The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-09-21
FROM THE NATIONAL CAP
ITAL.
Some Straight Talk on the Financial
Question.


WASHINGTON, ID. c., Sept. IS, 1898.
The point in the present fight in the
Senate is this: If the Sherman law is
Internationally repealed, for at least
four years, there will not be a dollar
added to our currency, but on the other
hand there will be a contraction of ship
ments, abrasion, ETC., for Mr.. Cleveland
will most certainly veto any bill to coin
silver that Congress may hereafter pass
while he is President. On the other hand,
if the Sherman act remains, there will be
an increase OF nearly $40, 900, 900 year,
and if any recognition of silver in any
form is to be had, it must be had in the
same act that repeats the Sherman act
for if presented in a separate bill it will
most surely be vetoed. Hence, an IN
conditional repeal of the Sherman act
means the stoppage of all coinage of sill
yer, a gradual contraction OF the cur
rency, slowly decreasing prices of all
commodities and harder times. Ii there
is q complete stoppage of coinage of sill
yer in this country and India for four
years there will be no market for silver.
bullion aside from it's use in the mechanic
arts, and the price will fall to 80 or 40
cents per ounce. That will close every
silver mine in seven States and Terrific
ries. The inhabitants of those States
can not exist there for four years with
the mines closed.
Before the four years are ended they
will be mostly uninhabited deserts and
one-third Of the territory of the United
States will return to it's native wildness.
Is there any wonder that every means
known to human ingenuity will be re-
sorted to to prevent such catastrophe?
Or that Senator Pugh, of Alabama,
should use language like the following?
at is the determined and unalterable
purpose of the opponents OF repeal to
stand upon their convictions of public
duty and fidelity to their pledges to the
people whom they represent, and who
have hOnored them with their confidence
on this vital question, until physical
strength is exhausted and the power of
speech is left 70 no Senate to prevent
the success OF the conspiracy denounced
sequence to war; pestilence Or famine"
OF course, Senator Pugh has no interest
in mines or silver bullion, but he knows
that a further contraction of the volume
OF money means still lower prices for
every product of the farmers and plan
tiers OF his State and in the end general
poverty, and he stands up to defend the
hearths and homes of his constituents.
The present silver law is the last line
of defense for bimetallism: if this is
abandoned, all is lost.
This the silver Senators understand,
and will therefore fight to the last against
unconditional repeal. The great body
OF the people are with them, but they are
not heard.
A small fraction of the whole popula-
ton representing the banks and foreign
bond holders keep up the clamor for
repeal. They are heard continually.
Why do not the producing classes, the
farmers, the planters, the laborers, raise
their voices through petitions, letters
and resolutions, in support Of the
Senators who are making so gallant a
fight for them?
Senator Pugh, Of Alabama, made an
able speech in the Senate the other day
against unconditional repeal. 1t was
one OF the soundest arguments that have
been made in the course of the debate.
He declared that ''This struggle for
bimetallism on the basis of the free coin
age will never end by submission to the
gold standard as long as ours is free
representative Government. The faithful
friends OF free coinage may be cheated in
platforms but they will never
again be misled and deceived by those
who betray them in the impending
emergency
He argued that if those who favored
repeal intended in good faith to follow
repeal with free coinage act, or a COM
promise measure, they would be willing
to couple it with repeal The fact that
they are not willing to do this shows
conclusively that they do not intend to
restore bimetallism, but, on the contrary,
to fasten upon us the single gold stand
ard: Will the people submit to it?
The real question involved in the con-
test now going on in the Senate is
whether we shall issue bonds and borrow
our money from England or coin it from
gold and silver from our own mines.
Shall our financial system be American
Or British?
The threatened raid on Washington
by the boards of trade, came on Tuesday,
the twelfth, but instead of being 1000
or 2 900 Of them as had been advertised
there were just It's, all told They said
they didn't come to discuss the question,
but to tell the Senate what to do, and to
do lt-qulck. There was one hour given
to the Denver board of trade, however,
to present their side of the case, then
they passed their resolutions and went
Off, leaving a lobby behind to look after
their interests. They did not say much
in convention, but what they did say
showed them to be more ignorant of
political economy than any body which
ever assembled in the United States.
Even the chairman said that all increase
in the currency would not raise prices,
| and there is hardly a school boy in
| the United States but knows more than
that.
1t is frequently stated in speeches and
| in newspapers that we have the largest
| volume OF money now we ever had. This
| is far from being true. The real effective
| money volume is not one-third what it
was at the close of the war. 1t is true,
| however, that the present 'currency
famine is due largely to the drawing
| down OF the reserves and the consequent
extinguishment of bank credits or econ
fidence money" The bottom cause of
| all this is the change in the money stan
| dard from gold and silver to gold alone,
and the consequent shrinkage in prices.
| This shrlnkage too will go on as long as
| gold increases in value, and that will be
| till silver is restored to it's old place as a
money metal and madeto do part of the
| work OF gold.
The greatest event so far of the present
extra session was the speech, on Thurs
day, OF Senator Daniel, of Virginia. He
| spoke Tor four hours and half and for
all that time full Senate, except a few
| radical Republicans from the Eastern
States, who were in the cloak rooms hob.
MODELLING with John Sherman, sat with
eyes fixed upon the orator from Vir
ginia.
This speech is beyond description. Ii
was eloquent, it was logical, it was con
vincing, and it was more than all that
For when fifty or sixty grayhaired old
Senator's sit for four hours and a half
scarcely moving, with their eyes fixed
upon a man, he is saying something al
that time that is commanding the atten
ton Of the brightest intellects in this
nation.
Senator Daniel told the Senators from