The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-09-12

now, it ceases to live throughout the
commercial nations of the earth, and
drops out of sight. The repeal of the
Sherman lew, without any substitute
providing for the continued coinage of
silver, is the end Of silver money for
this generation, except as subsidiary
coin, unless, indeed, a great revolution
of the people should restore it, as was
done after the fraudulent demonetiza-
ton of 1873.
Then the trouble of the defenseless
begins; the glory Of the capitalist is ex-
allied, the fairness of the usurer waxeth,
and woe be unto him who is in debit
One-half of the money Of the world be
ing destroyed, the exchanges of the
worlds productions among its inhaol-
tants devoIves upon the other half
the price of the remaining money, gold,
goes up-that is to say, the price of
every product and every days work
goes down. Let no man doubt that
this movement is the result of a con-
spiracy, a combination among the
money-hoIders Of the world. Our own
Secretary of the Treasury has said so.
1t has been announced again and again
in the British House of Commons, and
1 have nowhere seen it denied.
The intent of this combination is to
increase the value of the gold in the
hands of those who hold it, and to in
crease the values of all securities, per
sonal and governmental, by making
them payable in gold, which are like
wise conspirators, The method of at
tack on this last remaining stronghold
of silver vas by the creation of a panic.
The only statutory enactment which
binds US to the use Of silver and makes
US a bimetallic people is what is known
as the Sherman law. Under the opera
ton of this law, 4,5OO, 900 ounces of
silver per month was required to be
purchased and coined until the 1st of
July, 1891, after which time only so
much was to be coined as was neces-
sary to redeem the notes issued for its
purchase.
These were called Treasury notes,
and any technically intelligent man
would naturally suppose that when a
law required the purchase of silver bull
lion and the issue of Treasury notes in
payment thereof, and provided for the
coming of that bullion into silver dol
lars for the purpose Of redeeming those
notes, payable in eli her gold or silver
at the discretion of the Secretary of the
Treasury, it was meant for him to ex-
ercise that discretion in favor of silver,
when the interest of the public and the
condition Of the Treasury required it.
1t was construed differently, and par
ties would procure those Treasury
notes and present them to the Treas
ury, where they were invariably re
deemed in gold.
This gold was shipped abroad in many
cases, beause a scramble was going on
in Europe for gold. The demonetiza
ton of silver had already produced its
inevitable effect, and the gold supply
was not sufficient for those communi-
ties; hence, much was shipped from
this country-mostly obtained by the
means of Treasury notes. 1t is quite
true that it could have been obtained
just as easily by the presentation of
greenbacks, by the presentation of gold
certificates, by the presentation Of
bonds or the coupons upon said bonds,
or by the presentation of national bank
notes. In fact, there was not an obi
cation of the government outstanding
but what was reducible to gold.
Yet these men who were DESTROYS of
creating a panic chose to attribute the
departure of gold alone to the Sherman
law, and with loud mouthed clamor
they declared there was danger of the
government being reduced to a silver
basis and discharging it's obligations in
silver coin. Some foreigners believed
this, and sent over a few of our securi
ties and put them upon the market for
realization. This created such alarm
among those who held these securities
and feared for their margins, that the
clamor, which began in a false pretense,
ended in a howl of real terror. Their
deposits were rapidly withdrawn and
they justly suffered. They brought
such pressure to bear upon the Presi-
dent as induced him to call an extra
session of Congress in the dog days for
the simple and sole purpose of repeal
ing this law.
In the midst of this clamor it was
ascertained that we had largely over
and the balance was against us