Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-09-15

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OF 1G TO /. without waiting for the aid or
consent of any other nation. We demand
that the standard silver dollar shall be a
full legal tender, equally with gold, Tor
all debts, public and private, and we faVor
such legislation as will prevent Tor the
future the decentralization Of any Kind OF
legal-tender money by private contract
The first OF these stripped OF Its fum-
merry about International agreement.
pronounces against silver as part OF the
constitutional currency OF the country.
This was a departure. for the Republican
party In it's national platform OF 1888 had
declared for "the use of both gold ana
silver as standard money
THE WORDS OF AN ENEMY.
In 1876. when John Sherman was a poor
man-not as now, a millionaire senator
he sald
"The utter ruin that would come TO
mankind. especially 10 the poorer nations,
by the entire decentralization Of silver,
cannot be estimated by us. Take one half
of the solid money of the world
ont of existence take the sole standard
of more than two-thirds OF the human
race. reduce IT 20 base metal. and the
effect OF It upon the commerce Of the
world would be ncalcuable. 1t cannot
be done. 1t will not be done. There is no
danger Of Il. These two metals have
travelled side by side from the beginning
of time. The records of human history
do not go back to a time where they
did not move together. They have varied
I'm value sometimes one and sometimes
the other being higher; but they have
gone on. gold the money OF the rich.
silver the money of the poor, the one TO
measure acquired wealth. the other TO
4. H.. ttt ..N .rnA
sir. no act Of parliament although it
may disturb for a moment the relation OF
these two metals to each other nothing
but the act of God. can destroy the use
of both OF them by mankind" From
which Mr. Sherman drew eight con-
clusions. two of which were:
- Decentralization of silver raises the
price of gold"
"5. Both coins are indispensable"
How IKE modern silver lunatic is
such talkl Read that paragraph to the
average single -gold-standard man, with
out disclosing the name OF the author
and i will wager a guinea in gold, scarce
as IT is. that he will pronounce the senu-
ments Communistic and Anarchistic.
Here we have the Magnus Apollo OF
their faith bluntly and plainly laying
down the proposition that "the demone-
tlzatidn of silver raises the price Of gold
Yet the advocates of the single-gold-
standard. of high and low degree, laud
their chosen standard because 1t never
has. and never will, vary in value.
REPUBLICAN DOUBLE STANDARD
MEN.
The Capitalization of the visions ana
hopes Of the monometallists upon goid'
as possessing an unvary ing standard 'y
which TO estimate values. Is not as Wen
grounded i'm reason or philosophy as was
that of the old negro, who. during the
alarm and excitement caused by the me-
teoric showers of 1892, compacentiy
watched the north star. and. when asked
what his behavior meant, explained by
saving: 81 knows that star never moves
and until she busts, ] believe the worli
am safe, and judgment-day amt
come"
1t would be useless, not TO say tedious,
TO give YOU. as ] could. quotation after
quotation from Republican leaders TO
show that they. with one voice, except
New York and New England. were once
doubIe-standard menA Mckinley himself
stands upon a platform not in conso-
nance with his lifelong sentiments eX-
pressed I'm and out of Congress But you
must hear James q. Blaine on this all
important subject. He said:
IL believe gold and silver coin to be
the money of the Constitution-indeed
the money of the American people an
terror to the Constitution, money which
the organic law Of the republic recog-
nized as independent of its own eXis-
tence. No power was conferred on
Congress TO declare that either metal
should not be money. Congress has,
therefore. in my judgment, no more
right to demonetize silver than to de-
monetize gold; no more power to de-
monetze either than to demonetiZe both.
Such have been their professions of
friendship and promises of fidelity to the
white metal yet every hostile act Of
legislation from the demonetization act
of 1873 to the present time has been of
their doing except the last.
Against this declaration Of the Repub-
licans. against foes without and friends
within, we have set the battle in array,
drawing the line sharp and deep for "the
unlimited coinage Of both gold and silver
at the present legal ratio of l6 TO l.
without waiting for the aid or consent
of any other nation"
submit that this plank is sound. for
the following reasons: First-Silver, as
well as gold is the money of the Con-
stitution. the money of the nation"
Mr. Webster the greatest constitu-
tional lawyer the country ever pro-
duced. and the equal Of any statesman,
thought the Constitution meant some
thing on this point. lie said: Il am
certainly OF opinion. then. that gold and
silver. at rates fixed by Congress, con-
stitute the legal standard of value in
this country. and that neither Congress.
nor any state. has authority TO establish
any other standard or displace this" To
this proposition Mr. Calhoun. in his
speech in reply. though differing widely
on other points, agreed
CARLISLE MISLEADING.
But we are told by Mr.. Carlisle that
Mr. jefferson stopped the coinage OF
silver dollars In 1896. and therefore, he
was opposed to the free coinage OF silver.
This statement as a basis for the con-
clusion drawn from il is unworthy Of
the high source from which il emanated.
If ne had fully stated what he merely
slurred over. that the Spanish-miled
dollar. the Mexican dollar, and the dollar
Of South American countries was
,eeal tender, az well as the American
silver dollar. and then freely circulated
N this country. and that the demands
Of trade were for half-dollars and not
dollar pieces and had he consulted Cir
cular No. l23, issued by the department
over which he presldes page 49, he
would have seen that in that year usO6
there was coined of silver s47l.Sl9, being
about three times as much as was coined
during the preceding year, and more than
had ever been coined in any one year
Of all the silver coins. And to the end
Of Mr.. Jeffersons administration, three
years later (as shown by the same docu-
menO. the annual coinage steadily in
creased. reaching SOP 9O5. in 1909.
FROM PHILIP DRUNK