The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1892-04-14

.AiAo WV iIOGo buiutIl WliICu tl1t III
places on the over GO, 000,000 of our pee
pie in no way interested as owners G
silver mines, it proposes to make us TIL
virtual purchasers of all the silver pre-
duced in the world and at 1919 cents pc
ounce, while much Of it costs not over
cents per ounce, and great deal of ii
after dcducting the profits on the LEAF
products, not over to 90 cents pc
| ounce.
| submit that an equally mad PROPOSE
ton never secured the assent of any leg
| islative body in the world and if it passe
| this House, now that it's provisions ar,
laid bare, it viii be a record which will
| come back to plague and shame it
members down to the hour when the,
drop into their collins. If we are to have
coinage and free coinage, we must follow
law and precedent. We must aim to de
as this country has always done before
and as every other nation has done, and
that is to make the coinage ration il
close accord with market ratios
This we did when we opened our Mint
in 1892 and again in 1884, and this hon
esty, decency, common sense, justice
equity, law, and precedent demand to
day. Therefore, if we are to have free
coinage, the ration should be 90 of silver
to 1 of gold; but as silver is likely to fall
to at least so cents per ounce. and posi-
bly, to 20 cents per ounce, in the reasona-
bly, near future, it would be wise to an
ticipate part, at least. of this fall, and
coin it; or, if we must issue notes for it.
which ought not to be done, we should
do so at the ratio of 26 to 1, instead of,
as this bill proposes, at 16 to 1.
WALL STREET.
We hear the foolish cry chat it is Wall
street which would suffer by the passage
of the bill. How silly this when we re-
member that the profits of Wall street
are made by the fluctuations of the mar
ket, and that the change from a stable
standard of value to a fluctuating and
uncertain one, such as the silver ring
proposes, would throw the entire bust
ness of the country into a kind of gamble
out of which Wall street would make its
millions, its tens of millions, yes, it's hun
dreds. The farmers, the business men,
the working people, the pensions, the
widows, and the orphans in our Con-
greesional districts would simply lose
what Wall street would make
This law resulting in single standard,
and that silver, would cause prices, as in
India with her silver rupee circulation,
to bob up and down or 2 per cent a
day according to the whims and caprices
of the specializing fraternity of Wall
street and Capel Court.
THE REAL REMEDY AND THE SAFE AND
COMMONPLACE CURE FOR PRESENT FL
NANcIAL ILLS.
Every man knows. too, that free silver
coinage will not produce what the West
and South want, that is, money for local
uses. They have minis at New Orleans
and at San Francisco, but their products
take wings and fly to New York and the
East, where money is leading at 2 per
cent. per annum, while scarce and hard
to get at high rates in the West and
South. If you were to put up another
mint at Omaha, another in the middle
of Kansas, and another in the swamp in
Florida, the result would be the same.
Your relief must come from another dis
rectiOn, from some sure, safe, commons
Mace bf1t efficient SOurca
| allude to sound and safe banking
system A system which will do this
without granting special privileges, with
out cost to the people, but with great
profit to the Treasury is now in the
hands of the Committee on Banking of
this House. 1t will provide precisely
what the West and South and the whole
country should have, and the time to
make it law is here. The Democratic
party should abandon this crazy, we'll
meant, but dangerous Bland Bill.
1t is loaded with dynamite for the
country and with damnation for the
party. Drop it and take up some whole
some, every day, buiness-like fiscal legis-
idulOH llhO tIIS DduhIllS law suggests,
pass it, and make the nation your ever
lasting debtor. But before you do any
thing, except vote down the Bland Bill,
pass an act stopping the monthly pur-
chases of silver and instructing the
Director of the Mint, under the direction
Of the Secretary of the Treasury, with
the approval of the President, to sell the
silver bullion for gold, and place the
of our gold bullion shall be equal to the
value of our silver bullion.
Let them them choose their time and
make the exchange as wisely as they
can. This course alone will save the
country from ultimate panic, general
financial distress, and the single silver
standard, for if the monthly purchase of
81, 100000 of silver bullion is not stopped,
sooner or later more evil will result than
eny words of mine can picture.
We are in peculiar position to-day
and most fortunate one, too. Great
crops here and small ones abroad give
us h6dySA OGDOItu w tSOiISNp Jul
mistakes of the past. Stop silver pur-
chases, restore confidence in us in Eu
rone, and gold will flow back here in
stream.
We would, but for this Bland Bill dis
cussion, be getting in from Europe fifteen
or tweGty millions of gold month; in
stead of this, alarmed and excited, Eu
rope is sending back our stocks, bonds,
and securities by the ream. Her pur>
chases Of quarter of a century past are
coming back by every steamer, and in
stead of gold reaching our shores it pours
out and away from us through every
channel Continue this wild craze for
free silver and fair crops in Europe next
wear will bankrupt the United States.
Neglect our present great opportunity
and who can tell when it will come
again. Let US council and compel wise
and prudent action now, to day, instant