Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1893-06-01
Currency as Debt Paying Instru
nnapt

Currency as Debt Paying Instru-
ment
A correspondent Of the Louisville
Courier journal taking for granted
the statements of that paper and
other gold-bug organs that the silver
dollar is worth only 65 cents, or
would be so under free coinage, still
fails to see through the intricate
mazes Of sophistry put forth as argu-
nent by these champions of mono
metallism who contend that they IA
vor be-metalllsm, yet wish silver to
be regulated by a gold standard,
which everybody knows is not BIZ
metallism at all. He writes to the
above named paper as follows;
[ have read your discussion OF the
silver question, and while | recognize
the impossibllity Of dealing with all
phases of such question in few ed
itorials for daily paper yet any dis
cussion of this question which fails to
deal with the currency as debt-pay-
ing instrument will not be likely to
carry many OF the southern or west
ern people with you, who do their
own thinking on this subject. Bill
lions of Indebtedness contracted on a
silver basis IS owing by the south and
west to the east of the United States
and to Europe. Now what these deb
tors object to is the paying OF lou
cents in gold for every sixty-hve cents
borrowed in silver and paying inter
est on 100 cents in gold, when they
are due only interest on the sixty-tiye
cents in silver; all of which seems to
be accomplished by II combination OF
the money power of Europe and
America to make all bonds and inter,
est payable only in gold. II the good
of the country in other respects de-
mands the gold standard with silver
eliminated, then all bonds heretofore
issued ouget to be sealed by the same
act from 100 to 65 cents. Not one
believes the creditor class would
agree to this, and would at once ap'
peal to the constitution and claim
that the obligations Of u contract
would be violated But the debtor
class can't understand why the obi
cations of the contract are not VIC
lated equally by indirect Legislation
which increases all debts oue-third, az
by direct Legislation that would di
minish them one-third. If you would
discuss this phase Of the question SC
lucidly, as TO show clearly that the
debtor class has not been dealt will
uniustly in silver Legislation, you vii
do great deal to heal the opening
chasm in the ranks of democracy
The debtor class want only justice IL
this matter.
To which the CoWier-Jomnal re-
plies among other things that 1.-THE
debts contracted prior to 1873 are
small in comparison with those con
tracted since" which is no answer al
all from the simple fact that it is moi
true. And even il it were true II
would only go to show that an over
whelming enormity Of indebtedness
has been contracted since 1873, il
would prove nothing else. Again
the argument goes that sit would bt
unjust to pay the deposltors of say
ings banks IN deprecated dollar
In other words they shrink from
nghtlng the wrongs of millions o
debtors for fear they may be unjus
to few hundred savings bank depos
ltor7, who would be so much NOR
benefited by the consequent expan
sion of currency that no loss woul,
be felt. The Courier. journal sum
up its arguments in the following
words:
We would SO shape Legislation q
to retain both metals. To eliminat
one or the other will be to contrat
one-halt the specie basis of our GU
rency and do gross injustice to a
classes. Moreover, it would dstur
all values and all exchanges, who
are the debts Of day; fresh ever
morning; debts owing to the produ
ing classes 10y the men who buy the
uroduots. There are men who b
lieve in sllver-monometallism; mt
who would eliminate gold and bril-
the country for the first time to