The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1896-10-30

Mr.. shive1y In Congress.
On June, O, 1890. in the house Of rep
rcsenta'ives Mr.. Shively discussed silve
restora, on rs follows:
"How ever prcjudicial TO the supply o
Q sufficient and sound currency our pres
ent law with its limitation on silve
coinage may be. il is infinitely superio
from the standpoint of sound finance
the pubic credit. and the commercial
interest of the country Ia the law tina
would sapplant it should the committee
bill or tie caucus bill be placed on thu
statute ,ok. True. the venerable and
familiar prophecy comes 10 us agar
frcm thc treasury department. Th'
alarm is again sounded, and the rec
lights n again flashed athwart oul
purblind light. But the vast majority
IF the Al. erican people persist in accept
ing the hard. plain. demonstrated facts
in prefer zee to the oft repeated, and Il
this hour Utterly unfulfilled and doubly
discrrditc prophecy. Gentlemen easily
recall the torn of lurid predictions and
the iod Of awful forebodings which
were turned loose on congress and the
country IL 1878 during the pcndency OF
the RECOMMENDATION bill. We were told
10 conceive II we could of the panics OF
1887, 1857 and 1873 all combined. and
yet such combination would be but a
gentle zephyr compared with the tor.
nado which would sweep over the coun-
t-'y If I'll silver dollar were reinstated
In our monetary system. We Were told
that goi would Instantly leave the
country. that our national credit would
be everywhere discounted and that in
dustrial enterprise would be utterly
raralyzed
''Despit all the learned and disinter-
ested adv &C. the earnest and patriotic
counsel, and the generous warnings
and friendly menaces of the frantic
idolators of recommendation. the friends
of the silv collar in congress persisted
and finally established its limited coin
age over tie veto of the president Ii
is needless to remind those gloomy
prophets how utterly mistaken they
We're. Suffice it TO sag that the storm
OF bankruo tcy did not burst upon the
country. ,)n the contrary. with even IA
partial restoration of silver coinage and
the consequent addition of over s., 900.
300 per mt.ith to our depleted volume
Of circulating medium. prices and wages
took an upward movement. gold ac-
cumulated in the country i'll amount
never with ssed before, productive en-
terprises revived. boarded money sought
investment IN active business, substan-
tial reductions were made for the first
time in IL years i'll the public debt, and
the country entered on an era Of COM
parative prosperity. So overw n elmin9-
ly, from ev ry point of view consistent
with the honor and welfare Of the
country. h. the logic If events vindi-
Gated the j. 'lgment Of the friends of the
silver dolii.C IN 1873 that even the pres
ent secret: ~ OF the treasury in his last
report preinccs his reiteration of the
st.nCard ANAL prophecy, and his as
sault on tie present coinage of silver,
with the flank admission that thus far
all adverse pied ctions have failed of
fulfillment In short. the fact becomes
more emphatic the more the question is
investigate, that nothing in the history
Of recent silver coinage. nor in the pres
ent franc al situation. nor in the cal
endar Of Probabilities for the future
suggests single sound reason why we
should even temporarily stop the coin
age OF the silver dollar. Applause.
But the secretary Of the treasury. the
maj rity of the committee on coinage,
weights and measures, and the caucus
have opened up the whole question by
submitting proposition which every
body adm - must close our minis
against free coinage for an indefinite
time, and the minority of the committee
very prope-'y meet this assault with
plain prop sit.on to restore the free coin.
age Of silver AT the ratio Of 10 to | of
gold AS il existed prior to 1873. 1t is
Ia repeal the legislation which
first struck silver from our circulation,
and therea ter limited it's coinage. and
by these b 'stiie acts reduced its Price
and restor' free coinage of silver as we
now have free coinage Of gold. The
hackneyed objection and al
ways inserted argument that the silver
in the dollar is worth only ~ cents has
already been met. With given object
10 the sta idard of weight all other Oh.
jects NUT be- either equal to, less, or
greater in weight.
lin other words the standard of
weight. on If size. or Of valuei is always in
the very natureo f things equal TO itself
while all ether things vary as measured
by such Standard.
"Silver "c,ng dnmonetizad in 1873, the
STANDARD was destroyed. gold
was mace the exclusive standard Of
silver was reduced to mere
and AS the war on silver
tine disparity Of price between
n given aut unit of the two metals as
measured exclusively by gold increased.
When we reflect that philippic after
philippe has been pronounced by the
treasury department annually for l2l
years against silver, that the discretion
lodged IN the secretary of the treasury
by the act Of 1878 has been invariably.
harshly. and infinxibly exercised in dis
examination against silver by holding
ITS coinage down to the minimum Of
42,OVO.OOO instead of an occasional COIN
age of the maxim Jun Of Al. 600 600 worth