Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1893-07-21
DalzelI on the Finances.

At the meetins of the Chamber OF Com
merce of Pittsburg, last Thursday, Con-
oressman Dalzell was called upon for re
marks and spoke as follows:
He began by saying there was no mater
ial difference between the opinions already
aynressed and those of his own on the pres
ent situation and its remedy. Within q
wear. y said Mr.. Dalzell, 1--WE seemed to be
on the high road to prosperity. The same
material elements of success exist to-day.
Confidence is the boat that carries all the
countries of the world on all their prosper
ous VOYAGES, and when confidence is lost,
down goes the ship. Now, what are the
causesf Whatever may be our opinions on
this subject, don't believe the Sherman
act * the sole cause. 1t is the silver poll
CIV of the government. This policy involves
tho nolicy of 1878, when the Bland Allison
Act was passed. 1t also involves the dec
laration Of the Sherman bill, that it is the
established policy of the country to main
tain two metals.
mThe act of 1878 reversed the policy OF
half century; we were in a gold basis, and
the Inauguration of system which substi-
tuted deprecated silver dollars was re-
yersal of a policy which had stood for flfty
years. When Alexander Hamilton's mint
act was passed our gold all went out OF the
country. From 1884 to 1887 we had sill
YER standard and from 1887 to 1873 wewere
on a gold basis. Yet is remarkable fact
that from the foundation OF the country un-
iii 1878 our total mintage ofsilver was only
IS, 200, 900.
s.No more suicidal act could have been
passed than the Bland Allison bill passed
L nd IN n
passed as compromise measure. 1t pro-
yided that the government should buy and
coin not less than So, 900, 900 nor more than
a. GOO. 900 month. All the while silver
kent going down. In 1890 we compromis-
ed again. The bill passed then provided
that 1877 tons of silver should be coined
eyery month, or 6 tons day, at the mar
ket price and silver certificates should be
issued for it, until July /, 1891. Since that
time the government has been in the stor-
age business, and the government has just
as much right to purchase silver bullion
and issue certificates for it as it has TO buy
pig iron and issue certificates for that.
The present law means that for every ounce
of silver worth GO or 20 cents we must issue
certificates, which the government is bound
to redeem at dollar. In other words we
are buying silver and storing at the price Of
gold. The government has 1884, 246, 900 of
obligations in legal tender and silver
which the government is bound to pay in
gold and it only has 500, ,000, 900 in gold in
reserve. Now Cooking at President Kelly
if / held $500, 600, 900 of your obligations,
and you only had 800, 900, 900 with which
to meet them, would say you were bank
rupt. OF course there is no reason for US
saying that the country is bankrupt. l
,trrrya hn har mt
ed. / don't believe the most uDwise legis-
lation or the poorest statesmanship could
bankrupt the nation. All the obligations
will not be presented at one time and we
will be able to meet them as they come.
'The purchasing clause Of the Shermas
act ought to be repealed. Its first effect in
tie effect we are feeling now in the money
power of the country to redeem its obliga-
tion. Its second effect is an inevitable
contraction Of the money value. But we
might as well talk about two yard sticks
as two standards. The standard to-day is
gold, and anything that don't come up TO
the full value is deprecated money. This
is no time for politics, but patriotism. We
should work and vote for. what will benefit
the whole people. irrespective of party
lines. We ought to vote against anything
that has wildcat tendency. We don't
want New York dollar, or Pennsylva-
MIA or Ohio dollar, or a New England or
Pacific coast dollar. An American dollar
ought to be worth 100 cents everywhere
our flag floats. / think your first resolu-
tion ought to be adopted. and / believe the
purchasing clause ought to be repealed,
but don't know about further legislation.
1t might do to let nature assert herself and
let financial matters take care of them
selves for little while and see how the
natural laws would work things out iol
us.