Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1886-01-30
TERMS---S2. 90 PER YEAR
SENATOR C0KL'S VIEWS.

He Takes a Decided Stand In Favor
of the Dollar and Denouncss the
Banks and the Treasury Depart
ment for Discriminating Against
1t.
Mr.. Coke called up Beck's silver reSOlu-
ton and addressed the senate on it.
The question of the SuSpcnSi III Of the sill
yer coinage, Mr.. Coke said, was one OF such
transcendent importance that the arguments
of the president and secretary of the treas
ury on the subject should be considered on
their intrinsic merits and should not he in
f1uenced by the fact that they were argu-
mentS coming from high officials of the gov
ernment.
A suspension Mr.. Coke regarded as tanta-
mount to complete stoppage of silver
coinage. Silver had not deprecated, but
| gold had risen in value. He showed by sta
tlstics that taking ninety leading articles of
merchandise there had been an average fall
of 26 per cent. since 1870 while there had
been fall of only % per cent. IN silver bull
lion. 1t was therefore an abuse of terms to
say that silver had deprecated. Silver con-
| stituted Onehalf the quantity of all the coin
| in the world and stoppage of the coinage
| would deprive the world of One-half of its
coin supply and would double the purchas-
| ing power of the other half. This would be
| an enormous contraction. EnCland's income
| from her foreign trade was 5000 10000 an
| nually. She was creditor country and
| wanted her debtors to pay her in gold, that
/ Ia Cha xVantnd Hanr fhqt
would have the largest purchasing power.
sELFIsHNEss RULES sILvER's ENEMIES.
When Germany had secured 81. 200.O00,OC0
of gold from France she demonetiZnd silver
for the same reason that England had done
so. 1t was done upon a cold calculation of
self interest. The same reason actuated the
creditor section of these United States the
section where the big banks and large bond
holders were. The fight against silver was
fight against the people by the banks and
bOndhOlders. 1t was a fight against labor
Had Andrew Jackson been in the White
house at any time since 1873, the silver
question would have been settled. He would
have executed the laws of the United States
and would have taken by the throat the con-
spiracy against these laws, and the officers
of the government had failed to state the
whole truth as to the silver circulation.
They well know that there to day is $40
of silver in circulation to 81 Of gold coin,
and that three quarters of the silver i'm the
treasury is represented by silver certf-
Gates in active circulation among the people,
maintaining prices and wages. Every form
of money except national bank notes had
been boldly denounced by the treasury off
cials, and if they had their way the country
would be at the mercy of the national
banks.
RANK MEMS ARGUMENTS ANSWERED.
Mr.. Coke made no war on the bOndhold-
ers or on the bank men. They were no
worse nor no better than the average OF men,
out they should never be permitted to die
tate Americas financial policy against the
interests of the people. The president and
the secretary of the treasury professed to
favor the use of both gold and silver, but
declared that the amount Of silver already
coined was enough, and that if the govern
ment continued to coin il gold would leave
the untry. This statement was made in
the face of the tact that in 1878, when the
coin ge Of the silver dollars was ordered,
there was i'm the Ualted States only SSi4.-
000, 900 in gold, while TO-DAY, according to
the report of the director of the mint the
gold coin and bullion in the United States
had increased to 5000 600 0O0 So that in
stead of silver coinage having driven gold
out of the country, the supply OF il had
been trebled since the silver coinage had
commenced This was fact that no theO-
rizing could cOntrOvert.
The silver standard had no terrOrs for Mr.
Coke. Germany had been silver country
before il had got so much gold from France
France was one Of the most thrifty nations
in the world, and France had SG00, ,0O0, 600
and some said 500, 600, ,000--Of silver coin
circulating in harmony with gold and side
by side with 1t. Yet the French silver coins
were of a tineneSs compared with gold of
only 15lS to l, while the American silver
dollar was of fineness of 10 to l.
VIGOROUS, FAITHFUL OFFICERS NEEDED.
''Give us" said Mr.. Coke, ''the same ex-
ecutive vigOr and fidelity exercised by the
officers of the Frerch government in behalf
of silver, and we will show that we can carry
very much more silver than we now have.
At the rate of 50 00000 month it would
take us fifteen years to get S575, 100000,
which is less than the smallest amount
claimed by anybody to be the silver circIIla-
ton of France"
The coinage of silver, Mr.. Coke said.
should be free as was the coinage OF gold,
American silver should be placed on an ex-
act equality with gold everywhere. But
whether right or wrong as to free coinage
the people should insist that the govern
ment officials should execute the laws
Mr. Coke reviewed the history of Ameri-
can bond legislation to show that the bonds
were PAYABLE in ''coin," and that joint
by Senator Stanley Matthews, and passed
by two-thrds vote of both houses OF con-
gIess. declared it TO be entirely consistent -
pay the bonds In silver. 10 Fut nob0div asked
that they be pad exclusively in silver. All
that was asked was for the government off
GERS to treat silver as they treated gold. No
more reports from them were wanted, say
ing that silver could not be got into circula-
ton, when I'm violation of law, the treasury
department refused to pay it out and al
lowed bonds that ought to be paid to remain
outstanding, while Keeping locked up IN the
vaults of the treasury mil lions upOn millions