The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1888-03-29
s'FAUNTON. VIRGINIA. MARCH %, 1888.
The Silver Question.

The Silver Question.
Editors VALLEY Vargiaian: There is nc
question before the American people that
is so little understood, nor one more i'm
portant to al. the people than this silver
question. for it is one that touches all
the interests of labor and commerce.
Every one sees and feels that something
is wrong; and could the people generally
know the cause of the decline in values
and consequently of prosperity, they would
speak out in a way that would be heard by
our legislators at Washington.
Two remarkable speeches delivered in
the Senate, one by Senator Stewart, of Ne
vada on the Sth instant, and the other by
Senator Beck, of Kentucky, onthe 18th,
threw important light upon this subject.
AS they are beyond the reach of the gem
| eral reader being published in the Con-
gressional Record, the writer Of this, who
has devoted much time to the study of
this subject, will present some OF the i'm
portant points made in those speeches by
the Senators, to the readers of the VIR-
GINIAN.
But first, a few words for the benefit of
thGse who have not given the subject a
thought.
Gold and silver are the money metals of
the world, now, as they have been for
countless ages Coined. they constitute
the only real money, as all paper money is
valued only in proportion to its conyerti-
bilitg into money and is always, as ex-
1 pressed On Is face apromise to pay money.
The two metals conformity measure
values for the civilized world. and are in
dispensible in this conjoint use, for the
white metal, by its divisibility into coins
not too minute in size, yet low enough in
.,nl,, TO, oo,t no oe AZ
in one direction, is as important as it is to
have concentrated in larger values the
more precious metals.
The relative value OF one to the other
has been established by law and custom
| and has changed little for centuries.
Being themselves measures of value,
their stability in relation to each other is
of such manifest Importance, that it would
appear to be provided for by the Creator,
as all Of mans ingenuity and art applied
to the procurement of the metals from
nature S storehouseS, have never produced
an excess of either. No country ever yet
had too % rch coin.
Neither metal can be dispensed with
and all nations which from policy have
adopted the sole gold standard of value,
still use silver largely. But silver is alone
the money Of Asia. of Russia, Austria.
| Egypt, Mexico, Central America and a
large part of South America, representing
769, 900, 600 people
The sole gold standard countries repre-
sent only 10000 600 people. The nations
using the double standard include our
country and France, with thirteen other
countries, number 1S7, 000. 900 people. Ger
many demonetized silver in 1871. France
promptly closed her mints. but still main
tains the joint standard.
Thn TTp,tnI Statps while uO66r a naDpr
money regime, by some strange work OF
conspiracy and fraud. as now charged by
the Senators, in 1873 demoneti2ed silver,
by incorporating into the statutes at large
then revised the words which made the
gold dollar the unit of value, and leaving
out all provision for coming the silver
dollar.
Our minis had been open to the public
rs years and coined for the public, never
buying metal.
Demonstration, as the term is now used,
it is well here to remark signifies that the
metal is deprived of its full legal tender
quality as money, not that it is disused as
money, but with limited legal tender
quality. Thus England, a sole gold stand
AID country since 1916, uses more silver
than our large country with its legal ten.
der quality limited to e5 sterling. SILVER
being thus dishonored as a measure of
values, has become an article of merchan-
disc. All the minis of the great CONNER
cial nations are closed to public free coin
age of all but GOLD, and silver for coinage is
bought. Gold, insufficient in quantity for
the double duty has increased in its pur.
chasing power, and values have declined
in all countries in which values are meas
ured by gold. and all the products OF labor
have declined and debts, public and pri-
vate, are magnitied.
A conspiracy ON the part of the great
creditor classes in Europe, very power
full, they were able TO secure the legisla
tion needed, But how was it done IN
america, where the people are fondly sup
posed to rule?
AS shown by Senator Stewart it was
done covertly and by Misrepresentation of
the purport of the bill before Congress.
Its import was unknown to the people,
and even the argus eyed reporters OF
the press, were Ignorant of any such bill
President Grant knew nothing Of it, Mr..
Garfield then in Congress. nor Mr.. Blaine,
knew nothing of it. Indeed no man now
in public life, who took part IN the legis'
lati0n of that day, excepting Senator Sher-
man, appears to know that any such pro
| vision existed i'll the bill.
Senator Stewart speaks eXcathedra, for
he was then in the Senate. and participa
ted in the legislation. He says that nc
such bill could have received more than
one vote had it been known that the silver
dollar was thrown out
The work of the great bolders of our
national, municipal, and corporate bonds
in Europe, was seconded by large class
of such men in our own country, to In
crease the value of their holdings, and the
interests of the debtors and tax payers
were disregarded
l
Bonds which originally cost, some OF
them. as low as 40 cents on the dollar III
coin had already been by law made pay.
able in coin to satisfy these creditors. Not
satisfied with that, they then wished fol
still larger gains, and proc ured the strik
ing down of silver.
Senator Stewart cites the debates il
Congress to show that in the bill Their
brought forward that any such purpose
was disclaimed by the supporters Ut the
bills in both Houses Of Congress, Ques
tions and replies being given in proof. He
says:
The scheme to demoneti re silver was
not of American origin. | must believe
that the Senator from Ohio was himself
ignorant of what was being done, and that
the scheme was accomplished by the cum
ming of some foreign hand The discus
sion in regard to our metallic currency
was commenced in Europe.
The immediate discussion which led tC
the decentralization of silver in the United
States was inaugurated by Ernest Seyd, a
celebrated German English banker and
author. in volume entitled, Suggestions
in Reference to Metallic Currency in the
United States. printed in London in 1871
for private circulation, containing 25S
pages of matter devoted to good English
advice for American consumption. 1t so
happened that Mr.. Seyd was in Washing
ton in 1870 when Mr. Knox inaugurated
the scheme to demonetize silver by his eel
ebrated report mentioned by the Senator
from Ohio, and again at the opening OF
the Congress of ls72-73 at which the bill
demonetizing silver passed
| Let me call attention to the history OF
the efforts of the creditor class in Europe
to demonetize one of the precious metals
for the purpose of enhancing the value OF
securities. | hold in my hand book
written by Chevalier. of France, in 1851
who was regarded as the ablest writer on
financial subjects in all Europe. The dis
covery of gold and silver in California aud
Australia and the promise Of large pro