The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-04-15
JEFFERSON OK MONEY.


The speech OF Massachusetts most
gifted son, William f. Russell. given
in full in these columns. may weh be
termed the great Grafton of the year.
| Mr.. Russell is a leader Of thought the
brainest. the biggest, the honestest
public man in New England. What
ever he says is worth reading and re-
reading. Upon the money question he
holds to the position maintained by
Mr.. Cleveland, and in a few paragraphs
touched on his position in his Grafton
at Monticello. We were glad to give
our readers Gov. RusseIl's exposition,
for he is an honest man who speaks
his convictions, and has never learned
how to straddle.
There was another orator at Month
cello, John W. Daniel, the most elo-
quent of SoutheIners, who had learned
| the gospel of Democracy almost in the
very shadow of Jeffersons nome. His
| tribute to jefferson was glowing
apostrophe of the foremost man Of all
the earth since Caesar We may make
extracts later on from his Grafton. To-
day we give his short reply to Gov.
Russell's brief argument in which tie
Massachusetts man sought to class
jefferson with the gold bugs. Soma
tor Daniel said:
Il admired SO much the speech OF
our accomplished friend from AIassa-
| chusetts, that / dislike to dissent from
him in anything. But he was truly
| Teffersonian when he said, Let us
| through discussion find the truth and
| bravely assert it.. Joining hands with
him in that, my candor shall be equal
| to his own. The secret Of Jefferson's
power and leadership he says, was
his steadfast devotion to principle but
| must be excused if / fail to see the
application of the statement to this
summons to us to abandon the bimetal-
lie money system which Jefferson him
self helped to establish Our party
solemnly and unanimously declared in
National convention four wears ago
that we hold to the use Of both gold
and silver as the standard money Of
the country, and to the coinage of both
gold and silver without discriminating
against either metal or charge for
mintage; but the dollar unit OF both
metals must be of equal intrinsic and
exchangeabie value" and it would
| seem to me that il we had the stead
fast devotion to principle which was
so conlmendable in Jefferson, we would
hold to this principle, and not let it go
at the behest of American Insurers and
British bondholders and European
kings
II fully concur with the Governor,
that Jefferson would never have made
an issue between Colorado and Wall
street, or between a debtor and credi-
tor class, or upon any geographical de
vision, but may ! not remind you that
it was our Republican party foes and
neither Jefferson nor the party of
Jefferson that did that very thing in
1873, in stripping silver Of its equal
coinage right with gold: that it was
Wall street and Lombard street that
were the aggressors, not Colorado, nor
the West: not the debtor class. May
/ not suggest that it was the creditor
class that led the assault to make sil-
YER debts payable in gold, TO the de-
triment Of the American silver mines,
to the detriment of the Australian and
South African gold mines Of Great
Britain, and to the heaping up Of bur-
den on taxpayers. debtors, and the
common people. May I not point out
that in 1873 the Democrats helped
partially to restore silver in the Bland
Allison act OF 1873. and have tried for
twenty-five years for its full restora-
| ton? Neither my distinguished
| friend nor any one else can demand
more firmly than / that The honor and
| credit of this county be respected
with scrupu1ous fidelity to the plight
| ed words, but when / read The plight
| ed words God and silver in the Con-
| stitution of the land when I have
sworn to support, and read the word
| coin ia the public contracts which
| I am honor bound to observe, may not
r believe mine own eyes and declare
| that sscrupulous fidelity would say
and pay gold and silver and COIN
| which Is unfortunately either as
| promised. and not construe The words
| gold and silver or the word COIN as
meaning gold only
virginia made the Spanish silver
dollar her standard of value as long
| ago as 1645. and the United States made
| the American silver dollar its unit
Of coinage in 1893. Every silver dollar
| Of to-day is just the same that it was
a hundred years ago, and we afe not
| so incumbered with slirplusage Of
dollars of any kind in any part Of the
| land that have visited as TO need use
OF articles of law to get rid of item"
/