The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-05-10

favor of free coinage. I cannot but
think that we have fallen upon
strange times, when the leading
Democratic papers of the country
join the Republicans in waging war
upon silver mOney-that money which
has always been the honest, debt-pay-'
ing money of the country-the friend
of the farmer and wage-earner You
must have forgotten the history Of
our silver legislation, when you at
tempt to hold the friends of free
coinage responsible for the act of
1878, or the Sherman law of 1890, and
say that "the Sherman law was an
unadviSed concession to them and
their demands for cheap money.
With blindness that is inconceiva-l
BILE, the very men of all others who
should want and demand the very
best money attainable for their hard
earned produce insist on being given
something poorer than the BEST
This you say, in the face of the fact.
that the farmers Of the West. and
their friends, have all that time been.
laboring to prevent the precise cOndi-'
tion Of things which you now deplofe
and attempt to hold them responsible
for. So much for your reflection
upon the ''silver fanatics"
deny with emphasis that the pres.
ent condition of affairs has been
brought about by the friends of free
coinage Of silver. and challenge the
proof of the contrary. go further,
and declare, without fear of success
full contradiction. that the SHERMAN
law is not responsible for the recent
and pending large export of gold. and
that its repeal last year or before
would not have prevented and would
not now prevent it. 1t is used by the
gold trust as a blind" and it has
been repeated so often by those who
have no other reason to give that
they believe it. The cause for this
steady outgoing stream of gold is
twOfold, and anyone who wishes TO-
Investigate this subject will find
am correct.
First-For the past two years great
powers of Europe-France, Germany,
Russia and Austria-have been en-
gagged in accommodating a large
amount of gold in their respective
treasures, realizing that in case of
war the longest purse is the most
likely to win. They are lin time of
peace preparing for war" France
alone. in the past two years, has
added nearly 500 100000 to her store
of gold, and Germany, Russia and
Austria have kept pace with her.
To secure this supply Of gold, these
governments have issued bonds to
purchase it, and have employed the
leading bankers of Paris, Berlin,
Vienna. London and New York to
have been for some time organized
Gas gold trust') to accomplish
their purpose. Now. it is we'll known
to many of your readers, that after
the close Of the war for the Union,
and when railroad and other corpora
tionS were striving to find purchasers
for their bonds, they. as an induce
ment to purchasers, made them pay
able, principle and interest, in gold.
Many of such securities have been
and are held in Europe, and have
been properly regarded as the best of
securities. You can easily see that
the gold trust would try to get
hold of all such payable in gold' Sc
curitfes: but as they were regarded
as 'gilt-edged, something had to be
done to weaken European confidence
in the securities of this country, and
the ''silver question" is made the
preteXt for this. Where they succeed
in securing such bonds they are
brought to this country and the gold
demanded and secured. That is one
way. Another way BY which these
'.'gOld bugs" drain our treasury of
gold is one which our treasury de-
partment is criminally responsible
for, viz: The payment of "silver
notes" in gold. These notes were is
sued, under the act of 1890. in pay
ment of silver bullion, and to be used
as substitute for the silver dollars.
1t was supposed when that act was
enacted, that these payments of this
bullion in these silver notes were
authorized because they would be
| more convenient to use than the
coined silver dollars would be. While
they were made payable in silver or
gold at the treasury, it was not sup
posed that, in the present condition
of our finances, that official would
think Of such thing as paying them
| in gold. We can now realize, when
| too late, that this is but another
step in the financial conspiracy. and
we can understand what was Sena-
tor Sherman's object in so framing
the act of 1890. The act Of 1873,
which demOnetiZed silver, was passed
and signed by President Grant with
out it's being supposed to do so: and
this act of 1890 is but repetition of
the same legislative legerdemain.
But. will you tell me why. if our
silver dollars are now a legal tender,
our government should not pay it's
obligations in silver as we'll as in
gold, especially if the latter is scarce?
All these obligations, except gold
certificates are payable ''in conn.,
and not in gold.
Again, and secondly, An equally
potent cause for this large export of
gold is that the balance of trade is
against us, and that as nation w :
are buying more than we are selling.
There has been a serious falling of
in our exports of breadstuffs tn S
year. For the nine months ending
| March 81, 1893. our exports of bread
stuffs were $145,0 900; while for the
corresponding months of the previ-
Gus year they were 1928, $4,000. Here
is a falling off in nine months of $780,
1877 900. The decrease in dairy and