People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1895-07-18

America for gold and silver shall be
II parts fine and partallOy.' Origin
ally that was the weight Of alloy in all
the coins Of the United States. AZ
forwards we reduced the alloy so that
it was part in 1O.n
Mr.. Harvey: "As to what Mr.. Horr
says about copper used as money dur
ing the continental days preceding
the adoption Of the constitution, is
trivial to be used in this argument.
"At the time our constitution was
framed, the details governing the
concurrent coinage of the two metals
in our financial system was under dis
cusSion in committees and between
statesmen of that period. So while
these details were left to congress
after the adoption Of the constitution,
a bimetallic system was provided for
in that constitution. Article |, sec
ton s says: Congress shall have pow
er to coin money, regulate the value
thereof and of foreign coins Section
10 says: No state shall coin money
or make anything but gold and silver
coins tender in payments of debts
1t says gold and silver, (applause) not
gold or silver. (Applause.) This is
the constitution. The states surren-
dered to congress their rights to sepa-
rately coin money but expressly re-
tanned the right to the use of gold and
silver as money, neither as token
money, one representing the other, as
silver is now coined representing gold,
but both as money in their own right.
(Applause.l
Congress in good faith with the
states has no more right to demone-
tie one of these metals than it has to
demOnetize both of them, without the
consent of the states. (Applause.)
1.-THE men who framed this consti-
tuition then proceeded to give it the
construction intended. They gave to
both metals equal dignity, except
to make the dollar of silver and it the
unit of value, in which the value of
gold would be measured, but with
concurrent coinage with silver. They
gave both metals free and unlimited
coinage. Both were given full and
unlimited use in payment of debts.
There was no discrimination made in
the use of the two metals except that
the unit of value was to reside in the
silver dollar and that gold coins were
to be of the value of so many silver
dollars. This is the exact language of
the statute of the men who framed
the constitution and knew the con-
StructiOn that it was intended that it
should have.
"Oaniel Webster said (see Congress
siOnal Globe, appendix, pages 81 to Sc.
Twenty-fOurth congress, second ses-
sion, December 81, 1885,: Gold and
silver is the money Of the constitu-
tiOn. The constitutional standard of
value is established and cannot be
overturned. To Overturn it would
shake the whole system. Gold and
silver at rates fixed by congress con-
Stitute the legal standard of value in
this country, and neither congress nor
any state has any authority to estab-
lish any other standard or dispose Of
this. Long and continued applause
81 now hand Daniel WebSter's
speech to Mr.. Horr."
Mr.. Horr-"The difficulty with my
friend Harvey arises from the fact
that he seems to think that every
thing is trivial which he does not
know anything about. He thinks
that the government of the United
States originated in 1892. l had sup
posed that this government com.
menced on the fourth day Of July
1776.
"In 1881 congress resolved, that the
standard Of the United States of Amer
lea for gold and silver-both together
shall oe 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 resolve of
congress on the 9Th day Of July, 1875,
a dollar shall consist Of fine silver
1854 grains in each silver dollar.
That is the first establishment of
what the unit should consist. Next:
That the money Of account to cores
pond with the division Of coins
agreeable to the above resolve, pro-
coed in a decimal ratio 70 the forms
and manner following, towit-don't
forget it. They were organizing a
system Of money, something that had
never been known on the face of the
globe-making money history. Is
that trivial? Why, it was the most
important act of that age. Why, it
was the basis Of the entire action in
1872"
Mr.. Harvey.-"The straits tc which
the colonies were mt, hetWeen liza