The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-08-09

by George Washington. Thomas Jeffer-
son. John Adams, Alexander Hamilton,
and subsequently indorsed and defended
by Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lin
coin; and
( Whereas. Silver. one of these ancient
metals, was in the year 1913 without any
previous demand by any political party.
i. and by any part Of the people, or even
/ by any newspaper and without public
4 discussion whatever stricken down from
3 the place it had occupied since the days
/ of Abraham and the Pharaohs: under
1 circumstances of such secrecy that Allen
/ G.. Thurman, James Beck William NJ.
/ Stewart, Daniel W. Voorhees,. James q.
| Blaine the speaker of the house; James
! a. Garfield, William d. Kelly and others
! present and voting for the bill. as sem
/ ators and representatives, subsequently
/ repeatedly and publicly declared that
! they did not know until long afterward
! that so grave and great a change had
! been made in the financial system
/ founded by the fathers of the republic.
] Whereas, The debates in congress show
that the parentage of the measure was
! in part aScribed by the friends of the
| bill to one Ernest Seyd. a London banker
| who, it is claimed, was sent over to
I Washington by the mOneyed classes Of
! the old world to secure its passage by
secret and corrupt means; and
/ Whereas, President Grant, who signed
the bill, declared long subsequently that
he did not know that it demonetized
silver; and
Whereas, The purpose of this attack
upon one of the two ancient precious
| metals of the world was. by striking
| down One-half Of the money supply, to-
wit: silver, to double the purchase power
I of the remainder, gold, by making it the
l equivalent of everything possessed or
produced by the labor of man. thus re-
ducing the price of all commodities ar
! resting enterprise, impoverishing the
tOiler and degrading mankind. That
| these results We're not only inevitable
| but fOreSeen appears by the following
| language used at that time by the then
president Of the Bank Of France, who
said: IF by a stroke of the pen they
! suppress one of these metals in the
| monetary service they double the de-
| mand of the other metal to the ruin Of
all debtors" and
Whereas The awful consequences thus
| prophesied are upon the people Of the
whole world, for we stand in the midst
| of unparalleled distress and in the
shadow of impending calamities which
are beyond estimate. The ruling in
dustry Of the people who inhabit one
third of the area Of this republic has
been stricken down, property values de-
strOyed and the workmen compelled to
fly as from pestilence. Everywhere over
this broad land honest toilers, number
ing hundreds Of thousands. have been
thrown out of employment, and will
have to eat the bitter bread of charity
or starve. The products Of industry, Of
the farm and the workshop have de-
preciated in price, as shown by official
and public statistics until production
ceased to be profitable; the money Of the
country inadequate for the business of
the land has gravitated to the banks.
while the people distrusting the banks
have demanded their deposits to hoard
or hide them; mercantile houses are go
ing to the wall by thousands, because
| l,a N
even the necessities of life. To supply
the lack of currency the banks of the
great cities have issued a substitute for
| money unknown to laws, called clearing
! house certificates: the movement Of the
( great crops now being gathered demands
a vast amount Of currency which the
banks are unable to furnish; and in the
| midst Of these conditions the daily press
are clamOTing for the repeal of the act
of 1890. called the Sherman act, although
/ the repeal Of that act means the stop
| page of the issue of more than 100000
Of money every month; the shutting off
of the supply of the funds for the bust
| ness of the country, in the midst of the
| terrible conditions which surround US,
| and ignoring the fact that to hold the
balance level between the debtor and
| creditor classes the supply Of currency
must increase side by side with the in
crease in population and business. and
| in this nation the growth of population
=
ten years, while the increase Of business
] is much greater.
The preamble continuing quotes at
length from utterances of James G..
Blaine, Daniel Webster and Secretary
| Carlisle in favor Of bimetallic currency
and the Hon. John Sherman on the
dangers Of monetary contraction, adding:
Therefore, in view Of all these facts, we
declare:
l. That there must be no compromise
of this question. All legislation demone-
thing silver and restricting the coinage
thereof must be Immediately and COM
pletely repealed by an act restoring the
, | coinage of the country to the conditions
established by the sOundness Of the ma
ton: and which continued for over
eighty years without complaint from any
part of our people. Every hours delay
in undoing the corrupt work Of Ernest
Seyd and our foreign enemies is an insult
to the dignity Of American people, a
: crushing burden on their prosperity and
an attempt to place us again under the
. yoke from which George Washington and
his compatriots rescued US. We protest
against the financial policy of the United
States being made dependent upon the
opinion or policies of any foreign govern
ment and assert the power of this nation
to stand on its own feet and legislate
for itself upon all subjects.
2. We assert that the only remedy Tor
| pure metallic financial troubles is to
open the m1ntS or the nation 10 gOlQ ana
. silver on the equal terms at the old ratio
/ of sixteen of silver to one of gold. When
ever silver bullion can be exchanged at
: the minis for legal tender silver dollars
worth one hundred cents that moment
412A grains of standard silver Will be
J worth 100 cents; and as commerce equal
: ICES the price of all commodi-
ties throughout the world when
ever 41212 grains Of standard
silver are worth 100 cents in the United
States they will be worth that sum
everywhere else and cannot be bought
: for less. While it viii be urged that
Z such a result would enhance the price
of silver bullion it is sufficient for US TO
: know that a similar case would be i'm
3 mediately made in the price Of every
: kind of property except gold and credits
l in the civilized world. 1t would be a
, shallow, selfish class that would deny
: that to the mining industries at the cost
of bankruptcy to. the whole people. The
legislation to silver mas given unjust
Increase to the value of gold at the cost
of the prosperity of mankind, wheat and
all other agricultural products that have
: ridden side by side with silver
t g. That while the Sherman act" OF
: July IA, 1880. was a device OF
: the enemy to prevent the resto-
ration of the coinage, and is
greatly Objectionable because il
: continues the practical exclusion of sill
2 yer from the minis and reduces il from
8 a money metal to a commercial com
modify. nevertheless its repeal, without
i, the restoration Of free coinage would
, stop the expansion of our currency re