The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-08-17
sHeRMANs UNPATRloTIc ACT

To Enhance the value OF Gold and De-
monetizs slver--How the Money MIL
Gets In Its work-Views Of Free sh-
ver Republican.
EDIToR NEWS s-DENocRAr ,-Learning
that q petition has been started 70 ask OF
Congress the repeal of the so-calied Shef.
man silver bill, hasten 10 beg the use OF
your columns to utter q word OF warning
against such step. IL may be that this
act has something 20 do with our present
financial crisis, but to ask Congress TO abs
stain from enacting substitute, y equal 70
the petition Of man TO the sheriff 70 pros
cure rope 70 hang him with. Let us for
minute consider the situation.
During the civil war European capital
lists purchased our national bonds exten-
sively, not because they loved us and our
institutions, but because they considered
she investment q good one. Sherman's
act to pay these bonds, which had been
purchased with paper, In gold, was water
ing the value of their investment about
$500, 100000. The worst feature OF this un-
patriotic act was that Il imposed upon us
obligations impossible to ful6ll,
We might possibly scrape together the
gold required to redeem these bonds II
by us In favor OF European capital, but,
alas, this is not the case. Almost ell our
railroad ventures are based upon Euro>
pean capital, with the stipulation OF pay
ing the dividends in gold, making IL abso~
lutely and utterly impossible TO pro-
Sa5s .T these ins aosS samsnSs. asGs.''ry 20 e.nno,
awe you the exact amount Of
the sums which we have TO pay to Europe
in this shape, but am safe In estimating
IL at 81 ,0O0, 900 q day. Think Of i'll One
million leaves this country every day, and
THIS TERRIBLE DRAIN
has not wrecked us ere this, IL is the fact.
that much of this gold 10 left here, to seek
new investment, In other words, TO MAKE
us more helplessly tributary to foreign
capital. / must laugh when the papers
state that gold is flowing back into the
United States, and that this indicates
that the current has set in our favor.
Silly delusionl Why is this gold shipped
here? Do European capitalists owe us
money? No, Mr.. Editor: These driblets
ire sent here to buy some more property,
or railroad shares, eDgulfng us more
deeply instead of bringing US relief. Ills
an undeniable fact that we have not
enough gold to pay half our Indebtedness
to Europe, and now they have the au-
dacity to ask the people to petition Com
gress for measures calculated to hasten
their financial ruin.
Demonetize your silver and you work
into the hands of Wall street, an institu'
ton inimicAl to she best interests OF the
people, void of all sentiments OF humane
meas and patriotism, and always ready to
sacrifice the common interest to selfish
purposes. Mind, do not insinuato that
a rich man is incapable of noble sentir
ments; but assert and maintain that the
congregation OF capital, in the shape OF
syndicates, trusts and corporations will
sacrifice without compunction and heBi.
N.aE ha In ~ ftIr THAR
own interest.
And yet you are asked TO petition Cons
gress TO contract medium already gross.
ly insufficient, to tie the hand Of our leg
islators, and thus prevent any attempt to
relieve the burdened nation. Look before
you leap! l do not here suggest, any other
petition, but beg you to consider for
moment the nature of money. At present
we have gold and silver, and paper cur.
rency based upon its redemption by the
precious metals. Now go to your bank
today and demand IL to give you gold for
bank notes. It will certainly refuse, sim,
ply because II is UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE
to fulfill such Hn obligation imposed by
law. The basis OF so'd for the redo mp
tion OF such paper money Is rIdlculously
absurd, since there IL not on" fourth
enough money TO do il. Such promises,
then, are vicious and minlesding. Our
present monetary system resembles a
pyTt plhCeu Oh Ub pOius Will tue OK
pectation OF preserving its balance. True,
we have q number of laws calculated to
prop h Drecarious structure; but these
laws ar weaker than the feeblest reeds
when storms and panics threaten the pyr'
amid.
No, sir, do not demonetize your silver!
Give Il rather full scope by rnstituting
free coinage. Then, in addition, estab-
lish q currency bearing on it's face: "THIS
is MONEY, AND A LEGAL TENDER
FOR ALL DEBTS PUBLIC AND PRI'
VATEw
This may seem heresy to many of your
readers, but predict that many of them
will live to see both gold and silver de-
monetized, with sufficient volume of pa
per money based upon the credit and
honor of the nation to back it. Such an
event would bring us near the fabulous
millennium. 1 am not likely to witness the
happy day; but have at least the salts
faction of having broken lance for the
peoples money, and with Ii the con-
scieusuess OF having done my duty.
RUDOLPH LEoNHART,