The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1893-08-10


and,
Whereas, President Grant. who
signed the bill, declared long after
that he did not know it demonetized
silver, and. .,
Whereas, The purpose of this attack
upon one of the two ancient metals Of
the world was by striking down one
half of the money supply, to wit, sill
yer. equal to doubling the value
of the remainder of the gold by max
ing it equivalent to everything possess
ed or produced by labor of man, thus
reducing the price of all commodities
arresting enterprise, impoverishine
toiIers and degrading mankind; and
Whereas, That these results were
not only inevitable bat forseeD, as ap'
pears 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 the metals ia the monetary service
they double the demand for the Other
metal to the ruin of all debtors; and
Whereas, Consequences thus
prophesied are now upon the
people of the whole world for the
West and in the midst of distress and
in the shadow ofimpending calamities
which are beyond estimate. The rnl-
irg industry of the people which in
habit one third of the area of the
country had been stricken down
property values destroyed and work
men compelled to fly as if from pesti.
lence. Everywhere over this broad
land honest toilers are ruined, hun
dreds of thousands have been thrown
out of employment and will have to
eat the bitter bread of charity or
starve; the products of the industry of
the farm and workshop
have deprecated in price as
shown by official and public
statistics until production ceases to be
profitable. The money of the country
inadequate; the business of the land
has gravitated to the banks. while the
people distrusting banks have de-
handed their deposits to hoard or
hide them. Mercantile houses are
going to the wall by thousands be.
cause the masses have not means to
buy even the necessities of life. To
supply the lack of currency the banks
of the great cities have issued sub"
stitute for money unknown to the laws
called clearing house certificates. The
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 is
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 $3,0OO,-
BOO of money every month, thus shut
ting off the supply of funds for the
business of the country in the midst of
terrible conditions which surround us.
and ignoring the fact that to hold the
balance level between the debtor and
classes the supply of currency
must increase side by side with the in
crease of population and business, and
n this nation the growth OF popula-
lion is at the rate of about 30 per cent
every 10 years while the increase of
business is greater; and,
Whereas, That great expounder of
he constitution, Daniel Webster, said:
Gold and silver at rates fixed by COM
sress constitute the legal standard of
yalue in this country and neither con-
,ress nor any state has authority to
establish any other standard or to dis
,lace that standard; and,
Whereas, Hon. James g. Blaine,
quoting his uttering, adds: "On the
much vexed and long mootea question
If bi-lnetalic or monometalics standard
nv own views are sufficiently indicat-
ID in the remarks have made. l be
believe the struggle now going in for a
Jingle gold standard would If success
ul prove disastrous to the world. The
destruction of silver as money and es-
gold as the sole unit of
yalue must have ruinous effect
IN all forms of property ex-
,ep5 those investments which yield
. fixed return in money. These would
De enormously enhanced in value and
would gain disproportionate and I'M
air advantage over every other spe-
lies of property. If, as most reliable
statistics sffirm, there is nearly $780,
100, 900, 900 cola or bullion in the world
very near equally divided between
gold and silver it is impossible to
strike silver out of existence as money
results which will prove dis
;ressing to millions and utterly disas-
;rous to tens of thousands" Again he
,aid: 81 believe gold and silver to be
jhe money Of the constitution, indeed,
he money of the American people,
which the great organic law recog-
lized as quite independent of
ts own existence. No power
S conferred on congress to de-
,lare that either metal should not be
money. Congress has therefore, in
ny Judgment, no power TO demonetize
both. If, therefore, silver has been
lemonetized | am in favor of remone-
;izlng it. If it's coinage has been pro
libited | am in favor of ordering it re.
,umed. am in favor of having it
and
Whereas, The present secretary of
the treasury on the floor of the house
On Feb. 1, 1887, said: Il know the
worlds stock of precious metals is none
too large and | see no reason to ap-
prehend that it will ever become so.
Mankind will be fortunate indeed if
the annual production of gold and sill
YER coin shall keep pace with the an
nual increase of population, COM
merce and industry. According to my
view of the subject the conspiracy
which seems to have been formed here
and in Europe to destroy
by legislation and otherwise from
three seventies to one-half of the