Tombstone epitaph., 1888-07-14
AN ENEMY TO SILVER.
Cleveland Advises Against the Purchase sf tn. | White Metal

Cleveland Advises Against the Purchase sf tn.
 White Metal.
 ALBANY, February A, 1885. To Hon. A. ]. Warner and Others Memb rs oi the Fo' ty.eighth Congress The letter which havt had the honor to receive from you in vites, and indeed obliges me, to give ex pression to some grave public necessities although in advance of the moment whei they would become the object of my of 6cial care and partial responsibility Your solicitude that my judgment shall have been carefully and deliberately formed is entirely just, and accept tn suggestion in the same friendly spirit in which it has been made. It is also fully justified oy the nature of the fnancia crisis, which under the operation of tn, Act of Congress of February 2S, 1878, is now close at hand.
 By compliance with the requiremen, of that law, all the vaults of the Federal Treasury have been and are heaped full of silver coins which are now worth less than 8s per cent oI the gold dollar pre-. sented as "the unit of value" in Section I4 of the act of February I2, 1873, and which with silver certificates, represent ing such com, are receivable for all pub lie dues, being thus receivable, while also constantly increasing in quantity at the rate of $78,ooo 900 a year. It has followed of necessity that the flow of gold into the Treasury has been steadily diminished. Silver and silver certificates have displaced and are now displacing gold, and the sum of gold in the Feder- al Treasury now available for the pay ment ofthe gold obligations of the Uni ted States and for the redemption of United States notes called "greenbacks, if not already encroached upon, is per- ilously near such encroachment.
 These are facts which, as they do not admit of difference of opinion, call for no argument. They have been forewarn- ed to us in the official reports of every Secretary of the Treasury from 1878 till now. They are plainly affirmed in the last December report of the present Secretary of the Treasury to the Speaker of the present House of Representatives. They appear in the official documents of this Congress and in the records of the New York Clearing house of which the Treasury is member, and through which the bulk of the receipts and pay ment of the Federal Government and the country pass. These being the facts of cur present condition, our danger and our duty to avert that danger would seem to be plain. I hope you concur with me and with the great majority of our fellow citizens in deeming it most desirable, at the present juncture, to maintain and continue in use, the mass of gold coin as we'll as the mass of silver already coined This is possible by the present suspen- sion of the purchase and coinage of sil. yer. am not aware that by any other method it is possible. It is of momen' tous importance to prevent the two metals parting company. To prevent the increasing displacement of gold by the increasing coinage of silver, to pre-. vent the disuse of gold in the custom houses of the United States in the daily business of the people, to prevent the ultimate expulsion of gold by silver.
 Such is the financial crisis which these events would eventually precipitate. Were it now to follow upon so long a period of commercial depression it would involve the people of every city and every State in the Union, and prolonged and disastrous trouble would ensue. The business enterprise and prosperity SC ardently desired and apparently so near would be hopelessly postponed. G0ld would be withdrawn to the hoarding- places, and an unprecedented contraction in the actual volume of our currency would speedily take place. Saddest ol all, in every workshop, mill, factory store, and on every railroad and farm, the wages of labor, already depressed, would suffer still further depression by the scaling down of the purchasing power of the so.called dollar paid into the hand of toll. From these impending calamities it is surely the most patriotic and grate. full duty of the representatives of the people 10 deliver them. am, gentlemen, with sincere respect, your fellow. citizen, GROVER CLEVELAND.