fact that silver dollars were intrnsically worth
70 much more than gold dollars they were
bought up, exported or used in the arts, an
practically kept out of circulation.
"Mr. Chairman" he continued, "from this 1t
silver dollar In 1873, Tor the reason that its
bullion value was so much greater than the
gold dollar that It could not he kept in cirCu.
lation., Alter the decentralization, by reason
OF which silver deprecated in yaluc, thess
same supporters OF the siugle gold standard
opposed reconciliation for the reason that the
bullion, value OF the silver dollar had become
80 much less than the gold dollar that 1t would
not circulate or be received by The people.
When they urge suspension Of coinage, For this
reason they seek to take advantage of their
yer producing nation. We ar II great debtor
nation. All our great industrial aud material
interests demand bimetallism for our pros.
Standard nre creditor nations Their great
material interests are already developed. They
are seeking an outlet for their accumulated
capital. They seek to control the nations of
the commercial world with this accumulated
capital. They seek 10 invest large quantities
of money In the United States and to derive
i S5gIeh iNed incomes and Tsyennss theIefrom,
property. The Interests of the moneyel classes
In these countries demand that unc.hllf the
metal money of the world should be demone-
tiztd so as greatly to appreciate the value of
the other bali and deprCciate the value Of all
productive property and laLor, and add to the
burdens of the debtor"
In the years lSIi-5-G, II was represented that
the product Of the ComstOck mines was all
silver, and the people generally supposed from
me reports that the OUTPUT from these m mes
was all or very nearly all silver metal The
fact is that Az per cent. of the metal product
ofthe Comsock mines was gold. =
The most ineNpliCable COnJm'iDn drawn leo n
the product OF the bonanza mines by the gold
bugs at that time was that these mines which
produced approximately the same amount OF
gold aud silver were going to GiSarnlnge the
relative value OF the two metals throughout
the commercial world. The silver product of
the state of Nevodal and of the United States
was also greatly exaggerated. 1t has been
shown that the average general product of the
state of Nevada during the six ye rs lmmedl.
alely preceding December, 1876, amounted to
SlH,OOiOO per annum. The
incrt ase In the production of silver In this
country has not supplied the dccrea,e In the
seen that the total produ't Of gold and silver
IN the United States fell from SO, 400 900 In 1878
10 S196OO,t 90 in lSSi-a decrease of SIG $50 900.
The silver product of the United states in
crease d during this period from 1878 to 1854
only $4,000, and during the same time the
gold product fell of $50 100000.
The concluding remark made by Mr.. Symcs
drove straight home, when he said the mono
melil HISS DO not prOpo'c any legislation or
any rCmt dies for the stagnation OF Industry
I've property and labor that will result from
susrendng silver coinage and still they advo-
cate suspension. They are continually finding
fault with and delivering IhliiPp!cs against
compulsory coinage of the siiver dollar but
icy refuse TO grant the people free coinage,
and TO put silver, where 1t ought to he, on an
equality with gold, They do not attempt to
argue OF show that double, or even an alter.
naive, standard Is not more stable and better
for tie country In every way than II single gold
standard, but SIN they res 1T 70 every means
IN their power, even to the violation of the
plRIIest laws on the statut, hooks, todcpreciato
and oycOtt silver, and, in effect, bring about
single gold standard"
How Woman differ Frnm Mem