Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1895-05-23
ON V

6Ao Dl1S Gu wv ~" 1SJ -
it is a common thing to hear adj
yscates of unlimited silver coin
age declare that they are follow
ers of Thomas Jefferson and that
all who oppose them assail the
precepts of the founder Of the
Democratic party.
The best evidence on this
question is to be found in Jeffer-
sons own expression Of his cur
rency views.
In his Notes on the establish
ment Of a money unit and of a
coinage for the United States"
that i~llustrious man declared that
1.-The proportion between the
value Of gold and silveris a mer-
camille problem altogether" AT
ter investigation he concluded
that the correct proportion be-
tween the two metals at that
time, based on their market value
was Is to /. When Robert Nor
ris convinced him that this pro-
portion was not correct he said,
Il recede from that idea" JEFF
ferson said: Just principles
will lead US to disregard legal
propositions altogether, to in
quire into the market price Of
gold in the several counties with
which we shall be connected IN
commerce, and to take the aver
age from them" If Jefferson
were living now he would there
fore favor a ratio Of 80 to l and
would be denounced by the ad-
vocates Of unlimited silver coin
age at Is to 1 as a "gold-bug,"
a tool of Wall street." a Shy
lock" and "a tory"
Jefferson believed and taught
that we should enquire into the
market price of gold in the ma
tons with which we shall he
principally connected in COM
merce'' and fix the basis of our
currency accordingly. The I'M
limited silver coinage men tell US
that we should go it alone" and
that it is unworthy of true Amer
lean citizens to consider the fin
ancial policy other nations have
or will adopt. What a coward
Jefferson was! How he did truckle
to England! If he had been a
true American he would have
snapped his fingers at Europe.
Jefferson would hardly endorse
either the theory Of the silver
monometalliststhat debts should
be paid in the same amount of
produce that would have brought
the amount of the debt at the
time it was contracted. In 1888,
writing from Paris to his agent
in Virginia he instructed him to
take no more tobacco rents from
his estate. He said he must have
money, because be saw mo pro-
spect that the European market
for tobacco would improve" The
price of tobacco was liable to fall
and Jefferson wanted his pay in
hard money.
If President Cleveland should
write such a letter now as Jeffer-
son wrote in 1888 the silver
monometallists would exhaust
the catalogue Of epithets and
empty all the pitfalls Of wrath in
their denunciation Of him as a
traitor to Jeffersonian Democra-
cy. There never was a more
determined foe of a debased cur,
rency than Thomas Jefferson.
He never wrote or uttered one
word which does not condemn
the principle now proclaimed by
the silver monometallists.
A day or two ago we published
Samuel J. Tilden's condemnation
of their theories. Afterwards We
gave an extract from the master
ly report of Daniel Manning as
Secretary of the Treasury il
1886 which declares that nc
party or administration car
survive or deserve to survive
in this country which woul(
favor a silver basis for cur
rency and that unlimited silver
coinage mean a silver basis. w
now give Jefferson's opinion tina
legal ratios cannot establish OF
maintain the relative value o.
gold and silver.
The Democratic party ha:
never followed any leader who
advocated or sanctioned the prin
ciples of silver monometallisn
and it never will.
THE visit of Colonel Avery
Foreign Commissioners of The
Atlanta Exposition, to Mexico
has been successful. The Mexican