The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1891-06-09
WAS DROPPED FROM THE COINAGE


ing quotation from the report of the
comptroller ofthe currency. Mr.. Knox
who states, April 20, 1870, that
"The coinage of the silver dollar
piece the history of which is here
given. is discontinued in the pro-
posed bill. 1t is by law the dollar
unit and assuming the value of gold
to be fifteen and one-half times that
of silver, being about the mean ma
tio for the first six years, is worth
in gold a premium of about three
per cent. Gts value being $l.03.12)
and intrinsically more than seven
per cent, in our other silver coins
halves, quarters, &c. Secretary
Boutwell, endorsed this statement; !;
and Mr.. Hooper, in the House re-
echoed it as follows:
.'1he silver dollar, which by law
is now the legally declared unit of
tive proportion TO the gold dollar.
Being worth intrinsically ABOUT
ONE DOLLAR AND THREE CENTS IN
GOLD, it connot circulate con-
currently with the gold coins"
And so said they all-even the
venerable Mr.. Kelly, Of Pennsyl-
vania, who afterwards confessed
his great error in having favored
the demonetization of silver. And
| in fact, that he was not in the
secret of demonetization, at least,
when the bill was in its earliest
stages.
What must be thought of the
| candor, in other words, the common
honesty of Mr.. Sherman and his
| associates, who, after assigning
such reasons for demonetizin9
silver or for prohibiting the coin
age of the silver dollar, when
they now sternly oppose its re
monetization or coinage, because
as a consequence of demonetization.
it has become less valuable than
the gold dollar?
| If their reasons We're valid then.
for setting silver aside, they are
equally imperative now in favor o
the demonetization of gold.
But the assigned reason was no
the true reason. The true reason
was, that gold was the only legal
tender currency in Great Britain
and, as was foreseen by these cum
ming financiers, that it would sool
become the exclusive legal-tende
currency of Europe. The effect G
Aemonetizing silver, they foresaw
woui,. BE to make bonds and credit
of every kind ! ore valuable. ]
would make debts harCie- to pay;
would enable creditors to bay :"
the lands and personal property {
debtors for less money, or, in othe
: words, that more property would b
: necessary to sell, in order to pay tn
debts. Mortgages would swallow II
I the property mortgaged. The ric
would become richer, and the poo
would become poorer, and more d'
pendent. This was the purpos
ard the foreseen consequence
demonetization. And have NJ
these effects followed? Never b.
/ fore except in periods of immed
{ ate financial prostration, followin
: universal bank suspension, W;
there such universal distress, an
I, this distress is felt with peculis
0 force among agriculturists in ii
p West. where the soil is riches
: even more heavily than elsewher
e This Republican financial polio
cooperating with the protecti'
tariff policy, has reduced the mass
l. of the people to a state Of depe
II dencc upon the rich, never beto
:. known in this country. Even Il
:, infatuated followers of the Repu
-. lican leaders of Kansas, and 9th
Western States have opened the
n eyes to the true cause of their rui
q. and last November elections W
their first declaration of ind
IT independence. 1t is idle for II
e, publicans to deny the depth Of t
u popular distress, or the cause of
- when a State like Kansas turns
20 back upon the Republican part
,r 1t is said that revolutions never
W backward; and it is safe to pred
III that the Western revolution of Il;
wear. against monometalism a
Sc prohibitory tariffs, will fall und
:, that rule.
ID The statue of the late Hon. S.
Cox, which has been paid for
contributions from the letter-carrit
l. of the different cities, and is to
ly unveiled in New York on July
is completed. Upon the pedes
~ will appear the names OF the cit