The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1895-04-10
NOW SILVER WAS "STRUCK
DOWN"

the act Of February ~, 1878, 'struck
down silver" "TIow," il asks, could
little clause in an obscure bill which the
President who signed it did not observe,
and which Roscoe Conkling and many
other Senators declared they did not
notice, strike down silver? "Our laws"
the Press insists, "have no such po-
tency !" and then it repeats the often
repeated statement that American
coinage OF silver up TO 1873 had been so
Insignificant that really there was little
or no silver TO strike down." While
most unfair, these declarations may
have some peril for uniformed persons;
and they are noteworthy, also, because
they contain some important admissions
OF fact.
1t is Of no small significance that this
advocate OF the gold standard confesses
that the clause OF the act of 1873 demon
citing silver was obscure, and that the
Senators who voted for the bill and the
President who signed it did not notice
that silver was thus discarded. Hitherto
the gold advocates have agreed in in
sisting that the notwithstanding clauses
OF the bill were discussed for three years
under circumstances Of the largest pub
licity. But it is indeed true, as the
Press declares, that there was so little
knowledge Of the nature and purposes Of
the bill that the public men who APP
proved it were astonished when they
learned what revolutionary processes it
had authorized. The reason for this
ignorance, the cause of this obscurity,
have never been fully explained; nor
can they be, perhaps, unless the persons
who contrived the whole performance
are still alive and subject to those i'm
pulses Of a guilty conscience which
sometimes force men to make frank
confession of their o6enses. 1t may
with much confidence be suggested that
the bill, as ii was finally placed upon the
statute books, was really not the bill that
passed Congress and the proceeding by
which the change was effected may
possibly have been described accurately
by the word employed for that purpose
by Senator Allison who, on February 10,
1878, declared it had been "doctored."
1t cannot be questioned, we suppose,
that little clause in an obscure bill"
might Strike down silver" as effectively
as great clause in a bill that was not
obscure. What the bill in question as.
surelly did was this From 1892 to 1898,
the silver dollar, containing 37li grains
of fine silver, was the only lawful unit
of value" in the United States. But,
during the whole of that long period,
gold and silver had exactly equal rights
at the minis, enjoying together practi-
cally free coinage; and both, therefore,
occupied the position Of standard money,
measuring and defining the values Of all
other things. The act of February ~,
1873, threw down the silver dollar as the
lawful unit of value" and, for the first
time in American history, made the
gold dollar the lawful unit. While that
act continued to gold its old privilege OF
free coinage, it denied to silver the right
to be coined upon any terms or in any
quantity. This was revolutionary action,
overthrowing the uniform practice and
completely reversing the ancient prece-
dents Would it be possible to conceive
of any proceeding which could more
efectually have "struck down silver?
What course Of action pursued by any
one hostile to that metal could have
procured with greater approach TO GER
tainty the desired result Of the demon
citation OF one Of the two precious
metals
Whether we had coined much or little
silver in this country prior to 1873 is a
matter OF no importance in considering
the subject. 1t would be enough TO say
that had silver not been demonetized at
that or any other time the people would
have obtained the benefits of the subse-
quent large production Of silver in our
Western territory. No man who has
studied the subject with an open mind
can doubt that we could have maintained
the two metals at parity under such
circumstances. Observe these figures
representing the comparative production
of the two metals in four different per-
iOds:
l702-lSis. twice as much silver as
gold was produced.
lSl0-lS62. One third as much silver
as gold was produced.
lsG2-lS73. Twice as much gold as
silver was produced.
lS73-ls02. One-fourth more silver
than gold was produced.
During the first three periods, with
one metal or the other largely in excess,
the two metals without difficulty were
kept at or near to par. Is it not most
reasonable to believe that, in the fourth
period, when silver was but slightly in
excess, the same relationship could have
been maintained il the same conditions
under the law and at the minis had
been permitted TO continue? Moreover,
II must be noted as OF high importance
that ilyer-demonetizatio was not con,
fined TO this country. Following our
evil example, Germany and the nations
of the Latin Union and other European
nations proceeded to discredit silver.
Thus the blow struck at that metal was
- .s,.,aI .narai., 10 an Nohaourau