The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1893-07-13
JUDGE REAGAN
GIVES HIS VIEWS ON
THE TREATMENT OF SILVER.
BE Demands the Full and Unlimited Coin.
age Of Silver, and Declares it Is Silver
Bullion and Not the Silver Dollar
That Has Been Deprecated
PALESTINE, Tex, July !, 1898.
Editor Fort Worth Gazette;

PALESTINE, Tex, July I, 1898.
Editor Fort Worth Gazette;
4 great deal is being written and
said at this time on the question Of
silver coinage, either in ignorance of
the facts in relation to the question, or
for the purpose of deceiving and mis-
leading the public. And to this end
much is being said and done to sup
press knowledge of the real facts.
There are few facts which should be
kept in view, in this discussion:
First-Gold and silver have been the
money of the world as far back ,as we
know it's history or traditions.
''Their fitness for money is shown
by the fact that both metals
possess in common, and
neither in any degree different from
the other, all the qualities which are
recognized as necessary for money
Silver enjoys, with an equal degree
with gold, the qualities of indestruct-
Utility, of divisibility, of nalieabiiity
and of resistance of chemical changes,
thus demonstrating their usefulness
and fitness as regulators of the volume
of currency and exchange"
Second-Gold and silver were made
the money of all the United States oy
the federal constitution, which pro-
vides, Art |, Sec. 10, That no state
shall make anything but gold and
silver coin tender in payment Of
debt"
Third-Nationa bank notes and
notes of other banks are not legal
tender money, and their value in all
commercial countries was measured by
gold and silver coin, previous to the
year 1878. Then Great Britain made
cold the money of account in that
kingdom. In all the other commercial
countries of the world gold and silver
was the money of account previous to
the year 1878. These metals WERE
up to that time, the basis
of banking exchange, and measured
the value of all the bank notes and
exchanges; and controlled the value OF
all property and of all bonds and
other securities for money.
Fourth-The contention Of the
bondholders, the holders of gold and
the bankers, now is that silver shall
no longer be part of the legal tender
money of the world. That gold alone
shall measure the value of the bank
notes, exchanges, property and labor
of the world.
Fifth-The amount of gold coin and
bullion CT the world is about the
same as the amount of silver coin and
bullion in the world.
Sixth-To demonetize silver and
make gold the only legal tender of the
world would, by the destruction of
one-half of the legal tender money of
the world, about double the burdens
of all debtor governments, corpora
tions, associations, firms and indlvid-
uals, and would vastly en-
nance the values of all securities and
credits and of gold coin and bullion,
because of the reduction of the kinds
and volume of money which might be
used for payment OF debts, and be
cause the gold of the country would
buy so much more of labor aAd prop
erty.
| 7. The conSumm alton of such a
policy would violate the implied cou-
tract under which the great body of
the debts of the world was created;
that is, that the debtor may pay in
the kinds of money which existed
when the debts were created. And
such Foley would necessarily pro-
duce condition of general bankrupt
cy in all the countries where il should
be made to prevail. Mr.. Charles F.
Nerdlinger, an able writer, who was
for considerable time the financial
editor of James Gordon Bennett''
papers in New York, London ano
Paris, shows, in an article in the Illus
taated American OF July l, 1885, tha
the shrinkage in the value of negoti-
able securities dealt in on the "tocl
exchange in New York, ha
been, in the last twelve
months, estimated to be total o
S70O00O. 900. This, | suppose, is one o
the results of the work of the conspir
acy now going on to reduce the lega
tender money of the world to gol(
| alone.
4 In order to give some idea of wha
I doubling the burden Of debtors means
/ present the following statistics of TIN
public and railroad Indebtedness il
the United States in the year 1890
to-wit:
ofthe United States, less cash in'the -.
treasury: ..........'..-... go. VOW ;96O' y
State and local ...........- /, 1920 AZ
OF municipal corporations ..... 724 46 70
VI school districts ...:...'..'..'. Ses0I' "a "a
i 90 n "a 600 o.,
AgSregating .............--....... .SS,O2S oGO,6Z
And this does not include the debt
, of banking, manufacturing, mipin.
and other corporations; nor the debt
of the associations, firms anC
private individuals, which woalC
probably double the foregoing
figures. The national debt
OF all the nations, less the sinkin!
funds. in the year 1890 amounted K
$25, 633, 016,S11. To this should bt
added what is termed IN the census @
1890, the foreign local debt, amounting
to 81. $50, 1902 This is composed o
the foreign debts of the principal cite
of the world, not including those o
the United States. And the foregoipf
aggregate does not include annUilies
whose capitalized value would amour