The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-04-17
{ CHARLOTTE MEDIUM INTER
VIEWS GENERAL JACKSON.

mort of its cause, has betaken itself to
the skies. Our neighbor has become u
convert to the doctrine Of spiritualism
and has taken a medium" into its
employment whether regular or occa-
sional, remains to be seen.
The medium appears to be on fami-
liar terms. with ex-President Jackson,
and interviews him with reference to
the present condition of affairs in this
country. The General, though not
well posted in regard to events Of re-
cent Years, appears TO have preserved
files of his messages, the reports OF
| lis secretaries, and the proceedings OF
Congress. and he quotes these docu-
ments extensively. They strongly de-
fend bi-metallic currency and dis
| play all Of the old hero's bitter oppo-
sition to bank bills. Yet the medium
employed by our esteemed contem-
Dorarv would torture these sound
financial views of President jackson
into the service of gold nonometallism.
In the very first sentence quoted by
the ex-President, in addressing the
medium, this sentiment appears. 1t is
taken from his annual message of De-
cember 6, 1886. or should be 1884, as
follows:
at is apparent from the whole con-
text of the Constitution, as well as the
history of the times which gave birth
to it. that it was the purpose OF the
convention to establish currency con-
sisting of the precious metals"
The "precious metals" mean gold
and silver, and not merely gold.
The production Of gold in the world
had fallen behind that of silver, and
the effect was to drive gold out of cir
culation, although the difference in the
value of the two metals was compare
lively slight. The President and Con-
gress agreed in the policy Of bringing
them to an equality by a slight change
in the ratio, which was then is to 4.
The adjustment was effected, not as
is now proposed. BY the gold mono
metallists, by nearly doubling the
amount of silver i'm the dollar, but on
the contrary, by reducing the amount
Of pure metal in the gold dollar The
original act Of Congress for the estab-
lishment of the mint, and for fixing
the amount Of gold in the eagle, or
ten dollar coin, provided that it should
contain 247 and 4-sths grains of pure
gold, or 40 grains of what was and
still is called standard gold, or gold
bullion derived from melting up old
current foreign coin. This original act
was passed by Congress in. 1892.
The act of 1884 rectified the inequali-
ty between gold and silver BY providing
that the gold eagle should contain 232
grains Of pure gold, or 25s grains Of
standard gold. Halves, quarters. etc,
were to contain like proportions Of the
metal under both acts.
1t il thus seen that the gold dollar
was adjusted to the silver dollar by
reducing its value and not the silver
to the gold.
The production Of gold and silver at
the mines Of the world being now. as
the government reports show, about
on the ratio of 16 to !, the remonetiza-
ton of silver would itself restore tie
parity. But if the act Of 1884, appealed
to by our contemporary, is d precedent
at all, it would not be a precedent for
the characterization Of silyer3 it is SIM
ply a precedent for restoring the parity
by reducing the weight Of the gold
coin.
We have already quoted the annual
message OF President Jackson dated,
according to the medium. December
9Th, 1896; and further on. we find an
other annual message dated December
~, 1886. AS the world wags here be-
low Presidents never issue two annual
messages during the same year and
month, however, it may be in other
spheres. we conclude, therefore, that
the date of the first message should
have been 1884; for we have not con-
suited the records. The message of
December IL, at any rate, contains a
very interesting table, which Presi-
dent Jackson seems to have taken with
him, if the medium can be relied on.
The.purpose of this table is to show
the amount Of currency in circulation
at different periods in the United
States, England and France, in proper
ton to population. The table may
have been warped in transit, but the
surprising thing about it is the inti-
mate acquaintance displayed by Gen.
Jackson with the recent events of
American and European history; and
..5a gl,o,tId xk-onda4. lose AZ hfc s4afia4iaaI