The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1891-09-09
sherman's Opening Speech.


Senator Sherman made his opening
speech at Paulding, Ohio He confined
his remarks almost entirely to the mo ely
question, and among other things sa d
substantially:
The money In circulation in the United
States-all of It's good. as good rs gold
III Will pass everywhere and buy as much as
the same amount OF any other money in
the world. Our money is of many kinds
gold, silver, nickel, and copper arc coined
into money. Then we have Unitcl States
notes, or greenbacks, gold certificates, silver
certificates treasury notes, and national
bank notes But the virtue of all these
different kinds OF money is that they are all
good. A dollar OF ea0h Is as good as dol
lar of any other kind. All are as good as
gold. But, and here comes the first diff
Guilty, the silver in the silver dollar is not
worth as much as the gold in the gold dol
lar. The nickel in that coin IS wosth but a
small part OF cents worth of silver. And
the copper In the cent Is not worth one fifth
of the nickel in a scent piece. How then,
you may ask, can these coins be made equal
TO each other? The answer is that coinage
Is government monopoly, and though the
copper in five cents is not worth nickel,
and the nickel in twenty pieces Is not
worth IA silver dollar, and the silver I'm sixteen
dollars is not worth sixteen dollars In gold,
yet, as the government coins them, and re-
CelNcb tncIl, anu maintains bnem al par
with gold coin, they are, for all purposes,
money equal to each other, and wherever
they go, even into foreign countries, they
are received and paid out as equivalents
Tho reason OF all this Is that the United
States limits the amount of all the coins to
be Issued except gold. which. being the
most valuable, is coined without limit. III
coinage OF all these metals was free, and
any holder of copper, nickel, silver or gold
could carry 1t to the mint TO be coined, We
would have no money but copper or nickel,
because they are the cheaper metals worth
less than one-fourth OF what, as coin they
purport to lie. For the same reason, IL tire
coinage of silver was free at the ratio OF
sixteen of silver to one Of gold, no gold
would be coined, because sixteen ounces of
silver are not worth one ounce OF gold. A
holder OF both silver and gold would take
his silver TO the mint and get a dollar for
every 81 grains. He would sell his gold I'm
the market or export it and get 25 per cent.
more dollars for gold than he could at the
mint AS "a matter of course he would not
take his gold TO the mint.
Now, fellow citizens, with these simple
facts existing, known to you all, l wish to
state the precise issue on this money ques-
ton between the Republican and Demo-
cratic parties in Ohio made at their recent
State conventions, The Republican party
declares that:
"Thoroughly believing that gold and
silver should form the basis Of all circulate
Ing medium, we indorse the amended coin
age act of the last Republican Congress by
which the entire production of the silver
mines OF the United States is added to the
currency OF the people,"
The one distinctive, striking feature OF
this law Is that the United States VIII not
pay for silver bullion more than its market
value. And why should we? What is there
about silver bullion that distinguishes IL
nf fn6n or ha
the Gooernment needs? When the Gov
eminent needs food and clothing for the
army and navy, 1t pays only the market
price to the farmer and manufacturers. The
value OF silver produced Is insignificant
compared with the value OF any OF the ar
ticles produced by the farmer, the miner
and manufacturers. Nearly all the silver
produced In the United States is by rich
corporations in few new States, and its
production at market price is far more
profitable than any crop OF the farmer, and
yet 1t is the demand OF the producer OF sill
yer bullion that the United States should
pay hing IS per cent. market value that lies
at the foundation of The difference between
the Republican and Democratic parties.
What Is the Democratic position? / will
read il precisely as stated in their Ohio
platform:
awe dcnounce the demonetiZaton OF sill
yer in 1873 by the party then in power as an
in favor OF creditors, and against debtors,
taxpayers and producers, and which, by
shutting off one Of the sources OF supply OF
primary money, operates continually to In
crease the value OF gold depreSs prices,
hamper industry and disparage enterprise,
and we demand the reinstatement OF the
constitutional standard of both gold and
silver, with the equal right of each TO free
and unlimited coinage.n
Let me first correct some statements in
this paragraph. The act OF 1873 was not
the act OF the party then In power, but IL
was the act Ct all parties. 1t was voted for
by Republicans and Democrats alike, after
full consideration for three years In Con-
gress. 1t was voted for by every Represent
alive from the silver States. 1t substituted
the trade dollar for the old silver dollar,
which has not been coined for thirty years.
This was done at the request OF the Legis-
laturc of California, and on motion OF its
Senator's The silver dollar was then
worth more than the gold dollar, for the
production of gold was then greater than
the production OF silver The silver dollar
had been effectualiy demonctized by the
act OF 1853, passed by a Democratic Con-
gress, which substituted for the silver dol
lar the fractional silver coins with which
we are familiar. Neither gold nor silver
was I'm circulation i'm 1873, but only green
backs and fractional notes. In 1875 the
Republican party, by a party vote, pro-
V1QcQ LOT INC TcSulupbIOn Oh specie pay
ments, first by substituting silver coin for
the fractional notes, and on JAN 1, 1870, by
the redemption Cf greenbacks In gold and
silver when demanded. In 1873 the old
silver dollar was revived and issued and
made legal tender for all debts public or
private
But a great change had occurred In the
markets of the world In the relative value
OF silver and gold. Sixteen ounces of sill
yer were no longer equal i'm value 20 an
ounce of gold. The greatly Increased pro-
duction OF silver tended 20 reduce its mar
ket value. The question then came before
Congress whether the United States then,
as now, Ia favor OF the use of both metals
for money, should buy silver bullion for
coinage at its market value and cover the
appa rent profit into the Treasury for the
common benefit OF the people or receive IL
at its coinage ratio of sixteen ounces OF
silver for one ounce OF gold, the ratio
adopted fifty years ago, thus giving To the
producer of silver more than it's market
value This was the question then, as IL
is the question now. Congress then decided
that the United States should buy at Its
market value not more than 1000, 900
worth of silver n month, and not less than