Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-03-08

DOmlC SUBJECTS III inc OHlCSu
States than Mr.. David A,
Wells. In a work published few
years ago on the money question, he
said: "The future relation of silver
to gold, if the United States should
fully remonetize. silver, is to great
extent a matter of conjecture; but
the indications are that silver, after
the full action of our minis, would be
restored to about par with gold"
Are the friends of silver rash in
asserting that to remonetize it would
bring it about t. par with gold?
Alexander Hamilton, our first
secretary of the treasury, said on the
subject of the double standard. "To
annul the use of either of the metals
as money is to abridge the quantity
OF the circulating medium, and is
liable to all the objections which
arise from the comparison of the BEN
efits of a full treasury with the evils
of a scanty circulation"
Thomas jefferson, in letter to
Hamilton, endorsed this view, say
ing: 81 return your report on the
mint. l concur with you that the
unit must stand on both metals"
Surely the cause of free silver has
not lacked able advocates in this
country.
Your correspondent assays the role
of prophet and predicts the departure
of gold should free coinage come.
He SAYS: "This result will follow
the free coinage of silver as invari-
ably as night follows day, leaving US
to the monometalism of silver and to
debased currency, the last resort of
bankrupt States. Government, how
ever strong, can not prevent it.
Laws of trade will assert themselves.
They are as imperious as the laws OF
nature"
This is very well, and would be
alarming but for the fact that the
same prediction has been made
many times before, and made in
each instance but to be falsified soon
after. AT every step in the long bat
tie for free silver the note of alarm
has been sounded and we have been
told that gold was about to run
away. When the limited coinage
act of 1878 was passed many anxious
souls bid fearful adieu to gold. Be-
fore we had coined fifty millions un-
der that law the secretary of the treas
ury called a halt and declared we
could not safely take another step
When Mr.. Cleveland Grand Old
Grover was President the sight OF a
new silver dollar gave him the night
mare and he saw in vision the last
precious goldpiece leaving oul
shores. We have gonerecklessly on,
however, until we have gotten, as
said, nearly five hundred millions Of
silver in circulation, and strange &c
say there is to-day, or was at the
date of the last report of the secre'
tary of the treasury, nearly six hun
ared millions of gold in the country
The two metals certainly seem tc
like each others company. I'm
quirer" should for the present nus
band his predictions. 1t would be
well for him to read the interesting
fable in Esop of the little boy who
cried "wolf' SO often that the public
finally lost faith in him.
Your correspondent closes with an
extract from foreign author setting
forth the evils of an inflated currency
.et me snow him the other side oil
the picture drawn by a departed
statesman whose word i hope is still
of some weight in this community
"Mr. President, believe that the
Congress of the United States by
prompt and decided action can ar
rest the movement looking to the de-
monetization of silver and thereby
preyent the contamination of what
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