The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-08-11
OUR FINANCIAL TROUBLES.
They Are due Ia the sherman silver fur-
chase Act-A Political Makeshift-


chase Act-.A Political Makeshift.
We are cursed with law which com
| pcls the United States government, 4
purchase 1000 900 ounces ~ silver each
month Of the year. Practically we
have To pay for this silver bullion with
gold The drain on the supply of gold,
continued since 1890. has exhausted all
of our available gold and has forced
the treasurer 10 trench upon reserve
fund. a financial crisis Is pending and
may break even before congress, meets
in extra session To prevent. il possible,
the great evils ~ our foolish policy.
According to senator sherman and
Congressman J. ii. Walker two OF the
great republican statesmen who were
most prominent i'm drafting it. this law.
when il was passed in l 500. was recog-
nizcd 10 be unsound and unsafe as a
financial policy and was put through
only a. "A political makeshft The re-
publicans then had full control of
every law-inalsing department. Even
II they could not hold together in both
houses Of congress 10 defeat free COIN
age bills the president. unless ne disrc-
garded all of his public utterances.
mus. have vetoed such a bill: and
surely it could not pass both houses
over his head
Why, then, did not tlv publcans
give US comparatively sound and
stable currency at once? Ii was be-
cause as politicians they were looking
ahead to the presidential election and
were trimming their sails for votes.
some of the rich senators and congress
men from "A few western silver states
were rebellious and threa tened To with
draw their support from g. o. T. If it
should not treat one of the interests of
these states with special favor. After
consultation it was considered best to
compromise in some way with these
silver representatives rather than risk
an open offense IL them. and per-
haps put the president under the
painful necessity Of vetoing free
coinage measure. As Senator sherman
says. 1T is said there was no danger of
free coinage-that the president would
have vetoed it. We had no right to |
throw the responsibility upon him."
Hence to retain the votes and influence |
of the silver states the republicans de-
cided to compromise" by agreeing To |
purchase the silver product Of these
states This was all thu. silver mine
owners could have asked for. They
would have been no better off il the
United States had undertaken to coin
the silver OF the whole world. Indeed
they would not have been SO well off
then, for the job would have proven
failure sooner than the present one.
WHAT use the United States would have
for several thousand tons of pig silver.
and what great loss the nation must
suffe. when it should attempt to sell
This bullion did not trouble tine states
men after silver votes. That their
scheme for vote-getting failed ;gno-
in 1890 and 1892 was due to
heir characterization of the intelli-
renee and patriotism Of the American
'oter.
In the face of the present financial
LANCER brought about To please the sill
Ter voters. these same petted and
poiled children of this republic are
iolding meetings in the d fferent silver
tates and threatening to boycott east
I'm products to get upa bloody revolu-
ion and even to assassinate the presi-
lent Of he persists in his determination
o prevent national bankruptcy BY
easing to make our treasury depart
nent market for all Of product of sill
er.-Byron W. Holt.