Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1895-02-08


that OF silver, or rather tlcy have
remained Oh II level with silver,
while gold has been steadily ris
ing above them I'LL. This upprrci-
a.ion OF gold, requiring double the
amount Of the farmers prodncn to
buy it is the direct and legitimate
result of the Republican legislation
Of February eth, 1873.
Debts for which gold is promised
should he paid in gold, and provi.
llSion should I've made for this, but
the people should not he saddlrd
with more obligations Of this sort,
which are daily getting harder to
pay.
If y promises Il SlOG which he
can pay by selling two COWS, and
( the payment Of the debt, when due,
requires the sale of three or four
COWS, a has paid b more than he
owed him. If, however, the debt
can he paid with two cows, a and
Il are on equal footing. If, after
the debt is contracted, b wiliullv
brings about the state of affairs in
which it is necessary for A to acll
four cows instead of two, b is "a
thief.
The public debt Of tho United
States was contracted with currrn.
cy on IL bi-mctalic basis, and prices
good. After the debt was incnr
red, he foundation of our money
system was cut in half by the d., =.
monitization of silver, prices Of all
things Salahle have followed, willie |
the part Of This debt remaining I'M, |
paid is nominally the same, it is
twice as hard To pay, and, consr-
Quently, is twice as great debt.
Was The party perpetrating this
fraud upon the people any more
honest than was b in our illuStra-
ton above in his dealings with 4 2
| COMMENTS on Clevcland'S mes
sage indicate that the portion of il
referring to the retirement of legal
tenders has been overlooked. He
says:
Objection has been made to tho iAsu.
ance of interest bearing bonds for the
purpose of retiring tho interest bearing
legal tender notes. In point of fact
! however, these notes have burdcned lis
with large load of interest and it liz
still accommodating. Tho aggregate in
| terest on the original issue Of bonds, the
proceeds of which in gold constituted
the reserve for the payment of these
notes, amounted to $40. 1870, 100 on Jan.
|, 1905, and tho annual charge for inter-
est Oh these bonds and those issued for
the same purpose during the last year
will be 20, l45, 00C, dating from Jan. I,
1895. While the cancellation of these
notes would not relieve us from the OBJ
legations already incurred on their ac-
count, these figures are given by way of
suggesting that their existence has not
been free from interest charges and that
the longer they are outstanding, judg-
ing from the experience Of the last wear,
the more expensive th"y will become.
In brief, while the notes them
selves do not bear interest, it is
through them that the gold has
been drawn from The Treasury aud
the two issues OF s50,0UO,0 900 of
bonds made necessary. Z he notes
are taken to the Treasury, paid in
gold, reissued, again taken TO the
Treasury and paid in gold, reissu
ed, and the whole process repeated
al minimum. So much for the
bond issue.
On the other hal.d, the charges
made by the gold men that the sill.
yer men desire to reduce The com.
try to a silver basis and settle out.
standing obligations wholly in sill
vtr, we believe TO be equally in.
correct. We can not think that
even the most radical silver advo.
cate wishes to pay in one metal
what his government has promised
to pay in another.
Neither Mr.. Cleveland's nor tho
defeated Carlisle bill are incom
patible with the free coinage of
silver, and the opposition toit OF
the friends Of silver arises from
their fear that silver will not be
provided for, which bcliefis jnsti-
fed by the past history Of finan-