The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-01
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
rAs silver Dollar Is an Honest Dollar.


70 the Editor of the indianapolis Journal:
In my former article en- the silver question, 10
was shown that from the first coinage the act
Of the government in 1892, down to the present
ti1ae. the standard silver dollar has con-
tanned the same amount Of pure silver; and, dur
Ing all these these years. down to 1873, silver
held its place as legal tender coin by the side
Of gold with honor; and that, too, when its COIN
zee was free. When the government debt az
the close Of the war, had reached its highest
limit, it was all, except the interest thereon,
payable in lawful money" save $50, 100000 Of
Treasury notes The bondholders then set to
work and secured q change in the payment OF
the principal of the debt from lawful money
TO that of coin, ''of the present standard value
Of the United States. y They secured this change
In the public credit strengthening act of March.
IL 1852 Having secured the paymentof bonds in
coir--gold and siiver--they next obtained. by an
underhanded and stealthy piece of leeisia-
Con, that was very close AKIN 10
theft, the demonstration of silver, thereby
making the bonds payable in gold alone:
When the people discovered this fraud, and
ard asked TO have it righted, then bsgan the cry
of honest dollar" by the bondholders and their
subsidized press. They had worked the cry OF
all that was in it, in securing the payment Of the
bonds in coin. as against greenbacks; and now
the cry is changed to that of honest dollar" as
between gold and silver. This cry, too, of
'honest dollar,' is raised in the face OF the fact
that at the time Of the demonstration OF silver,
in 1873, the silver dollar was at premium over
gold; and never appreciated until American
eapitalists combined with those of England to
dehase it; and Immediately after it's demonetizar
.Hon gold became the most valuable. AID the re-
al nl.x cd firm,
Is 91O to ], to II s2100 to l, thereby increasing
th6value of the government bonds 81 per cent;
and the relation has since changed until the
silver dollar is only worth SO cents, so the gold
bugs tell Us.
The incontrovertible facts in the case then are,
that at the time the different obligations OF the
government growing out of the war, were issued
for which bonds are now outstanding and
silver coin, in the dollar and their multiple.
of the relation of 81 grains of pure silver, and
% LIS grains Of pure gold, were an unlimited
legal tender for all obligations, public and pri-
vate and were both alike free In respect to
coinage The bankers and bondholders there
fore .sho trying to stop the coinage OF silver
as hrst step to it's overthrow as a legal tender
money coin, to the end that the bonds may be
paid in gold alone are the dishonest ones IN the
matter and they may as we'll learn first as last
that the people know that by the terms OF the
contract under which the bonds were issued
the government has the legal right to pay In
either gold or silver or both. at its pleasure.
Hence, when it is said that the faith or the gov
eminent is pledged to the payment of the bonds
In gold, the people know that the Statements is
false for the United States government has
never, in a single instance, by act OF Congress
authorized the execution of an obligation payable
in gold alone not one; and there is. therefore,
no foundation whatever for bondhoders or
others to claim that it was their understanding
that the. bonds should be paid in gold
alone, for the bonds do not SO
state, and no former act of the
goyernmernment can be cited as q precedent
upon which to found such conclusion The
silver dollar is an honest dollar, then, In the
payment of government bonds, and there is no
escaping it, and those who object to being thus
paid are the dishonest repudiators," and not
the friends of silver, as the gold bugs would have
us believe And not only So but the bondhold-
ers are now and have been since the war debt
was first contracted, desperately hoggish in their
greed for gain; for while the soldiers who loaned
the government their services to help put down
the Rebellion, took their interest (wages) in
whatever kind of money Uncle Sam" offered
them, like true patriots, and while the common
people, who sold supplies to the government, did
the same, vet the avar;cious bankers kicked
Ike quarter-horses until Congress agreed to pay
them their interest in coin. And now, after not
only securing the payment OF the interest In
coin, but the principle also, they not yet sat-
isfed, and are asking to be paid IN gold alone,
because it has come to be the most valuable;
and, strange to say, those who oppose this theft
and fraud are denounced as dishonest repudi-
ators' by the bondholders, and financial dudes,
and charlatans of the country
Sherman and Manning, as Secretaries of the
Treasury, have been trying so they say, to force
silver into circulation among the common people,
and at the same time they have been paying the
bondholders exclusively in gold. Now we COM
mon people can't sec why silver should be ''dis-
honest money! in the payment Of bonds and the
interest on them, and honest money in all other
transactions. By what rule of justice is the
government placed under greater obligations to
the bondholders than to the common peoples ls
rich mans money more sacred than the toll
and sweat of the man who follows the plOw
amidst the scorehing rays OF July sum- Is a
rich mans money more sacred than the blood of
dead soldiers, that the bondholders should be
paid in god while the pensions of the widows
and orphans of the Nations dead shall be paid in
cheap money? Is it justice for the government,
after having paid coin interest on every
dollar loaned to 1t during the war.
for the payment of the principal from 'lawful
money" to coin, to still further enhance the
value of the bonds by making them payable in
gold alone, cit is the most valuable, when
it paid the soldiers. the war contractors and
everybody else in cheap money, and is continu-
ing to do 500 No, it is not, and the people know
it. They know that the government has the
right according to contract, TO pay the bonds In
either gold or silver. or both at its option, and
they demand that it shall be DONE Suppose
amount of money, to be paid in many bushels
of grain-corn. or wheat, or both--at the rela-
ton of two and half to one, or 40 cents per
bushel for corn, and 100 cents per bushsl for
wheat; and on the eve Of the maturity of the
contract, Mr.. Shylock should ask Uncle Sam"
to pay him in wheat alone, it having come to be
the more valuable. Would not all honest men
say that Shylock was not only dishonest, but
great hog2 They certainly would And, further,
suppose some of Shylock's friends should
cay to Uncle SAM. lyon are. in
honor bound to pay in wheat Alone because it
has come to be the more. valuable, or else in
crease the weight of bushal of corn SO as to
make its relative value equal with wheat What
would be thought of such fellows2 Why, to call
them chuckleheaded asses wouldn't half express
It; and yet that is just what is being done by
those who want the government to pay the bond
holders in gold alone. or else increase the weight
of the silver dollar, when by the terms of the
contract, the government has the right to pay in
al4 oE H. Saxaf of