Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1893-08-17
FOR SUNDAY REFLECTION.
The Ethics of President Cleveland
Message to Congress.

resident CleYelands S message as out
f plumb with his party's national
PLATFORM; and we must, therefore,
believe such Democrats are either |
let familiar with the platform, or
Use they do not interpret it accord
ng to its plain face reading.
We believe that the President |
stands squarely on the Democratic |
platform.
He asks the repeal of the Sherman
act. So does the platform.
He declares that we shonld not
coin any dollar which is not intrins
sically worth 100 cents, and which
is not recognized as the equal Of any
dollar IN the market. So does the
platform. He pleads earnestly for
a sound currency. So does the plat
form.
"It was my purpose" he says, ''to sum-
mon Congress in special session early in
the coming September, that we might en-
ter promptly upon the work of tariff re-
form, which the true interests of the
country clearly demand, which so large
a majority of the people, as shown by
their sufrages, desire and expect, and to
the accomplishment of which every efs
fort of the present Administration is
pledged,
"But while tsriff reform has lost moths
ing of its Immediate and permanent inns
portance and must in the near future ems
gage the attention of Congress it has
seemed to me that the financial condition
of the country should at once and before
all other subjects, be considered by your
honorable body
The President treats the case with
a calmness and judicial clearness
wholly admirable and strikingly in
contrast with the recent ill-judged
utterances of partisans Oh both sides.
The effort, a commendable one in
itself, to maintain a parity between
gold and silver is, as he points out,
defeated by the actual operation of
the Sherman Law. We quote his
lucid presentation of its work.
ings. After showing how the
Treasury is compelled to purchase
such large quantities of silver
that up to July Is, 1898, not
less than $147,0O0,OOO have been
issued in Treasury notes represent
ing their nominal value in silver
bullion, and explaining how those
notes are necessarily redeemable in
that medium, he says
This is illustrated by the statement
that between the 1st day of May, 1899
and the 18th day of July, 1898, the notes
OF this kind issued in payment for silver
bullion amounted to a little more thar
$54,000000 and that during the same
period about $49, 100000 was spaid by the
Treasury in gold for the redemption o.
such notes.
eve have thus made the depletion o
our gold easy, and have tempted othe1
and more appreciative nations to add it tC
their stock. That the opportunity VIC
have offered has not been neglected il
shown by the large amounts of golC
which have been recently drawn from
our Treasury and exported to increase The
financial strength of foreign nations"
Thus in the three years and fif
teen days since the Sherman Law
went into effect, it is apparent tha
the gold il our Treasury, coin anc
| bnllion. "decreased more thar
1882, 100000, while during tn,
same period the silver coin ane
bullion in the Treasury increased
more than $147,OO0,OOO.
This is not maintaining the par
ity between the two metals; and, a
the President truly says, we neve
can maintain such parity SO Ions
as it is to the interest of foreign
nations to let us attempt the i'm
possible feat single~handed.
It is the workingman who suf
fers first and chiefly by all rash ex
periments with the country's cur
rency.
cat times like the present. says MI
Cleveland, when the evils of unsount
finance threaten US, the speculator may an
ticipate harvest gathered from the mis-
| fortune of others, the capitalist may pro
tect himself by boarding, or may evel
find profit in the tlucruation of values; bu
the wage earner-the first to be injure
| Nv Tod and tho last T.
receive the benefit of its correction
practically defenceless. He relies fo
work upon the ventures of confident an
contented capital. This failing him, hi
condition is without alleviation, for h
can neither prey on the misfortunes c
others nor hoard his labor
The Presidents Message is cal
culated to convince Congress an
the people of the necessity for i'm
mediate action at time whel
epeculators and sharpers are max
ing the most of a needless panic
The country is naturally rich an
prospering. There should be n
panic, and there will be none,
prompt and intelligent action b
taken to prevent it.
| The silver question is not a sec
tional question. East and Wes
North and South, are alike inter
ested in settling it in a rations
way, and they will do SO, despit
the efforts of interested demagogue
in any section to do otherwise.