The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1896-09-03
GRElINBACKS.


Treasury notes issued under the act .
1890 arc responsible for tho recen
drain upon the gold reserve, but thi
assumption is entirely without founda
tion. Secretary Carlisle appeared
before tho House Committee on Ap
preparations on January II, 1895, ant
i quote from the printed report Of hi
testimony before the committees
"Mr. Sibley-I would like to asl
you (perhaps not entirely connected
with the matter under discussion) wha
objection there could be TO having tho
option Of redecming either in silver on
the note holder?
Secretary Carlisle-If that policy
had been adopted at the beginning c
reSumption--and | am not saying this
for the purpose of criticising the action
OF any Of my predecessors or anybody
eise-but if the policy had been adopt.
Cd of reserving TO the Government at
the beginning of resumption the option
Of rcdceming in gold or silver all its
paper presented, | believe it would
have worked boneGcially, ana there
would have been no trouble growing
out Of it, but the Secretaries of the
Treasury from the beginning OF re-
sumption have pursued q policy OF re-
docming in gold or silver at the option
Of the holdCr Of the paper, and after
wards attempted to change that policy
| and force silver upon u man who want
| cd gold or gold upon man who wanted
silver, and especially if he had made.
that attempt AT such 4 critical period
rs we have had in the last two years,
my Judgment is it would have been
very disastrous.
| don't agree with the Secretary
| that it was wise to follow a bad pre-
ccdcnt, but from his answer it will be
seen that the fault does not lie witt!
the grccnbacks and Treasury notes,
but rather with the executive officers,
who have seen fit to surrender Il right
which should have been exercised for
the protection Of the interests Of the
people. This executive action has
already been made the excuse for the
| issue OF more than $3.50, 900, 900 in
bonds, and it is impossible to estimate
the amount Of bonds which may here
| aftcr bo issued if this policy is con-
tinucd. We arc told that any attempt
upon the part Of the Government at
| this time to redeem is obligations in
silver would put premium upon gold.
but why should it' The Bank of
France exercises the right to redeem
all bank paper in either gold or silver,
and yet France maintains the parity
hntwecn gold and silver at the ratio OF
l5i TO |, and retains in circulation more
silver per capita than we do in the
United States.
1T may be further answered that cur
opponents have suggested no feasible
| pan for avoiding the dangers which
| they lear. The retirement Of the
grccnbacks and treasury notes would
not protect The Treasury, because the
! Sl N.Y. m IN w In i1N lnn de- h.,S
tary OF the Treasury to redeem all
Government paper in gold, when gold
is demanded, will require the redemp-
tion Of all silver dollars and silver Ger
tificatcs in gold If the grecnbacks and
treasury notes are withdrawn from cir
culation. More than this, If the Gov
ernmcnt should retire its paper and
throw upon the hanks the necessity Of
furnishing coin redemption, the banks
would exercise the right to furnish
either gold or silver. In other words,
they would exercise tho option, just
as tho Government ought to exercise, it
now. The Government must either
exercise tho right to redeem its obli-
cations in silver when silver is more
convenient, or it must retire all the
| silver and silver certificates from cir
culation and leave nothing but gold as
legal tcn0cr money. Are our opponents
willing to outline a financial system
which will carry out their policy to its
Legitimate conclusion or will they con-
tinue to cloak their designs in ambi-
guous phrases?
CLAIMS FOR HiMETALL1SM.
There IS an actual necessity for
bimctallism as well as a theoretical
defense of it, During the last twenty
three years Legislation has been GREAT
ing an additional demand for gold, and
this law created demand has resulted
in increasing the purchasing power OF
each ounce Of gold. The restoration
Of bimetnllism in the United States
will take away from gold just so much
OF It's purchasing power as was added
to it by the decentralization of silvor
by the United States. The silver dol.
lar is now held np to the gold dollar by
legal tender laws, and not by redcmp.
ton in gold, because the standard
silver dollars are not now redccmable
in gold either by law or administrative
policy.
Wo contend that free and unlimited
coinage by the United States alone
will raise the bullion value Of silvor
to its coinage value, and thus make
silver bullion worth 81 20 per ounce in
gold throughout the world. This pro,
position Is IN Keeping with natural
laws, not in defiance Of them. The
best known law OF commerce is the
law OF supply and demand. We rec
ognizn this law and build our argu-
mcnt upon it. We apply this law to
money when we say that reduction
in the volume Of money will raise the
purchasing power Of the dollar; VIC
also apply the law Of supply and de-
mand TO silver when We say that Il new
demand for silver erected by law will
raise the prico Of silver bullion. Cold
and silver are different from Otnct
commodities in that they are limited
in quantity. Corn, wheat, manu-.
facturcd products, etc, can be produc
ed almost without limit provided they
can be sold at II price sufficient tG
stimulate production, but gold and
silver are called precious metals be
cause they arc found--not produced
These metals lave been the objects o
anxious search us far back az history
runs, yet according to Mr.. Harvey:
calculation, AL the gold coin Of tn,
. world can be melted into twenty-five
, foot cube and all the silver coin in tho
world into Il sixtV-siX- foot cube. Be