The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1891-11-14
VOL. 20, NO. II.
SILVER WILL NOT DOWN.
IN SPITE OF POLITICAL PARTIES 1T is
THE ISSUE.

q designates us the worlds ablest expone1
Of the silver question, has written a lie
ter to that paper in which the prescr
status Of silver in the United States
clearly set forth. 1t will be read wit
interest and satisfaction by all friends c
the white metal. We reproduce the lei
ter for the information Of the readers O
the New NORTHWEST;
"a month hence Congress will hay
rcassemblcd at Washington, and there
little doubt but that Il bill admitting sill
yer to free coinage will be passed b
large majoritics through both houses
| There is strong probability, however
that this bill will be vetoed by the presi
dent, and that the silver men will b
three votes short i'll the senate of tha
two-thirds majority, necessary under th
constitution, to rcpuss bill over the vets
Of the president. In this case the cur
rcncy agitation so prejudicial to business
stability, will require to be prolonged un
til another president having been elected
q free coinage act is passed in the session
Of 1892 G3.
sit WILL therefore, have taken jus
twenty years to reverse the legislation
and to undo the mischief of the act o
1873, and what is not less interesting Il
the student of contemporary politics, il
will have required just twenty years tt
form a public opinion in this country
where none had previously existed. and
to secure Il verdict from the constit-
| uencies.
II venture to think that even those
who are most opposed to the legislative
co-ruuality of the two money metals,
will Yet attach much significance to the
method by which the American democ-
racy has thought out for itself, with little
guidance either from precedent or au-
thorlty, onc OF the most mplcX prob
lens Of the day, Twenty years since
there was barely Il glimmer Of intcll
gence in either Of the chambers Of the
legislature on the subject of monetary
legislation; it is safe to say, indeed, that
twenty years since the average member Of
congress knew as little aud cared as little
about monetary science as does the aver
age member Of parliament TODAY; but
80 thoroughly has the silver question
been sine" thought out BY the working
men Of this country that find here at
tho present time mass meetings coming
together in all the principal towns to con
slider the policy Of free coinage, the tasl,
OF the speakers made easy ny tie evident
interest aud BY tho educated intelligence
of the audience. m~
I. II WIN nca ..an,itu,tu lAtt tl4,lt lile u.-z
velopmcnts on this side Of the Atlantic
t,rn g.L nc tan ,,-1,,
England also are trying to lay the foun-
dntions Of Il public opinion on this Ques-
ton The economic aspects apart, and
looking at the problem merely as a po-
litcal problem it has been found here
that the silver issue contains those con
ditons Of expansion and continuity
which are necessary to the success Of a
political issue. For the masses it is now
seen to have constituted problem, edu
cational almost to the danger point, and
looking back over the history of the
struggle in this country we see that with
out one exception those who i'll 1878 OPP
posed the concession of unlimited legal
tender to the white metal have either
been forced to eat their words sr to dis
appear from public life. Of the men
who in 1878 fought silver under the ban
ner of John Sherman, how many are
left? And that senator himself, who
voted against the coinage of two million
dollars monthly in 1879, was obliged to
recognize only last session the necessity
of casting his vote in favor of the coin
age Of four and half millions monthly.
The senator, the most vigorous opponent
of the Bland bill in 1878, is found in
1890 to be the advocate of its more eX
tended action! The absolute oblitera
years, under pressure of the national
will, is perhaps without a parallel in
these times; take even the extreme in
stance, the unanimity of public opinion
in England in the Seventies" in favor of
free trade, yet even then i'll some Of the
southern or eastern counties of England,
protectionists were able to keep their
seats In the house of commons. But in
the congress Of this country there IS to-
day not one avowed monometallst left;
the concurrent use Of both silver and
gold for unlimited legal tender purposes
is today advocated by every public man
without exception of the two currency
parties in the present contlict-coinage;
the latter long since driven eastward
across the Alleghanies, is today making
its last desperate rally, within sight of
the Atlantic ocean.
81 shall now venture to submit one OF
the chief reasons, and reason Of his
toric interest and importance, which bet
ter than any other accounts for the
quicllcned conscience of the American
nation, and for the vigorous progress Of
the silver party. To do this must en-
ter at some length upon what is now be-
lievcd to have been the fraudulent silver
Legislation OF 1878. Without sufficient
recognition of the evidences of that
fraud, the extreme bitterness of the ''sil-
lish spectators and it must be admitted
that the more the congressional records
are looked into, the more difficult it be
comes to deny the evidences of foul play
in 1878. In order to appreciate the posi-
ton, it is necessary to bear in mind that
in 1884 the Am erican mint ratio at which
both metals might be coined freely was
changed from to Is, to to 10; where
upon at the French ratio of to 15L. sill
Yer being more valuable in Paris than
here, that metal was no longer brought
to the American mints; that for many
years before 1878, people here had for
gotten what silver dollar was like. At
the same time, SO long as it remained the
statute law of the United States that any
man might bring 81 grains of silver and
have them coined into legal tender
dollar, which dollar was as good as, and
was interchangeable with the gold dollar
at to 1G, it is evident that, all the world
over, silver could not fall below some SO
pence per standard ounce. Then came
the change of standard in Germany in
1878, and the attempted demonetization
of all the German silver; still, how mag
nificent was the reinforcement this i'm
mense country gave to silver under its
law. France was still coming all the sill
yer that reached her mints at q ratio of
to 151a, recognizing that America was