Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1893-08-11
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

ordinary business SITUATION involving
the welfare and prosperity of all our
people has constrained me TO call to-
gether i'll extra session the peoples rep
resentatives in Congress to the end that
through wise and patriotic exercise Of
the legislative duty with which they
solely are charged present evils may be
mitigatcd and dangers threatening the
future may be averted.
Our unfortunate financial plight IS not
the result Of uutoward events nor OF CON
ditionS related TO our natural resources,
nor is it traCeable to any of the allie
tons which frequently check national
growth and prosperity. With plenteous
crops, with abundant promise OF rcmu-
lucrative production and manufacture,
with unusual invitation TO safe invest
ment aud with satisfactory assurance to
business enterprise, suddenly financial
distrust and fear have sprung upon every
side. Numerous moneyed institutions
have suspended because abundant as
sets were not Immediately available 10
meet the demands of frightened depoSi-
tors. Surviving corporations and midi
viduals are content 10 keep III hand the
money they are usually anxious to loan,
and those engaged in legitimate business
are surprised TO find that the securities
they offer for loans, though heretofore
satisfactory, are no longer accepted.
Nalncs supposed to be fixed are fast be-
coming conicCtural, and loss and failure
have involved every branch Of business.
Ibelicvc these things are principally
chargeable to congressional legislation
touching the purchase and coinage Of
silver by the general government.
This legislation is embodied III 4 stat
ute passed on the 18th day of July, 1890,
which was the elimination of much agl-
tation on the subject involved, and which
NAV be considered 4 truce, after a long
struggle, between the advocates Of free
silver coinage and those intending TO be
more conservative.
Cudoubtcdlv the monthly purchases
bv the government of four millions and
five hundred thousand ounces of silver,
enforced under that statute, were re
garded by those interested III silver pro
duction as a certain guaranty of It's in
crease III price. The result, however,
has been entirely different, for immcdi-
ately following a spasmodlc and ShSht
rise the price of silver began TO fall alter
the passage of the act, and has since
reached the lowest point ever known.
This disappointing result has led to re-
newcd and persistent effort Ill the dlrec-
ton of free silver coinage.
Meanwhile, not only are the evil eff
fcCtS of the operation of the present law
constantly accommodating, but the result
TO which its execution must inevitably
lead is becoming palpable TO all who
give the least heed to financial subjects.
This law provides that III payment
for the four million and FIVE hundred
thousand ounces of silver bullion which
the Secretary of the Treasury IS COM
manded TO purchase monthly, there shall
be issued treasury notes redeemable on
demand in gold or silver coin at the dis
erection of the Secretary Of the Treasury,
and that said notes may be reissucd. 1t
is, however, declared Ill the act to be
the established policy of the United
States to maintain the two metals on q
parity with each other upon the present
legal ratio, or such ratio S may be pro-
vided by law" This declaration so con
trolls the action of the Secretary of the
Treasury as to prevent his exercising
the discretion nominally vested Ill him
ana DN SUCH iNNAO.A liz Rsl4lNN b~NN' I'LL
gold and silver may be disturbed. Man
ifcstly a refusal by the Secretary to pay
these treasury notes in gold, if demand
ed, would necessarily result III their dis
credit and depreciation as Obligations
PAYABLE only in silver and would de-
stIov the parity between the two metals
bv establishing a discrimination i'll favor
of gold
Up to the 18th day of July, 1895, these
notes had been issued i'll payment Of sill
vev bullion purchases to the amount Of
more than one hundred and fOrty-sevcu
millions of dollars While all but q
very small quantity of this bullion re
mains uncoincd and without usefulness
in the treasury, many Of the notes given
i'll its purchase have been paid Ill gold.
This is illustrated by the statement that
between the LIST day of May, 1892, and
the 18th day OF July, 1898, the notes Of
this kind issued in payment for silver
bullion amounted 10 little more than
fifty-four millions of dollars, and that
during the same period about forty-uiuc
millions of dollars were paid by the
treasury in gold for the redemption Of
such notes.
The policy necessarily adopted Of pay
ing these notes in gold has not spared
the gold reserve of one hundred millions
of dollars long ago set aside by the gov
eminent for the redemption Of other
notes, for this fund has already beer
subjected TO the payment of new obliga-
tons amounting to about one hundred
and fifty millions Of dollars on account
of silver purchases, and has, as a con-
sequence, for the first time since its
creation, been enCroached upon.
We have thus made the depletion Of
our gold easy and have tempted other
and more appreCiativc nations TO add it
to their stock. That the opportunity
we have offered has not been neglected
is shown by the large amounts of gold
which have been recently drawn from
our treasury and exported to increase
the financial strength Of foreign nations.
The excess Of exports of gold over its
imports for the year ended June 80,
1903, amounted to more than eighty
seven and a half millions of dollars.
Between the first day of July, 1890,
and the 18th day Of July, 1898, the gold
coin and bullion i'll our treasury de
creased more than one hundred and
tulILN-lWO VI NAOAAShA', lAl4N NAAl4
ing the same period the silver coin and
bullion in the treasury increased more
than one hundred and forty seven mil
lions of dollars. Unless government
bonds are to be constantly issued and
sold to replenish our exhausted gold,
only TO be again exhausted, It is appar-
ent that the operation of the silver-pur-
chase law now i'll force leads in the di-
rection of the entire substitution of sill
yer for gold i'll the government treasury,
and that this must be followed by the
payment Of all government Obligations
in deprecated silver.
At this stage gold and silver must
part company and the government must
fail in its established policy TO maintain
the two metals on a parity with each
other. Given over to the exclusive use
of currency greatly deprecated ac-
cording to the standard of the CONNER
cial world, we could no longer claim a
place among nations of the first class,