Marble Hill press., 1896-07-30

operators in Europe and America
succeeded in securing the closing
Of the mints Of the United States to
the coinage ofsilver, which, equally
with gold, is named in the constitu
tion as a money metal. Until that
time the miRts Of the. United States
had always been open to the free
and unlimited coinage OF both met
ais on equal terms. Without sug-
gestion from any portion Of the
people, and without notice to them,
without any debate on the sibject
in either house Of congress, or the
slightest reference to this mighty
and far-reaching change in the law,
silver money was struck down in.
the United States by the steaithy
insertion, where il would not be
noticed, of a provision in bill Of:
no general interest, to which it.
was not germane, and which pqr
ported to be mere revision of,the
laws governing the mechanical and
administrative operations Of the
mint.
This perf1ious legislation was
the elimination of years Of effort
on the part of the great money
lending and debt owning class 1t
doubled every debt, by reducing
the value of the property debtor
one half. The worlds total supply
Of each metal being about equal in
coin value, the characterization Of
silver reduced the volume one ha'f,
and doubled the purchasing power
of the remaining half. The quantity
of all money is the measure Of the
valhe of all property, The less the
quantity Of money, the more prop
erty each piece Of money will buy.
These are familiar aXioms, which
| none in good faith deny.
The confscation of one half Of all
property other than money, for the
benefit of those only who deal in
the latter, was not instantaneous.
Values did not fall to one half at
| once; they commenced falling gradu.
ally, and the decline has continued
ever since and is still continuing
Gold is the only property which is
not daily depreciating in value, and
is therefore boarded by its owners
instead Of being invested in the
varied enterprises by which employ,
ment could be given to the millions
now in enforced idleness, and prof
it's to the investors, Business is
| paralyzed, and gloom and discon-
tent prevail to an alarming extent
| Efforts to restore free silve coin
age have only been baffied by TEN.
| porary expedients, which have been
reluctantly supported by free silver
representatives in congress in theil
desire to preserve harmony in theil
respective parties. If they had
acted together on this one question
| Just once, as the advocates Of the
| gold standard have invariably dore
they would have prevailed in 1878
| The Bland-Allison act of that year
restored the legal tender quality
Of the silver dollar, but limited
coinage; the Sherman purchase ac'
Of 1890 increased the amonnt O.
silver to be purchased and coined
but the command to coin it was
construed away, and the accumula
ton IN the treasury Of bullion thu;
caused was given Us the reason fo1
the repeal Of the law, which wa'
accomplished in 1898.
Having removed from the statute
, book the last enactment that provi
ded for the coinage Of any lega
, tender silver money, the enemle
of bimetallism deny the legal tende
quality Of the four hundred ant
thirty millions of silver dollars nov
in existence in the payment ofpub
lie obligations. The secretary o
, the treasury, following the eXampi
t of his immediate predecessor, ant
: with the approval of the president
: refuses to use silver do lars for re
demption purposes, although by Law
, every obligation ofthe government
: is payable either in silver or golc
} at its option.
The operations ofthe treasur.
! are thus as fully based on gold q
though the legal tender quality Q
: the silver dollars had already bee
: abolished by law. We are toll
D that "the endless chain" at th
: treasury department will continu
$ torevolve so Tonga the grecnback