The clarion., 1886-04-21
SPEC H o.
HON ETEELBERT BARKsrALE,
OF NIssI sIPPs,

: HON ETEELBERT BARRSIALE e
OF NIssI sIrP.,
e In the Houss Of Representatives., Satarda!
/ AprH 9, 1886.
u The House having under clnsids ratio
the bill II r. $500 ior The FREE coinage &
! silver, ami for other purposes
> Mr.. BARKsDALE said:
t Mr.. SPEAKER: Disguise it as tn
l. advocates of the suspension of silve
e coinage may, the intention is gltimatel
T TO exlingaish it as a part OF the none
t tary system of the country. The au
e thors and abettors of the agitation ar
5 responsible for attempting radical in
] novatiOn upon the time-honored tradi
] tions of the country, and the destTuc
ton OF system which is eoeval witt
} the Government AID has ever received tht
sanction of the people by whom and fH
whom it was created. know that il
: deprecating and opposing this scheme
am rejecting the will of the constitu
ency to whom ] am directly responsible
| am conscious, moreover, that l an
standing by the landmarks of the fathers
standing by the Constitution which they
framed; standing by the example which
they set for the guidance of those whC
were to come after them; and standing
by the precedents aud platform of tn,
National Democratic party, of which
am a memb Der.
The gentleman from Pennsylvania
Mr.. Scott, in his argument in favor ot
the suspension Of silver coinage, objected
to the dissent of Democratic Representa-
tives from the recommendations of the
President. He protested against their
criticisms He seems to have forgot
ten that the legislative department Is
distinct from and independent of the
Executive department; that each has
its appointed spheres; that each
must be guided by its own convictions
of duty, and that both are responsible
to their common sovereign, the people. !
arraign no one. | accord to the Pres
1ent the same integrity of purpose
| which | claim for myself and for the
great majority of the Democratic mem
| oership of this House who are in favor
of silver coinage; but | will not admit
| that we who are opposing the attempt
TO destroy it are lacking in fealty to
| the Democratic organization and it,
| measures.
| The platform of the National Demo
cratic party declares for "bOnest money,
consisting of gold and suUer, and of
paper convertible into coin;" and this
declaration is almost a Uerbdtim reproduc
tion of the platform of the Democracy
| of Pennsylvania, the gentleman's Mr..
| Scott's own State. On the 26th OF
| April, 1880, the Democracy of that state,
in convention assembled, adopted by ac
ciamation a resolution, reported BY
| another Representative of Pennsylvania
on this floor Mr.. Ermentroutl declaring
| that the Democratic party, as OF old, Is
| in favor of constitutional currency of
gold and siloer." The gentleman Mr..
Scott who now appears as a champion
of silver suppression, and who arraigns
the Democracy for dissenting from hi-
attitude, was a member of that con
| vention, and consented to the resolu
ton.
During the long period which inter
vened between 1892, when the first
coinage act was passed, and 1873, when
silver was eliminated from the national
currency, there was no thought of taking
this departure. 1t was in the latter
ear, with faulty which has scarcel!
lildb q SILSihC heho Nohtih ~
and with premeditstion executed e
strike down and degrade an essential
part of the metallic money OF the eoun
| try-a money metal which had served as
| a circulating medium of commerce from
| the remotest antiquity, and which Is
now being used as a medium of exchange
| and measure OF values by the largest
nortion of the commercial world.
Speaking of the maintenance of silver
| equally with gold as the metallic money,
ot the country from 1892 up to 1873
Mr.. Groesbeck, distinguished delegate
IF the United States TO the international
Monetary Conference of 1878, said:
1t is enoug TO : that throughout the
period | have referred o the Two metal,
served US for all our TT nsactions alb DAD
quite as well as we would have been served
| II we had used hut one. How was it at
nome? This is a far Inore intel estin2
| inquiry. Not merchant or man
| ufacturer or banker was injured or em
| barrassed or hindered ip his business be-
cause we had made both meta.s a legal
tender, aud lot merchant, manufacturer
o. banker would have prospered NOR II we
| had US I'd gold or SILVER alone. Not credi-
| tor or debtor uttered a compl iint or sOnghi
A change; not a la ab0rer, farmer or mechanic
| in the equal use OF both metals as money.
| and the nation was in condition of abso
| lutte rest and acauiescepca in its long
policy. La 1873 and 1874. | believe without
1 single recon- nendation from the press, OF
| rom boards of trade, or chambers OF com
| nerce, or from any other direction. aud
| when, Tor the first rime our public debt ha /
| become heavy and burden some, and p ivate
| Indebtedness was larger than ever before,
and we were IN "a state o. suspension ufoh
/ ! currency amounting o more than seven
| hundred millions-in such an exigency.
aud ith the knowledge thai We were richer
in mines OF silver than =ny nation on the
| globe, and We threw oar lver away and
| ct up gold alone
This declaration has not been coutro,
verted, and cannot be. 1t is strictly
true. The people had not been con
suited. They had not expressed their
| approbation of it through any channel
| by which their voice finds utterance
The step was taken as stealthily as the
tread of wolf into the sheepfold in the
! darkness of the night. In truth it did
not originate, but found ready abettors
in this country. 1t originated with
what has been styled the bOndholding
directory of Europe; and its object wa
to increase the burden of Indebtedness
in both hemispheres. The scheme has
been well described as "a combination Of
usurers so to contract the currency as to
double their profits and double the bur
den of debts upon the shoulders of the
toiling people"
According TO my view Of the subject
Said the distinguished gentleman Mr..
lCARLIsLE] who now presides over this
body, pending the discussion of the
silver coinage bill in 1873
| he conspiracy which seems 70 have been
ormed here and in Europe to destroy from
hree-sev. ntbs 10 one half of the metallic
money of the world was the most 2 gantic
crime of h or any other age.
With gold as the only metallic money
debts would be practically doubled and
the value of products and earnings oil
labor would be correspondingly reduced
The fortunate capitalist would grow
richer, and the unfortunate debtor and
toiling producer would become poorer
| A decline of prices follows a reduction
If the currency, as night the day.
The contractionists, in their lust Of
gain, seemed to have set this plain rule
Of economy at defiance and conspired
TO contract the currency at the very
moment when the increased bushes.
and population of thecountry demani dec
its enlargement.
They acted. too, in disregard Of the
Icalamitous effects Of the same policy ii
the countries whose bad example ".
have been urged to follow. A learnes
economist, Professor w. s. Jevons, give
the following graphic description Of th,