Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1888-03-23

crease in the production Of the precious
metals occasiOned by the new discover
les in California and Australia?
The commencement Of this era OF pr0s-
perity is graphically described by Sir
Archibald Alison, the great Historian
After having devoted a haf-centdry in
writing history and discussing the ques-
lions OF tariff, free trade, money, and
other kindred subjects. near the close OF
his labors in the last volume Of his Ills
tory Of Europe" Chapter 5Gl, he says:
II will belong 10 y succeeding historian
10 narrate the wonderful spring which the
country made the five years which follow
ed 1852 under the influence OF the gold dis
cOveues in America and Australia.
The annual supply Of gold and silver for
the use Of the globe was by these discOv-
cries suddenly increased from an average
Of fl0,00O, 900 to one Of G35000OOO.
The words of poetic genius were more
than realized. "Methinks, as / gaze
around. see the scheme of the all .beneh-
cent Father disentangling itself clear
through the troubled history Of mankind"
How mysterionsly, while Europe rears
its population and fuliills its civllizing
mission. these realms, which have been
concealed from 's eyes, divulged 10 ~
Just a civilization needs the solution 10
its nrohlem a vent for ieyerlsh energies,
banled in the crowd Offering bread 10 the
famished, hope to the desperate in very
irnih, enabling the New World 10 redress
the balance of the Old. Here the Knied
passes before our eyes. From the hearts
Of the eNiles scattered over this harder
Italy, who can not see in the future
A race from wheuce New Albion's Sons
shall come,
And the long glories Of future Rome :
Most OF all did Great Britain and Ireland
experience the wonderful effects Of this
great medium of orr globe.
That which for fyd and twenty years
had been awanting, "A currency common
surate 10 the increased Numbers and trans
actions Of the civilized world, was now
supplied by the beneiicent hand Of nature.
The era Of contracted currency aud con-
seqnent low prices aud general misery, in
terrnpted by passing CLEANS Of prosperi
~, was at an end. Prices rapidly rose I;
wages advanced in similar proportion;
exports and Imports enormously mere ased,
while crimo and misery as rapidly dimin-
ished emigration itself, which had reached
36S, 900 persons o year, sank 10 little more
than half the amOnnt Wheat rose from
40s to Cos but the wages Of labor Of
every kind advanced in nearly as great a
proportion; they were found TO be about
o per cent. higher, on an average, than
hey had been five years before. In Ire
lInd the change was still greater, and
p robably unequaled in 80 short time in
the annals of history. Wages Of country
l. Dor rose from I'd. day to Is. sd or %. (;
convicted crime sank nearly half aud
tho increased growth of cereal crops, un-
d er the genial influences OF those advanced
prices, was ~ rapid as it's previous decline
ri nee l-46 had been. At the same time
decisive evidence was afforded that all
this sudden burst Of prosperity was the re-
sr'lt Of the expanded currency, and by no
M cans of free trade, in the fact that it did
not appear till the gold discoveries came
into operation, aud then il was fully as
great in the protected as in the free-trade
states
From 1850 to 1875 the annual product
OF the precious metals was from one hun
dred and seventy-iiye millions to two
hundred miIlions; from 1873 to 1888 the
annual supply Of the two metals has been
fully equal to two hundred mil IONS
Why, then, have prices declined 33t per
cent. in the last thirteen years? The
Silver Commission OF 1876 investigated
that subject and furnished key by which
the present financial depression is eX-
planned, which will be found on page 80
Of that report, As follows:
First. the decentralization Of silver, by
Germany IN ISL, by the United States in
1913 and 1-7i. and by the scandinavian
states in 1874 the Limitation on the coin.
age Of silver imposed by France, Belgium,
Switzerland, and Italy in 1874; the clos
ure Of the Holland mint against the coin
age Of silver on private account in April,
1915; the refusal of Switzerland, in 1873,
20 coin silver at all, and in the summer OF
1876, by authority given to and actually
exercised by the President Of the French
Republic, the suspension of the silver
coinage altogether; the Spanish royal de-
cree (lS76) closing the mint OF that king
dom against riyate depostors and declar-
ing the purpose of that government to de-
mOnetlZe IL for all sums exceeding s25 at
the earliest practicable moment and the
submission (fs76) to the Dutch legislative
chambers ofa ministerial project Of de-
monetizing silver in Holland. aud of ex-
tending to the mint In Java the restriction
against coinage for individuals already
imposed april, ls75.) upon the mint in
Holland
Although Congress demonetized silver
in February, 1873, the fact was not dis
covered by the general pubic or by the
executive department Of this Government
until all the minis in the United States
and Europe were closed against silver.
Then it was that ii yer fell near 20 per
cent and the discovery was made.
President Grant, who signed the bill,
wrote a letter on the 9Th day OF October,
in the same year-about eight months
after silver was demOnetized-to his
friend, Mr.. Cowdrey, in which he said
The panic has brought greenbacks about
TO a par with silver. | wonder that silver
Is not already coming into the market to
supply the deficiency In the circulating
medium. When it does come--and pre-
dict that It will sOOn--we will haye made
n rapid stride toward specie payments
Currency will never 60 below silver after
that.
The circulation Of silver will have other
beneficial effects. Experience has proved |
that it takes about forty millions OF frac-
tional currency to make the small change |
necessary for the trasaction of the bust /
ness OF the country. Silver will gradually |
take the place of this currency, and |
further, will become the standard of val
nes which will be boarded in a small way.
I aNa lt.f mill
two to three hundred millions, in time, Of
his species Of our circulating Medium
Il will leave the paper currency free to
perform the legitimate functions of trade,
and will tend to bring US back where we
must come at last--to n specie basis. |
confess to a desire to SEQ limited hoard
ng of money. 1t insures firm founda-
ion in time Of need. But / want to see
he boarding of something that has a
standard of value the world over. Silver
las this and if we once get back to that,
'nr strides toward higher appreciation
If our currency will be rapid.
Our mines are now producing almost I'M
United amounts of silver and lt - becOm-
ny question, "What shall We do with
{" | suggest here a solution that will
answer for some years, and suggest to you
bankers whesher you may not initiate it
% put it in circulation now. keep it there
latil it is fixed, and then we will find
,ther markets. The South and Central |
american countries have asked us to coin
heir silver for them. There has never
,ecn authority Of law to do so, | trust il
will now be gwen. When il is given it
will be more than the equivalent of be-
Oming exporters OF articles of manufac-
ure which were previously articles Of i'm
,ort. Orders will come for large amounts
# com. 1t will be all in silver, while pay :
neuts are not necessarily so. We become
he manufacturer Of this currency, with
'roht, and will probably secure a portion =
# oar pay in the more precious metal.
Did President Grant know what the t
in contained? II he did, that was Il {
cry foo ish letter {
But this Is not all. He sent n spe- a
ial message to Congress in January,
ST5 IN tbe 1aV no sipnpd fho spppip-rp- |