The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-09-26

had barely fallen from the black man
before John Sherman entered into
conspiracy to place them on the white
man, the poor, the toiling masses, the
very class to whom he is indebted for
his daily bread. That he succeeded
| too we'll in his nefarious schemes a vast
number who to day have mortgages on
their homes, can attest too truly.
The following extract from the His
tory Of the dem0netization Of silver in
the United States, :" by Geo. NJ Weston,
will throw much light on the subject:
| (See pages SO, SO and 81
The first manifestation Of a purpose
On the part of any citizens OF lh< United
| States to procure the co operation of
this country in the European scheme
Of demOnetizing silver a5 made at the
| Paris International Conference Of 1867.
| The persons concerned in it we're Sam
| uel B. Ruggles, an active member Of
| the Chamber of Commerce of New
| York, who had prucured an appoint
ment as delegate of the United States
| to that Conference, and John Sherman,
then Chairman Of the Financial Com
mittee Cf the United States Senate, and
now Secretary Of the Treasury. All
tn is shown by the report Of the pro
ceedipgs of the Conference is the fact
that they were both in Paris, acting
together to induce the Conference to
declare for gold, and to that end con
certing 10 create the belief that this
country might be relied on to support
the geld policy. x
1T is certain, however, that they
| -
giles needed any assuring support in the
Mr.. Sherman, and that Mr.. Ruggles
was also powerfully assisted in pro
| ducjng in the Conference on expecta
ton Of tho assent Of the United States
to the gold policy by being enabled and
authorized 70 quote the views Of the
| Chairman Of the Finance Committee
of the United States Senate.
+ In May, 1867, there was a written
correspondence between them, which
bears internal ma, ks Of having been
arranged beforehand
In letter dated May II, Mr. Rug
giles advises Mr.. Sherman that the Con
ference was then sitting to argue if
possible on a common unit Of money!
and that the views of the Conference
were running strongly in favor Of
adopting as the unit the existing five
franc piece Of gold He cOIcludes by
irquiring Of MIR. Sherman, how far
such a change would commend itself
to your Judgment
Mr.. Sherman's reply having been
pre- arranged, was prompt, and is dated
May 18. In it he says:
eff this is done, finance will surely
abandon the impossible effort Of max
ing two standards Of value. Gold coins
will answer all purposes of Europe
! Further on Mr. Sherman says:
''They (the United S5ates) could not
agree upon the silver standard
On the 24th of May Mr.. Ruggles
communicated this letter OF Mr. Sher-
man to the Conference with letter of
his own, announcing the official posi-
ton Of Mr.. Sherman, and reiterating
his own convictions as to the enormous
magnitude of the impending yield Of
gold and silver in the United States,
and as to the consequent necessity of a
'unifcatiOn' on the gold standard. His
language was:
Long before that time Q90O the
amount Of gold and silver produced in
the United States, which is now about
800 600, ,O0O, may reach $500, 600, ,000 or
$400, 600 600. Without attempting to
|
which time insures for the world, we
shall only say that the work of unfit
cation cannot be commenced any too
SOON
And in a speech made in the Confer
ence, June 20, he endorses by adopting
Mr.. Sherman's word, impossible as
applied to the double standard. Mr.,
Ruggles' language was:
''The people Of the United States
have sufficiently learned, if not by
study, at least by experience, that the
system of the double standard was not
only without prudence, but also I'M
possible, because this principle implies
necessarily a fixed ratio between the
value of two different kinds Of mer-
chandise, gold and silver
Faithful to his commitments made
at Paris to Mr. Ruggles, and to his
commitments made in conjunction
with Mr. Ruggles to the International
Conference, Mr.. Sherman made a re-
port, June, 1863, to the Senate in favor
of 'G single standard exclusively of
gold, and during two succeeding Con
crosses introduced bills to effect said
object"
call attention to the fact that as
Mr.. Ruggles is referred to as ''the
delegate" }" there could have been but
one delegate, and that, as he was ''an
active MT mber Of the Chamber Of Com
merce," his influence was doubtless
cast for the bondholder first, last and
all the time.
AS to what capacity Mr.. Sherman
served in, it is not stated, but the pre-