The Yale expositor., 1895-08-02

lhal the government must issue bonds.
or else be unable to pay it's obligations.
In gold. The opinion Of the bankers
Is that Mr.. Cleveland and Mr.. Carlisle
propose to give the silver people an OBJ,
Ject lesson, and there is feeling that
In the silver communities there are go
Ing to be hard times, some business.
depression, and that national bankers
who do business in these communities.
are going to receive an impressive les
son before congress meets, so that it
is hoped there may be change of senti-
ment upon this matter when the extra
ordinary session of congress is called in
the early fall"
On June Z, six weeks after the will
Jams house meeting" the New York
sun in its money article said among
other things; "The presidents of the
New York banks think that the So
called object lesson has been carried
far enough and that
they see nothing to be gained by fur
ther shrinkage in values and the I'M
settling Of credits"
But the war upon the west and south
was continued. On June 20 the India
minis were closed against the further
free coinage of silver cleveland and
John Bull were evidently working the
scheme together) The New York Tri-
bune announced the news in startling
headlines: "A Blow at Silver Values
The Action of India Severely Depresses
the White Metal, Stimulating Repeal
Sentiment-The Silver Men Are Dumb"
On June 80 the President issued his call
for an extra session of congress on Aug
following. Mr.. Cleveland in his mes
sage to congress said: Our unfortu-
nate financial plight is not the result
OF untoward events nor of conditions re-
lated to our natural resources, nor is it
frequently check national growth and
prosperity. With plenteous crops. with
abundant promise of remunerative pro-
duction and manufacture, with unusual
invitation to safe investment, and with
satisfactory assurance to business en-
terprise, suddenly financial distrust and
fear have sprung up on every side.
Numerous moneyed institutions have
suspended, because abundant assets
were not Immediately available to meet
the demands Of frightened depositors.
Surviving corporations and individuals
are content to keep in hand the money
they are usually anxious to loan, and
those engaged in legitimate business
are surprised to find that the securities
they offered for loans, though hereto
fore satisfactory, are no longer ac-
cepted. Values, supposed to be fixed,
are fast becoming conjectural and loss
and failure have invaded every branch
of business. 1 believe these things are
principally chargeable to congressional
legislation touching the purchase and
coinage of silver by the general gov
eminent"
The American Bankers association
of New York on Aug. 10, 1898, issued a
circular to the bankers of the United
States, which, among other things, said:
at is manifest that the immediate
cause of the prolonged stringency is the
fear and apprehension of disaster en-
gendered in the minds of the people by
the continued purchases of silver by the
and by the unceasing
issues of its obligations thereof, re-
deemable in gold, which fear and APP
prehension can only be removed and
restored by the removal Of
the cause. The president of
the United States having convened con-
gress in extra session and recommend
ed to it such repeal, the power of pub
lie opinion should be brought to bear
upon congress to induce favorable ac-
tion thereon. This may best be done by
invoking the aid of the press and by
citizens writing to their senators and
and by sending them
petitions urging such repeal, all Of
which should be done to the fullest ex-
tent possible and without delay"
1t is said that between April 81, the
day of the Williams house meeting,
and Dec. 80, 1893, a period of eight
months, more than $4,000 bankruptcies
and suspensions of commercial and in
dustrial concerns and companies had
taken place, and more than 600 banking
institutions and firms had been serious
ly injured or were wholly ruined. The
total amount involved in the bank
ruptcies and suspensions of all these
firms, companies and institutions dur
ing these eight months was roundly
$3.50, 900, 900. Three million men. women
and young people who were contentedly
at work in the shops, factories and
mills on the 9th of April, 1898, were
out of work on the 1st Of January, 1894"
In the midst of the widest excite
ment this measure was driven through
the house Aug. 81, and the next day
the house bill was reported to the
senate and passed that body Oct. 80.
To secure the passage of this repeal bill
it is conceded the executive patronage
was used without limit.
To arrest the production of silver by
the government and thus remove one
of the obstacles in the way of perma-
nent fold standard brought upon the
country financial ills which for magni-
tude can only be likened to those caused
by the civil war. In the light of this
experience how much will IL cost the