The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-08-28
PAYING IN GOLD.


Iifhat the obligations of the government
he paid in silver as well as gold. 1T is
true that this charge usually comes
leither from the holders of these uutaX-
ed obligations or from their hirelings,
| bun unless answered it is liable to fool
| honest but uniformed men.
| No man has ever become the owner
of e government obligation without
| express notice that it was payable in
"coin." In 1878 some of the bondhold-
ers who wanted gold, raised the ques-
ton whether it was not the duty of the
Secretary of the Treasury to pay these
| obligations in gold. Early in that year
| the late STANLEY Matthews, then Unit
| ed States Senator from Ohio, intro
| duced n resolution concerning the
/ whole question, which passed the Sen
| ate january %, 1878, and the House on
june 2Sth. After referring 10 the act
| of March IS, 1869, entitled: "An act
| to strengthen the public credit" pledg
ing the government to the payment IN
coin, or its equivalent, of interest
bearing obligations; to the refunding
| act of 1870, by the terms of which the
| bonds Of the government were declar-
| ed to be redeemable in coin of the then
present standard value; to the resump-
| ton act of 1875, (which authorized
bonds of the. same character as those
provided for in the act on 1870; and af-
ter reciting that at the time of the pas
sage of the refunding act of 1870 the
| coin of the United States OF standard
value of that date included silver dol
lars. the resolution proceeds:
''Be it resolved by the Senate
1.-THE House of Representa- tiyes con-
curing therein), That the bonds of
the United States issued or author
lied to be issued, under the said
acts of Congress hereinbefore re-
cited, are payable. principal and
interest at the option of the Gov
eminent of the United States, in
silver dollars of the coinage of the
United States containing 4l2M
grains each of standard silver; and
that to restore to it's coinage SUCH
silver coins as1legal tender in pay
]
Eninterest. is not in violation of the
public faith nor ia derogatiOn lof
the rights of the public creditor
Among those voting for this resoIu-
ton were Carlisle and Mckinley Then
they stood together as the representa-
tives of the taxpayers of Kentucky
and Ohio, true to the people they rep
hnn
as "repudiationists' by the Wall street
clique. an attempt to control them by
the return of millions of dollars worth
OF bonds from Europe was made,
&nG The usual methods of bull-doz;ng
in vogue now, were resorted to, but
without results. Carlisle and McKin-
ley had not then been in public life
long enough to be bought by money,
driven by threats, or cajoled by prom
Uses.
To-day these two men, leaders of
the Republican and gold-bolting Dem
ocratic party, are loudest in their de-
uunciation of the men who believe that
the Stanley Matthews resolution,
which they supported, ought to be faith
fully observed by the Secretary of the
Treasury Mr. Carlisle said only two
years ago, in answer to a question by
Mr. Sibley that if the practice of pay
ing all obligations in gold had not been
begun, it would have been easy to have
paid in both gold and silver.
Not only are the silver advocates sup
ported by the Matthews resolution in
their position, but at the last session
of Congress when Mr.. Cleveland ad-
dressed a special message to Congress,
asking for authority to issue gold
instead of "coin" bonds. on the ground
that they could be placed at a lower
gate of interest, Congress, by declining
TO authorize gold bonds, served no
4jce on the world that all parties pur-
chasing bonds ,lp9qHlss t IexRects their pay
ment i'm ''coin," andohot in gold. Z here |
is no authority Of law for paying Them
fn gold ,sand lie paymeln in gold IS a
violation of the letter and the spirit
of the contract. 1t has doubled the
burden on the taxpayers to the en-
richment of the holders of the bonds,
and helped to the appreciation of gold
and the depreciation of everything
else. The silver men whom Mckinley
and Carlisle denounce as anarchists
merely want the government to pay
it's obligations in 100 cent dollars, as
was contemplated, and not in 200 cent
dollars. as Sherman and'Carlisle pay
them.
JUDGE RUSSELL ON SILVER.
90