Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1896-08-13
TIE FREE COINAGE OF SILVER.

IOintS tit uulg Vi an hlltTltu1 tltiNtnv
have watched with increasing appre
hcnsion the legislation of Congress in re-
lation to the coinage of silver, and from
the very first have deplorcd and opposed
| the false position assumed by the govern
mcnt, in 1878, for the first time in its his
tory, of entering the market as a pur-
| chaser of silver bullion and forcing its
/ coinnge rs money, and MS an unlimited
| legal tender mt a nominal value beyond.
4 its intrinsic and real market value.
Until February, 1878. the sole function
and duty of the government was that
coniided by the Constitution--of coming
4 that is. of stamping and certifying the
1 true and precise weight and fineness of
4 the various pieces of metal issued from
its miits for circulation as money. OF
course, | do not include the fractional
token coinage for the convenience and
4 minor transactions of the people, which
4 Is not legal tender except in very limited
sums. But | earnestly opposed at every
stage those laws by which the govern
ment became more and more extensively
purchaser and proprietor of silver bull
lion, and of its legal tender coins, COM
posed of silver; and my sense of the
II danger arising from the entrance upon
such false premises of duty has rapidly
4 increased under the progressive legisla
ton of Congress in the direction of fore
Ing silver in, and gold out of circulation,
In the vain and ilusory effort toestablish
fixed ratio, and create n parity of
value and eychangeability between the
two metals, in which the United States
stood solitary and alone in the fiscal
and commercial world. As a result the
nominal ratio ut which silver coinage
10 u. 10. 4 ..ht fh., act
ual ratio of market value is % to 1.
History will not permit it to be forgot
ten. although some men may wish to
forget. that these measures were all
placed upon the statute book under the
counsel and advice of the Republican
party;and while,usa Democrat, ! may and
do derive some satisfaction from the fact
that the responsibility for such grave en-
rors and consequent injury to the coun-
try cannot belnid ut the door of my party,
aud on the contrary, have been strong
ly disnpproyed by the only Democratic
administration of the past thirty years,
yet in the progress of events l find even
that negative satisfaction rapidly Civ
ing way to Il feeling of little less than
CONSERVATION. when | perceive in the
present Congress and elsewhere, such
indications Of disposition on the part
of Democrats protesting to represent
their constituents, toaccept, expand nten-
sify and continue these terrible mistakes
of their party opponents; and this, too,
just mt the moment when the public
mind seems to have been slowly awak-
emcd TO the exposed and admitted dan
gers of such a course of action. | can
not sufficiently express my amazement
and sorrow, TO see men of the Demo-
cratic party now Fastening to adopt
these dangerous fallnces, and clothing
their honored party with such cast-off.
diseased and fatal garments, and to
impede its march to power and useful
ness by such balls and chains of suicidal
error
don't pretend to read between the
lines of the late votes and action in the
House of Representatives. it means
shrewd and cunning fnesse, the strategy
of concealed motive, / can only say:
1t is playing with fire, and is treating a
question of the gravest public import in
I'M unworthy manner; but if the votes
mean what they say on their printed
face. then, say, the hour has struck
for the Democratic masses to arouse
themselves and examine their individ-
ual conscienccs and sense of duty TO the
country, and to realize that salus populi
suprema est lex is the rallying cry of
true Democracy everywhere;- and not
of Democrats alone, hut of all other
patriots to whom parties are but means
10 an end, and that end the safety and
welfare of the country. Full well am
assured that the true Democracy will
never permit their party organization
10 he so misled as to become an instrI-
mentality of injury and wrong to the
country.
Where does any man find warrant in
the long and honorable record of the
Democratic party, or any of its accepted
and authorized opponents, for the hcresy
that value can he created by acts Of Con
gress? Where do they find warrant for
the ownership and forced coinage of the
precious metals, or either of them, by
the government of the United States!
These precious metals are not public
property: they belong the world over ia
private owners, by whose labOrs they were
produced out of the earth; and when
coined, are certified by the stamp of the
mint--nOt as to value, but as TO actual
weight and fineness for money dealings
Who will deny that the simple creed
under the constitution of the Democratic
party in relation to money, has ever beer
llliil u mas TWO tSSPHtlIlS, lilt
and the stamp; the former giving it its
value, and the latter assurance of the
weight and fineness of the metal OF
which it is composed.
Natural laws, the laws of demand and
supply, and the right of private contract
properly and justly control the presence
or absence of gold or silver; and statutes
arbitrarily replacing these laws will b.
always malcficcnt and creative of con
fusion aud disaster in the business d
mankind. These truths are plainly
written on the face of history and III
human experience. Their denial or re-
lection will he met by speedy proof Of
their necessary and memorable acccp
lance. If those who now propose tt
deny them, and, being possessed of thu
temporary representative power, shal
assert by the passage of n statute thei
power to create IA value in the metal o
silver, or any other commodity, aud en-
force its free and unlimited coinage Mt
ratio of value as compared to gold fiji
above the intrinsic value attcstcd by tn
prices current in every market in til
civilized world they will soon find them
selves and their followers face to fac
wath the Opinions of mankind" tina
tribunal to which orr forefathers s
solemnly appealed when they struck tn
shield of the arbitrary power of Brit
a