Telegram-herald., 1890-07-08

szry - resort - p4per bScz1se q q lack
q zold md silver - meet the demands
FOR mOuey, snd tbs paper money IN he
zorl1 zs large n0~ sxceeos tas amount
.. either gold Or sllseE.
Its ao~ proposed ey the gold mono
nseEallists ~ discard silver except for
uiuor eosn or subsidiary money, ana 10
90 tie buslaess of The world With gold
alone. TIE history Of this movement i
10th interesting s1d instructive
IL vas proposed IN 1886 and 1857,
whsa the prodzstion CT gold from Cali
fornia and Australia was nearly sec.
coo. .ooo per anngm. and silver only about
oEe-f0urth th4t amount 70 demonetize
gold. and Germany did sen0netize gold
In 1867 conference OF the represent
stiyes Of various nations met In Paris
and proposed % make gold the sole
standard and 20 demonetize silver A
bill was introduced into the Senate OF
The United States IN 1888 for the pur-
pose Of demOnetizing silver. A favor
able report was made by Hon John
Sherman, OF Ohio. from the committee
on finance. and Mr.. Morgan, Of New
York. N sde al adverse report for the
minority OF the committee. No action
was taken on the bili beyond what
haze stated In 1871 Germany took the
nrst decisive step and denonetized sill
yer and declared gold the sole standard,
providing that silver should be used only
for minor coin.
In 1872 bill was introduced IN tho
House OF Representatives OF the United
States % amend the coinage acts OF the
United States 1, passed both houses
and became law By the approval OF
President Grant on the 18th day of Feb
ruary. 1873 By this bill the gold dol
lar was made tho unit OF value, and the
legal-tender silver dollar disappeared
from among the coins OF the country.
This feature OF the bill does not APP
pear 10 have attracted the atten-
tion Of the members OF either
house OF Congress, and General Grant
did not know until some time after the
approval Of the act that silver had been
demonetized in this country by that act
II has been claimed that this demone-
tixation was In the interest Of the cred
itor class, and was secretly done
Whether IL was the work of the cred
itor class or not IL IS quite certain that
It has resulted greatly TO the benefit Of
that class by reducing the amount of
money in circulation and increasing its
purchasing power.
Norway, Sweden, Denmark and somo
other countries followed our example of
demonetization, and The Latin Union
first limited the coinage of silver, and
when the silver from Germany was
thrown freely on tho market, closed the
doors of its mints against silver So
Germany. France, Italy, the Scandi-
navian countries and the United States
refused to mint silver; Germany threw
on the market all the silver she could
spare, the United States sent all its pro-
duction, fully one-third of the worlds
product, TO Europe to be use1 to break
down the market price of silver, and
thus discourage its use and increase the
demand for gold Germany, the Scan
dinaviaD countries, the United States,
Italy, all became bidders for gold, and
the price of gold went up when meas
ured not only by silver, but by all prod
United States, Italy and other coun-
tries called for and received vast sums
of gold TO take the place, in the United
States and Italy, OF paper money, and
in Germany, of silver. France 10 pay
her German indemnity had parted with a
great part of her gold, and was also bid
der for gold TO make good other losses
Thus the principal financial countries
OF the world were buying gold, and dis
carding silver; and silver ceased to sus-
tain the relation 10 gold that it had
heretofore sustained; but it did, and
still does, maintain its relative position
to all other things that 1t did before
1873.
In February, 1878. the Congress OF the
United States passed law restoring
the silver dollar to the circulation of
the country by the purchase and coin
age of two million dollars worth of sill
yer each month. This bill was vetoed
by President Hayes, and passed over
his veto on the 2sth of February Of that
year Under that act, which is still in
operation, there had been coined up to
the 10th OF the present month, S364,-
S54. 266. OF this amount there was at
that date in circulation SO, 6s3 4fJ silver
dollars, while the silver certificates is
sued on silver dollars held in the treas
ury for the redemption of the certifi-
Gates amounted to s2e3, 513, ,o45, making
total OF silver dollars and certificates
in circulation doing money duty Of
$50, 1876, 400. This leaves balance OF
silver certificates and silver coin in tho
treasury Of only s1s,612, 56i.
The act of February 2s. 1878, has been
known as the BlandAllison bill This
bin met with the most determined OPP
position from the President and Secre-
tary OF the Treasury. bankers cham
bers Of commerce, boards OF trade, and
what is known as the capitalistic class
Of the country, all of whom prophesied
disaster 20 the business OF the country
IL il became a law, because OF tho infla-
tion which they claimed would be the
result Of coming so much silver and be-
cause. as they declared. gold would be
driven oat OF the country. The Secre-
tarv % tho Treasury declared that the
coinage Of $50. O00. 900 Of silver dollars
would drive all the gold out Of the
country Senators and members op-
posed 20 Tho bill joined in these prophe-
sies Of evil We have coined more than
seven times $50. 600, coo, and yet tho
country "a not IN a silver basis. we
have row more than four times IS much
Coid in the conntr7 as wa bad n 1878
Inc dOmoneuzsrTon O. sI4vur pas
brought about By the creditor class. the
only class that could hc benefited by the
destruction - one-half Of the money of
the world. for IL IL a veIl-estabIisho Il