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

"What Mr. Jefferson recommended
for the unit was adopted and the stat
ute so reads and the gold coins are
valued in that silver unit, and Ham,
ilton's suggestion for two units, a
gold unit aud a silver unit, was not
accepted by congress and only'a silver
unit was provided for in the act of
1872"
Mr.. HOrr-'Now all this talk of
Mr.. Harvey's is Of little Importance,
so far as / am concerned. What | say
is that when they passed that law
they intended to establish bimetal-
lism in the United States. They did
fix the silver dollar as a unit of value,
there is no doubt about it. And they
also fixed Of what the gold coinage
consisted, and there was number of
units and then they defined the ratio
between the two metals; consequently
when they fixed the ratio Is silver to
gold there were two standards, gold
standard and a silver standard. We
did not use the gold standard up to-
1884 at all. You can pass a law as
to standard and the people can an
null it in spite of all the statutes in
the world. The people adept the cur
rency they wish to use, and you can
not legislate them out 'of the habit,
either. They undervalued gold. The
gold dollar was worth more under the
first mintlge than the silver dollar,
consequently We did have, and he is
right about it, the silver standard in
this country up to 1884. Legally
man could pay any debt by rendering
the ten units of value in the gold coin,
but people did not tender it because
the silver dollar was the cheapest;
they could get ten silver dollars for
less labor, less everything, than they
could for gold, consequently the gold
left the country"
Mr.. Harvey-'1 want to call attenr
tion to the fact that for several years
our side has claimed that silver was
fixed in 1892 as the unit of value, con-
tinuing to 1873; as strenuously denied
by the other side; denied by the other
side to such an extent that they went
! to the trouble in this city of getting
an ex-judge, an associate of bankers,
to render an ex-parte opinion that
silver was not fixed by the act of 1892
as the unit of values, and telegraphed
that opinion all over the country, and
it was reported in the newspapers edi-
tOrially all over the country, and a
professor in university that is built
with a money lenders capital, wrote
articles published in the 1imes-Her-
aid denying that silver was made the
unit of yahe in 1892, and these artf
Giles were copied in the paperFall over
the country. And now we come face.
to face with the other side, where
they do not dare to mislead; and in,
the first joint debate on this question
in this controversy they are forced by
the truth to admit that 37lt grains
of silver was fixed as the unit of value.
Loud applause.l By the act of 1872,
and remained such to 1873"
Mr.. HOrr-"Who is admitting
that?n
Mr.. Harvey-"The reading of the
debate this far will show that Mr..
Horr has admitted it.
"Now, why was silver made the unit
of value by that act? This was to be-
a government of the people, with it's
organic laws, its financial policy
and It's statute laws intended to pre-
mote the interest Of the many, the
poorer people, who used it. How did
they favor it? They made it the
unit-the thing in which gold was to
be valued.
"The silver coins were not to be re-
coined or changed -silver-the peo-
pies money-would be treated as sac.
red. The unit would Re undisturbed.
This was the Intention Of those who
framed our republic government and
our financial laws, To call in the sill
yer coins to recon them, would be a
serious interference with the business
of the people. To recon the goldI
coins would not to any great extent
disturb the middle and lower classes
who seldom handle them. The peo-
pies money was to control the rich
mans money. This was as it should
be. This was intended to be the
financial system of our republic, insti-
tuted to resist the influences of the
monarohies of the old world"
Mr.. IIorr-"I want to say that the
question of the unit | have not dis
posed of today. l am not through
with it, and as he has taken so much
time l want to give a word as to why
they recsined the gold instead Of the
silver. The reason was because we
were on silver basis and they did
not intend to disturb the relation of