Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-28
The Silver Question.


a free and unlimited coinage bill would
90 to the President for his signature,
and though it was generally understood
that the President would not consent to
such a bill, at the same time if the
Senate and the House of Representa-
tiyes favored it, its defeat by the refu-
sal of the President to sign it was a
very small and slender thread upon
which to hang a measure of such i'm
portanee.
1t occurred that the House, while
two-thirds Democratic, did not favor
free and unlimited coinage, and on Fri
day the measure was defeated by ma
jority of eighteen. That settles the
matter, and Mr.. Bland, the father of
the free coinage system, said that it de-
feated it for at least five years. We
shall then have no free silver in this
country for at least five years to come,
or for any time to come, because it is
opposed to public policy, to commercial
policy and to financial policy.
The silver fanatics, headed by such
men as Senator Stewart of Nevada, and
other Western senators who are bent
upon free and unlimited coinage of sill
yer without reference to consequences
or great principles of finances, forced
that measure through the Senate under
the pressure of demagogical influences.
They imagined they could compel Con-
gress to adopt it and force the Presi-
dent to sign it. Yet it turns out that
under the present system the free silver
states in the West are themselves gold
bugs. There is less silver in circula-
ion in those states in proportion than
in any other states in the union, and
their contracts require payments in gold.
This is fraud of great magnitude. 1t
exhibits the falsity of their professed
principles. The House of Representa-
lives, however, has defeated the free
and unlimited coinage of silver bill
which was passed by the Senate and 1t
is dead, as Mr.. Bland says, for five years.
This is well. But what next? Senator
Sherman comes to the front and intro
duces bill to repeal that part OF the
Sherman act of 1890, which provides
for the forced purchase Of silver bullion.
This is measure of great significance,
because it means that the government
shall cease upon the passage of that act
to purchase bullion upon which treasury
notes shall be irsued. Senator Sherman
gives as a reason for this that the silver
men have not been true to their prom
is es, and that, having obtainen that CON
cession, they wanted more. Senator
Stewart and his followers set out to ig
more their pledges to the Republican
party and the President OF the United
States, and proposed that they should
have free and unlimited coinage Of sill
yer regardless of any conditions or any
understandings that they may have en-
tered into. Senator Sherman proposes
to repeal that part of the act providing
for this forcible purchase of silver
monthly. This is right. 1t will not stop
the ordinary coinage of silver bullion
into dollars, but it will stop the forcible
purchase of silver bullion, and the result
will be the leveling of the value OF sill
yer bullion in the markets of the world.
We are soon to have an international
conference for the purpose of deciding
upon the equalization of silver and gold
bullion. An opening to this decision
will be found i'll the market value OF sill
yer bullion in all the commercial nations
of the world. The forced purchase OF
bullion by the United States has served
to sustain prices. Under the bill intro
duced by Senator Sherman this forced
purchase will be discontinued, and thu
price of silver bullion fall to its water
level in this country and in foreign coun
tries. Therefore, we say this PROPOSE
ton is a wise one. The operation OF
the act of 1890 has not been beneficial
to this country. England and France
and Germanp have profted by the
forced quotations for silver bullion in
the United States, but we have not.
The silver producers have profited by it,
but they have not been satisfied, and
their proposition is to destroy, politi-
cally, the party that has sought to aid
them in this dir ction. The tim. has
now come for the United States to place
this silver question upon its water level
and proceed to take care of itself. That
is what the defeat of the free silvet bill
in the House means, and it is what the
bill introduced by Senator Sherman
means Let us get off this level of pO
litical demagogy as regards silver, and
get down on to the level of commercial
and financial interest. Then we shall
know where we stand.
In this connection it is very impor
tant to consider the question of this in
ternational conference. 1t is unqdes
tionably true that the interests of the
commercial nations require both silver
and gold as basis of circulation. The
world can not rest upon the gold stand
ard exclusively, but if we are to rest
upon double standard, that is to say
upon gold and silver standard, the
commercial nations must decide upon
the relative value of the two metals. Is
this relative value to be regulated by the
present standard, which is nominal, OF
is it to be regulated by the actual finan-
cial standard which is, instead of being
Is to l, % to l. This question to be
considered by the international confer
ence, and If it caE not be settled by that,
it can not be settled by any body. The
United States will be forced upon a
standard of its own, or it will be com
PEELED to adopt the existing standard of
Is to l, in round numbers, which is the
bafis upon which England, Germany
and France and other nations are oper
ating.
But the silvermen in this country
have over cached themselves. They
thought they would, through political
influence, force silver standard upon
this country that would demonetiZe gold.
L l.. A.l