People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1895-03-07

opinion of the attorney general to
Secretary Sherman, April q, 1877, that
all obligations Of the government were
and must be made payable in coin Of
the standard value Of July IA, 1870,
and which by that opinion was con-
strued to include silver as we'll as
gold; and finally the act of July II,
1890, the second section of which ex-
pressly authorized the secretary to re-
deem all notes issued Hereunder in
gold or silver coin at his discretion.
Congressman Hendrix, the New
York bankers representative, here
hastily interposed to remind the soli-
citor that by the same section of that
act, 1t was declared to be the policy
OF the government to maintain the
two dollars at parity with each other
and that the only method by which
such parity could be maintained was
by the payment of the treasury notes
IN the dearer metal. The solicitor i'm
mediately corrected the congressman
by reading the section which referred
to the parity of the metals and not of
the dollars. He also said the parity of
the gold and silver dollars had never
been disturbed, Notwithstanding the
efforts Of the New York clearing house
to do so, that it was clearly absurd to
seek to maintain the parity of two
metals at a given ratio by discarding
one and using the other alone, as the
practice of the past four and a half
years had clearly demonstrated.
But" frantically exclaimed Mr..
Heidelbach, this surprising and out
rageous change Of front will put US on
a silver basis, drive all the gold cut
OF the country and create the worst
panic known to history. Besides l
have guaranteed to my London cor
respondents to deliver them $1,000 900
in gold by the steamer sailing this
week, and cannot get it unless l am
permitted to take it from the treasury.
If fail to secure it my firm is ruined"
The solicitor smiled.
Our refusal to pay silver, coupled
with our cessation Of silver coinage,
has enabled men like yourself to drain
the treasury of its gold and to de-
post it in unprecedented quantities,
which practice you propose to continue
if we allow it. Gold came to US from
1878 to 1892. When your firm, as a
test, presented Sl,O0O,OOO of treasury
notes at the sub-treasury, demanding
gold for them, and got it, you and
others similarly situated Immediately
began the work of gold expectation,
which you have ever since proftably
pursued. The fear of a silver basis is
chimerical, but if it were not, it is bet
ter than an irredeemable paper basis,
to which your conduct is driving the
country. Gold will not leave US if We
pay silver at our discretion, for you
have just admitted that the fulfill
ment Of your present contract is i'm
possible with the doors of the treasury
barred against you. As for panics,
that which you precipitated in 1898
is yet with US, and will remain until
the government is operated in the in
terest Of the nation instead of yours.
Your ruin is not consequence Of any
conduct save your own. Gentlemen,
for the present we shall pay our obi
cations in silver. If you don't like it,
keep the obligations. Everyone save
you is doing that as it is. We have for
months observed that only those who
predict the drain of gold and the indie
finite issue Of bonds are engaged in
securing them from the treasury and
insisting upon additional issues of the
other"
The deputation departed with male
dictions against the administration
and prophecies Of unspeakable disas-
ter. A dozen wagons drove up to the
sub-treasury and departed laden with
silver for Heidelbach & Ikelheimer
but no further demands for redemption
have been made by them or others.
while gold, relieved of its recent
strain, is returning to the treasury.
The first surprise over, public SEN
timent approves the step Mr.. Carlisle
has taken. Men act as if the financial
problem had been adjusted, if not
solved. The situation seems instinc-
lively to remind every one of Horace
Greeley's simple plan for resumption
and to smile at all the schemes of
finance lately so rife in and out of
congress.
! The effect in Washington is won
derful. Democrats shake hands en-
Enthusiastically with each other and do
not hesitate to declare that all differ
ences between themselves are about
to disappear. They are beginning to
warm toward the administration, and
to Mr.. Carlisle especially, to whom all
credit should be given. On the other
hand, the republicans do not attempt
to conceal their ehagrin. Their expec-
tation Of a special session and the