Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-05-23
Secretary CariisIe's Letter to Mr.
Sewer.
(New York Sun May 6, 1895. !

New York Sun May 6, 1895.
The efforts of Mr.. Carlisle to recon
cile his present attitude on the silver
question with his past utterances. must
awaken sympathetic interest in every
heart where pity is not dead.
The Secretary of the Treasury is
now struggling with the English Ian
guage In an attempt to explain the sill
yer expansion speech which he deliv-
cred in the House of Representatives
on Feb. 21, 1873. The Bland-Allison
bill, so called, had come back to the
House with the Senate amendment
which substituted for the free coinage
of silver the provision for the purchase
and coinage of silver bullion at the
rate of not less than $4,000, 900 worth,
nor more than s4,O00,00O per month.
When the bill passed the House in its
original form. Mr.. Carlisle voted for
it, free coinage and all. He subse-
quently explained that he had voted
for the free coinage of silver against
the judgment, and preferred the silver
purchase clause of the Senate amend
ment. That memorable piece of legis-
lation was not entirely satisfactory to
Mr.. Carlisle; but his objection, as he
plainly stated at the time, was not be-
cause he feared the accumulation and
coinage of too much silver, but because
he feared that the Secretary Of the
Treasury, under the influence of gold
interests. would limit the purchase of
bullion and the coinage of silver to the
minimum amount specified, instead OF
going the whole figure of $4,000
per month. In order that there may
be no doubt as to Mr.. Carlisle's appre-
tensions, as an expansionist, upon
this score, we quote his exact words
on this subject:
The Senate has declared by large
vote that the coinage should be limited
to a sum of not less than $4,000, 600,
nor more than $4,000,000 per month.
If the execution of this measure could
be intrusted to a public officer whose
opinions on the subject were in accord
with that of the great majority of the
American people and whose sympa-
thies were with the struggling masses
| who produce the wealth and pay the
| taxes of the country. rather than with
| the idle holders of idle capital, the
provision alluded to would be of little
consequence, because he would coin
| the maximum in stead of the minimum
| amount allowed by the amendment.
| But situated as we are, we well know,
or at least we have reasons to believe,
that not dollar beyond the minimum
| amount will be coined, and consequent
ly the process of getting this money
into circulation will be too slow to af-
ford the full measure of relief which
the people now demand and need. But
it will certainly afford some relief. 1t
will reverse the grinding process that
has been going ON for the last few
years. Instead of constant and ruth
less contraction instead of constant
appreciation of money and deprecia-
tion Of property, we will have expan-
sion to the extent of at least $1,000
900 month, and under its influence
the exchangeable value of commodities
including labor, will soon begin to
rise, thus inviting investments, infus-
ing life into the dead industries of the
country, and quickening the pulsations
of trade in all its departments.
Here is the very lingo of the be-
nighted Westerners and Southerners
whose delusions Mr.. Carlisle, at Mr..
Cleveland's command, has now gone
fourth to combat. The extract above
will serve as preface to the helpless
ly and pathetlcally disingenuous letter
written by Mr.. Carlisle to Mr.. A. H.
Sewer of Texarkana and published in
yesterdays newspapers, in which the
Secretary of the Treasury denies that
he ever ..made a speech Or wrote a let
ter in favor of the free coinage of sill
yer at the ratio of 16 to /. or, in fact,
at any other ratio;'' and attempts to
give the impression that there is moth
ing inconsistent IN his record on the
subject. He quotes, for example, this
detached sentence from his remarks
in 1873 to show that he was always
against the free coinage of silver:
..Now. sir, while this amendment is
Objectionable wrongly printed 'unob-
jectionable' yesterday in the tele-
graphed version of Mr.. Carlisle's letter
to SEWER in some respects / am con-
strained to say that it is not so on ac-
count of it's reputation OF the free
coinage provision of the original bill;
and / will proceed to state as briefly
as possible the reasons which compel
me to take this view of the subject"
Whatever may be Mr.. Carlisle's
present views on the question OF cur
rency, and whatever may be the sound
ness or the unsoundness OF his present
views, the truth of history will not
permit any Misrepresentation or sup
preston of the opinion which he held
and distinctly stated in 1873. They
were unequivocal He was against the
free coinage of silver only in the sense
that he was against the free coinage OF
either gold or silver, holding that the
Government should be paid for mint
ing in the case of either metal. And
,x,h;Ie - 4lc. rae%r r:ofod copco ho waS