The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-10-29

1t was the duty OF the government 10 oo-
fine time when the freenbacks should be
either redeemed or maintained at par In
coin, that this was plain obligation OF
honor and duty which rested upon the
United States, aud that it was not honorable
or right to avail ourselves Of our own neg
ligence in restoring these notes to the specie
standard In order to pay the bonds in the
deprecated money. This idea is embodied
in the credit-strengthening act.
Refunding the National Debt.
The fifth conspiracy" Of what she calls
'this internal scheme" was the refunding
of the National debt. This process of re-
funding is isregarded by all intelligent states
men as a measure of the highest value, con-
Quoted with remarkable success. At the
date of the passage of the refunding act.
July II, 1870 we had outstanding bonds
bearing and per cent. interest for about
81 500, 100000 BY the wise providence of
Congress we had reserved the right of re-
deeming portion of this debt within five
years and portion of 1t within ten years,
30 that the debt was, in the main, then re-
deemable at our pleasure It was not pos
sible to pay it in coin and it was not hon
orable to pay it in greenbacks worth less
than par, especially as that could only have
been done by issuing new greenbacks far
beyond the volume existing during the
war, and which would at once depreciate
in value and destroy the public credit and
dishonor the country We, therefore, au-
thorized the exchange, par for par, bonds
bearing 4, ~ and 5 per cent interest for
the bonds bearing higher rate of interest.
The only contest in Congress upon the sub
ject was whether the new bonds should run
five, ten and fifteen years, or ten, fifteen
and thirty years. advocated the shorter
period, but the House Of Representatives,
believing that the new bonds would not
sell at par unless running for longer Pc
riod, insisted that the per cent. bonds
should run for thirty years. Greenbackers
like Mrs. Emery, who now complain that
the bonds run SO long and cannot be paid
until due, are the same people who insisted
upon making the bonds run thirty years.
1t required some ten years to complete
these refundinR operations-of which the
larger part was accomplished when was
Secretary of the Treasury-and they re-
suited in saving of one-third of the in
terest on the debt. So far from it being in
the interest of the bondholders, it was to
their detriment and only in the interest Of
the people of the United States.
Decentralization OF Silver.
The next conspiracy" complained Of is
the alleged demonetization of silver By
the act revising the coinage in 1878, the sill
yer dollar, which had been suspended by
Jefferson in 1906 and practically demone-
tized in 1885 and superseded by miner coins
in 1858. and which was issued only in later
years as a convenient form in which to ex-
port silver and the whole amount of which
from the beginning of the Government to
the passage of the act referred to was only
eight million dollars. This silver dollar
was, upon the petition of the Legislature
of California and upon the motion of her
Senators and by the unanimous vote of both
houses of Congress, without objection from
anyone, dropped from our coinage and in
its place was substituted the trade dollar
containing a few more grains of silver. A
few years afterwards, silver having fallen
rapidly in market prices, Congress restored
the coinage of the silver dollar, limiting
the amount to not exceeding four million
nor less than two millions a month, and
under this law in q period Of twelve years
we issued over 400, ,000, 900 silver dollars,
fifty times the amount that had been
coined prior to 1873. And now under the 1
existing law we are purchasing 81, ,000, ,UN
ounces Of silver q year; 30 that what she
calls the characterization Of silver has re-
suited in its use in our country to an extent
moro than fifty fold greater than before its
demonstration. In spite of all, and grow
ing out of the increased supply Of silver
and the cheapening processes Of its produc-
ton, it is going down In the market and is
only maintained at par with gold by the
fat of the different governments coming
1t. Now the deluded people belonging to
the class of Mrs Emery are seeking to
cheaper the purchasing power Of the dollar
in the hands of the farmer and laborer by
the free coinage of silver and the demone-
tization of gold. Silver and gold should
be used and maintained as current money,
but only ON par with each other, and this
can only be done by treating the cheaper
metal as subsidiary and coming it only a.
demanded for the use of the people.
The Resumption of Specie Payment.
The seventh financial conspiracy" is the
pride and boast of the Government of the
United States, the restoration of our notes
long after the war was over to the standard
of coin; in other words, the resumption of
specie payments. This measure, which
met the violent opposition of such wild
theorists as Mrs. Emery, has demonstrated
its success in the judgment Of all intelli-
gent people, not only in the United States,
but in all the countries of the world There
is no standard for paper money except
coin. The United States postponed too
long the restoration Of its notes to coin
standards Since it had the courage to do
this under the resumption act, on the first
day of January, 1879, we have had in the
United States standard of gold with coins
of silver, nickel and copper maintained at
that standard by the fat of the Govern
ment, and paper money in various forms,
as United States notes, National bank
notes, gold certificates, silver certificates
and treasury notes, all at par with gold. To
call this conspiracy" or an ''infamous
plot" is q misnomer of terms which will
not deceive any intelligent man, but it is
rather the glory and pride of the people Of
the United States that it not only has been
able in the past thirty years to put down a
great Rebellion and to abolish slavery, but
to advance the credit of the United States
to the highest rank among nations, to
largely increase the currency of the coun-
try, to add enormously to its productive in
terests and to develop our resources of tha