The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-11-16
Mr.. CRISP SPEAKS
KgE CONsEC Cs TIE REPUBLICAN
PARTY OF THE CRIME OF
DEWoNEriZA ALTON.
DECLARES FOR BOTH METALS

q ne speaker gu tue AS""No
That Silver was Demoaetized Sur
rep,iitousig and II owes II by such
Men as sherman and Allison ana
Kelly. Recital of Legislative History
in Response 40 an Invitation by the
Georsia legislature.
In resDonse to an invitation of the
legislature of Georgia, Hon. Charles
p, Crisp, Speaker of the House OF Rep-
,,asentatives. discussed the silver ques-
tion before the Georgia legislature
Wednesday night. 1t was an elaborate
and able presentation of the financial
situation. We print below the opening
of his remarks, and next week VIII give
other portions of his argument:
Mr.. President and Gentlemen of the
General Assembly: Profoundly CRATE
Jul for the honor which you have CON
ferred upon me, L shall endeaVor 10
manifest my appreciation by frank
honest and fearless presentation Oh my
views on the public issues OF the day.
OF course it goes without saying thaJ
/ shall speak to you as a Democrat;
one, too, who feels proud of the record
of his party and one who feels that
the real and best interests OF the mass
es of the people of the United States
are linked indissolubly with the des-
TIMES of that great party.
SIN government like ours, where
the people rule, it is essential that we
should have party government.
Where all men must vote or shouid
aa,te in the selection of officers 1T Is
natural that those men who agree upon
main. essential principles should vote
together, and thus form party. Per
haps you will never find party that
represents exactly your views on all
questions, but as plain, practical men
YOU are to cooperate with the party
that comes the nearest representing
principles which meet the approval OF
your judgment.
THE Democratic party was born
with the government; 1T is ldentIfled
with all tho great struggles which
have taken place in this country. III
has advocated great principles and has
had great battles. 1t has had its veto
ries and it has had its defeats; but
those who believe in real principles OF
Democracy cling as close to the great
party in defeat as they do in victory,
because they know that with the de-
struction of that party would be lost
all that S valuable in the government
which they love and revere.
ALWAYS FOR BIMETALLlSM.
Now. the Democratic party stands
for certain principles. 1t stands for
local self-government. 1T stands for
economy in the administration OF
public affairs. 1t stands against class
legislation. 1t stands for equal rights
TO all of the citizens of the country
and special pIisiIvgts TO none. IL
stands against high tariff, which is
class legislation; and in my judgment,
gentlemen, it stands, and has always
stood. in favor of bimetallism. And
shat is the question l propose to dis
.cuss tonight.
What is bimetallism? The equal
coinage of gold and silver at the mint
without discrimination against either
at ratio fixed by law. Cheers and
applause.) Anything short of the alb
solute equality of those metals at the
mint, whatever it may be, is not
Eoi1mctaIlism.
in 1899 we established mint in
the United States. The constitution
of the Unied States provided that
Congress should coin money and regu-
late the value thereof That is the
exact language of the constitution.
THE FIRST COINAGE LAWS.
I'm 1892 was passed the first coinage
law. That law provided that every
fifteen pounds weight of pure silver
should be of equal value in all pay
ments with one pounds weight of gold,
and all the gold and silver coin which
the mint shall be lawful tender in
all payments whatsoever. This is
bImetalIsm. There is nothing about
"a unit of value, but it fixed ratio be-
tween the two metals and provided by
law that either of them at that ratio
should be lawful tender for all debts,
public and private 1t was found in
1884 that there was disparity be-
tween the coinage value and the com
1nerciai value of the two metals, grow
ing, my friends, as / hope to demon
strate to you, out of the difference of
the ratio in this country and the ratio
abroad. Did the people OF that day
propose to discontinue the coinage of
either metal because there was diff
ference in the ratio? Not so; but they
carefully considered all surroundings
and came to the conclusion that there
was too much gold in the gold dollar,
and they reduced the quantity of gold
IN the gold dollar and thus sought to
bring about parity. That was in
1894 Still another change was made
an 1oo7, and the ratio was changed
from Is to / to 16 to i, so that sixteen
pounds of silver should equal one
pound of gold and either should be
permitted to be used in the payment
of debts. That continued the law of
the United States down to 1873. Be
fore the war. during all that long per
iod we had in the United States no
great discussion as TO the respective
value of gold and silver; no great dis
turbance of the hard monetary sys-
tenn nor no great attack upon it.
THE people of that day believed
that there was such a thing as bi-met-
alIism and they believed that on BIZ
metaIlism depended the interest and
prosperity of the people Of the United
States.
''But in 1873 silver was demonetized.