St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-17
plause). I now hand Daniel Webster's
speech to Mr.. Horr
EN- LGHTENINc ND uApNrv

ENLIGHTENING MR.. HARVEY.
Mr.. Horr-'"The difficulty with INV
friend Harvey arises largely from the
fact that he seems to think that every-
thing Is trivial which he does not know
anything about. He thinks the govern
ment of the United States originated in
1792. L had supposed this government
commenced en- the fourth day of July,
1776. In 1857 congress resolved, that
the standard of the United States of
America. for gold and silver'-both to-
gether-'shan be eleven parts fine and
one part alloy That was precisely as
they had decided before, that the
money of the United States, being by
the -esolve of congress on the 9th
day of July, 1855, a dollar, shall con-
sist of fine silver 1854 grains in each
silver dollar. That is the first estab-
lishment of what the unit should con-
sist. Next: That the money Of ac-
count to correspond with the division
of coins agreeable to the above re-
solve proceed in decimal ratio agree
lowing, to wit don't forget it,
They are organizing a new system of
money, something that has never been
known on the face of the globe-mak-
ing money history. Is that trivial?
Why, it was the important act of that
age. Why, it was the basis of the
entire action in 1882"
Mr.. Harvey-"The straits to which
the ColoniStS were put between 1776
and 1880, when we as a government
known as the United States went into
operation, were those of eXpediency,
but no permanent system was adopted,
awaiting the constitution of the regu-
lar United States congress; and it is to
the action of that constitution, and
the congress that met in pursuance Of
it that we should as educators upon
this question direct our attention. AL
eXander Hamilton recommended two
units, one to be made from gold and
one to be made from silver Mr. Jeffer-
son at one time came very near yield
ing to the arguments of Mr.. Hamilton,
but the whole matter went into the
American congress at it's second ses-
sion, and, out of the recommendation
and discussions that had been made,
the result was the enactment of the
law of 1892, and section 8 of that act
is the one that settles this question.
What Jefferson recommended for the
unit was adopted, and the statute so
reads, and the gold coins are valued in
that silver unit, and Hamiltons sug-
gestion for two units, gold unit and
silver unit, was not accepted by con-
gress, and only silver unit was pro-
vfded for in the act of 1872
TWO STANDARDS.
Mr.. Horr-Now, all this talk of Mr..
Harvey'S is of very little Importance
so far as 1 am concerned. What say
IS that when they passed that law
they intended to establish bimetallism
IN the United States. They did fix the
silver dollar as a unit of Value-there
is no doubt about it. And they also
liked of what the gold coinage con-
sisted, and there were a number of
units and then they defined the ratio
between the two metals. Consequently,
when they fixed the ratio of Is silver
to of gold, there We're two standards,
a gold standard and a silver standard.
We did not use the gold standard at
all up to 1884. You can pass a law as to
a standard and the people can annul
it in spite of all the statutes in the
world. The people adopt the currency
they wish to use, and you cannot
legtslate them out of the habit either.
They undervalued gold. The gold dol
lar was worth more under the first
m1ntage than the silver dollar; con-
sequently we did have-and he is right
about 1.-THE silver standard in this
country up to 1884. Legally a man
could pay any debt by rendering the
ten units of value in the gold coin, but
people did not tender it, because the
silver dollar was the cheapest; they
could get ten silver dollars for less
labor, less everything, than they could
for gold, consequently the gold left
the country.
Mr.. HarveyI want now to call at
lcilliO 10 the IdCI IIldI IOr several
years our side has claimed that silver
was fixed in 1892 as the unit of value
continuing to 1873, as StrenuouSly de-
MED by the other side, denied by the
other side to such an extent that they
went to the trouble in this city of
getting an eX-judge, an associate OF
bankers, to render an ex-parte opinion
that silver was not fixed by the act
of 1892 as the unit of values, and tele>
graphed that opinion all over the
country, and it was reported in the
newspapers editorially all over the
country, and a professor in a univer-
sity that is built with money lenders
capital wrote articles published in the
TimeS-H erald denying that silver was
made the unit of value in 1872, and
these articles were copied in their
friendly papers all over the country.
And now we come face to face with
the other side where they do not dare
to mislead; and in the first joint de-
bated question in this controversy
they are forced by the truth to admit
that 371A grains of silver was fixed as
the unit of value Cloud applause) by
the act of 1892, and remained such to
1873
Mr.. Horr-Who is admitting that?
SILVER SACRED.
Mr.. Harvey-The reading of the de-
bate thus far will show that Mr.. Horr
has admitted it. Now, why was silver
made the unit of value by that act!
This was to be a government OF the
people, with it's organic laws, its imam
cial policy and it's statute laws intend
ed to promote the interests OF the
many, the poorer people. Silver was
the money of the plain people. How
did they favor it? They made it the
unit-the thing in which gold was to
be valued. The silver coins were not
to be recoined or exchanged. Silver
the peoples money-would be treated
as sacred. The unit would be undis-
turbed. This was the intention Of
those who framed our republican COY
eminent and our financial laws. 10
call in the silver coins to redeem them
would be serious interference with
the business of the people; to recon
the gold coins would not to any great
extent. The peoples money was to
control the rich mans money. This
was as it should be. This was intended
to be the financial system of our re-
public, instituted to resist the influence
OF the monarchies of the old world.
Mr.. Horr-I want to say here the
question of the unit L have not dis
posed of today; L am not through with
it, and aa he has taken so much time, I
want to give a word as to why they
recoined the gold instead of the silver.
The reason was because we had been
on silver basis, and they did not
intend to disturb the relation of money
to the business of the country. Gold
had not been used, and they proposed |
to put the gold dollar so that it would
equal the silver dollar, the one we had
been using and the one under which
contracts had been made; and so they
resolved to cut down the gold dollar
to make it even with the one the people
had been using. That is the reason,
and the only reason.
Here ended the first days debate.