The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-01-17
THE GOLD CURE HUMBUG.


THE GOLD CURE HUMBUG.
The 500 ,O0O, 900 gold reserve is not a
provision of law, but only a precedent
established by John sherman, when he
was SecretaryIof the Treasury under Pres
ident Hayes. There was no law for 1t
then, and there is no law for 1t now.
Neither is there any security in 1t.
When the volume of paper money issued
and in circulation is considered it is easy
for any person of ordinary sense and in
telligence to understand how inadequate
that 500, ,0O0, 900 would be for purposes
of redemption, should any considerable
number of bill holders demand their
gold.
The paper money issued by the Gov.
ernment, and now outstanding, consists
Of
Greenbacks s3l6 6Sl ,0l6
Treasury notes (nct July II, lS9O,.... l5OsZ3,73l
Gold certificates. os.........."......"..." 6342O,S69
Silver certificates. 33b9A,5Oi
National bank EUooUp,i ~
Currency 4Sbso,OOO
1t does not take much of fnancier or
an adept in figures to arrive at the con.
clusion that you can not redeem 81 49,
15O, $3.50 with 500, 100000. Even an or.
binary Congressman, from the piney
woods of Maine, ought to understand
that.
We have recently issued 100000, 600
of new gold bonds, upon which the al.
ready overburdened tax payers of this
country are paying interest, and that
gold has disappeared; with no benefit to
any one in this country outside of the
New York bond syndicate and importers.
Senator Dubois, in speech just de.
livered in the Senate, well and truly
says:
"Gold is carrying burden now greater
than it can bear, and the more money
issued while we hold to the gold stan.
dard aggravates toe situation. We have
no gold to speak Of, and when we get any
cannot keep it. 1t is rare thing to come
across gold in circulation. very serious
ly doubt if there is $3.50, 100000 of gold
in the country. As l said before, the
burden upon gold is too great and we
should enlarge the basis Of our currency
by adding silver to it. To be sure, the
strain could be somewhat relieved
by retiring the greenbacks and
selling large blocks of gold bonds. |
hardly think, however, that any party
or that many Senators would seriously
propose to so seriously contract the cur
renCy while, at the same time, they
fasten great interest-bearing debt upon
the people. Propositions to coin
500, ,OO0, 900 Of silver per year, or to coin
the seigniUrage or the silver bullion in
the treasury, have no true merit, and do
not meet the situation nor can they be
enacted into law. We have tried eX-
periments of this kind and know in ad-
vance that they will result III failure.
The needs of the country require a con.
Stantly increasing currency, and this can
only be had safely by enlaging the basis
of money of ultimate redemption.
| sincerely believe that four tifths of the
members of this body ConsCientiously
believe that there will be no permanent
prosperity in this country until the basis
Of our currency is broadened. l believe
they would be glad to witness the re-
turn to the free and unlimited coinage
of silver as well as gold. a great many
Senators on this tloOr-I thing maiority
are fully convinced that there can be
no substantial relief without the unlim.
tied coinage of silver. and it is my inn
preston that no financial measure will
pass the Senate during this or the next
Congress, at any rate, which does not
fully recognize silver"
From the best information obtainable,
from all sources, Senator Dubois is cor
rect in his estimate of the situation.
Our readers will all remember that we
advocated clause in the repeal bill,
which repealed the Sherman silver law,
providing for silver coinage on the same
basis with gold. Had that been done
business would have revived immedi-
ately; confidence would have been re-
stored, because the business world would
have understood that prices had passed
the lowest point, and would improve
with the widening of our money basis.
Labor would have been emp Dyed gen.
erously all over the country, and the
doleful business ear through which we
have just passed would have been a year
of renewed hope and confidence TO the
business and industrial classes.
There would have been no necessity
for any bond issues whatever, because
the revival of industry and commerce
would have restored the government
revenues.
1t seems to lis that, after the terrible ex-
perience with the "gold cure" we ought
to fall back on some Of the old school
Democratic doctors.