Omaha daily bee., 1895-11-10


| Of II what Is called the Bland Allison act.
which required the purchase by the governs
ment OF silver bullion at It's market value
ana IT'S coinage 20 a limited amount. Every
ehort has been made from that time 10 this
10 nave the congress II the United states
pass a free coinage act. VI this IS done IL
VIII be TO secure a cheaper dollar OF Less
purchasing power, with the view to enable
debtors to pay debts contracted on the basis
OF gold coin with silver coins worth, with
free coinage, less than ono-hslf Of gold coin.
In reviewing, at this distance II time,
the legislation Of 1873, In respect TO the
coinage Of silver, | am Of the opinion that
IL was fortunate that the United states then
dropped the coinage Of the old silver dollar.
No one then contemplated the enormous
yield Of silver from the mines and the re-
sulting fall In the market value OF silver,
but, acting upon the experience of the past
that a parity between silver and gold could
not be maintained at any fixed ratio, con-
gress adopted gold as the standard of value
and coined silver as q subsidiary coin, to be
received and maintained at n parity with
gold, but only a legal tender for small sums.
This was the principle adopted in the Hetu'
1858, when silver was more valuable tlpn
gold at the legal ratio. silver was not th7n
coined into dollars, because II was tbh
worth more as bullion than as coin. IL VS.
needed for change, and, under the law .OI
1858, it was furnished In abundance. Sh'ar
laws are now in force In all countries WI rn
gold is the sole standard. Under these Nv
a larger amount of silver is employed Hs
subsidiary coins than when the coinage Il
silver was free.
THE same condition of coinage now exl STE
in the United States. While silver Is .rn-
duced in market value nearly onc-half, silver
coins are maintained at par with gold at the
old ratio by the fiat Of the government. II
is true that the purchase Of silver under re-
cent laws involved a heavy loss to the gov
eminent, but the free coinage Of silver under
the ratio Of Is to l would exclude gold from
our currency, detach the United States from
the monetary standard Of all the chief COM
morCial nations of the world and change ali
existing contracts hstween individuals and
with the government. In view Of these re-
suits certain to com" from the free coinage
of silver, | am convinced that until some
international agreement can be made the pres
ent system of coinage should continue in
force
Referring to the feuds and jealouslcs OF
Grants administration and the scandals con-
neCted with the presidents name, Mr.. Sher-
man says: 'IIe was charged with being in
a whisky ring and with other offensive inn
putations, all of which were without the
slightest foundation. General Grant was, in
every sense Of the word, an honest man. lie
was SO honest that he did not suspect others.
and, no doubt, Conided in and was friendly
with those who abused his confidence. 1t
was a period of Islander and scandal"
Senator Sharman's first intention was to
publish a selection of his speeches, but after
some influence brought upon him by his
friends he decided to write his recollections
of his long and illustrious political career.
The thea'er is the thermometer OF the
financial condition Of the country. The mil
l~ionaires occupy the boxes, no matter
whether times are hard or soft, but any one
taking the trouble to watch the first and
second balconies during the course Z. the
run of a fairly successful play can gauge
with considerable accuracy the state of things
financially with the middle and the lower
classes of the public-and it is they, Of
course. that contribute the bulk of the money
to the box office.
An air line train while going nearly fifty
miles an hour struck a little girl near North
ford, Conn, recently. When the train pulled
back the engineer found that the girl, whom
he had seen thrown in the air, was able to