The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-19

maintain a stable bi-netallic standard and
the market value of silver. The result OF
the experiment. was u foregone conclusion,
and its prosecution for so long a period in
the face of inevitable failure was by no
means creditable to American statesman
ship.
Mr.. Tourgee is magnanimous enough to
treat the lying charges concerning the So
called "crime Of 1879 respectfully and tenn
perately. Hon. Carl Sehurz said in his
speech at Chicago that as a conscientious
student OF temporaneo us history lie YVES
bound to say that IL the forty years dur
ing which l have been an attentive OBJ
server of public affairs 1 have never wit
messed nor heard of such INSCRIPTIONS
shameless. persistent. audacious, cumula-
tive, gigantic lying as has been and is now
done with regard to the act of 1873, its ORR
gin, it's nature and liz Consequences" Mr..
Tourgee shows how utterly ~groundless all
this lying has been. Replying to the charge
that the act of 1873 was the result of a
conspiracy TO rob and Cypress the people,
he says:
So far as the motive is concerned, it is
d reHectlOn on every American citizen to
assume that any considerable body of our
people desire to Cypress the weak or i'm
poverlsh the poor. Parties and people are
always sincere. They may make mistakes,
out they never commit crimes. The slave
holder just as firmly believed slavery to be
promcttve OF the general welfare as its OPP
ponents believed it suLversfve of justice.
Wnat were the circumstances under which
TINS act, charged to have been inspired by
unholy purposes and attended with such
malign consequences. was adopted? The
credit of the InifpH Gtotac hnc Eao,,l 5,,Cy
as important an element of it's success in
putting down the rebellion and preserving
the Union as the patriotism of our people.
IT armed the soldier and fed him While he
fought. Because of this, every utterance
OF the government and the universal voice
or the people, day after day through the
long years of conflict, was a continuing
pledge to all the world that we would pay
every obligation, keep the national honor
untarnlShed and make our currency equal
to the best. For twelve years we had been
bravely striving to redeem this pledge. For
twelve years specie payments had been
suspended. We Were struggling on to-
wards resumption under a~4oad of debt. a
very large portion of which. almost a bill
hon dollars, must soon be refunded. The
great commercial nations of the world, to
whom we looked to take our bonds, had
adopted the gold standard or were march,
ing steadily towards it. Silver had already
fallen in value below the ratio in all Euro
pean countries, though yet a trife above
our own. The production of both gold and
silver was increasing at a rate unprece-
denied in the worlds history. France, Bel
GUM, Italy and Switzerland HAD just re.
Stricted the coinage of silver by the terms
OF a common treaty. Germany was strug-
Cling to dispose of her vast ton
of silver and modelling her monetary sys-
tenn on that which England had maintained
for two hundred years. Could we hope TIC
resume specie payments in silver? Who
could take our bonds unless payable, prin-
cipal and interest, in gold? Were we to
invite the scorn of the world by repudiat-
ing our Obligations Were we to ask those
who had trusted us at home and abroad
TO take a currency already stricken with
blight, which the most intelligent and pros
porous nations Of the world had rejected
hour was to maintain our credit. 1t could
be done only by the adoption of the gold
standard. Even this would nave been in
effective had we continued to coin silver
on private account, TO. allow every one who
had silver bullion to put on it our stamp
of equivalency at a ratio greater than its
The act of 1873 was neither a crime nor a
mistake, but an act of the highest patriot
ism and SoRndest policy. AS a result of IL
we safely reached the haven of sumpt
six years later. after seventeen years of
suspension, funded our enormous debt,
which two years later began to grow stead
lily less. and in 1879 entered upon the most
~stupendous struggle to rehabilitate silver.
N order to benefit our silver producers and
encourage and stimulate the DEVELOPMENT
nf this Industry, that the world has ever
witnessed.
No clearer statement has been made than
this Of the conditions and reasons justify
ing the passage of the act Of 1878. Instead
of being "a crime it wasGa financial neces-
sity and an act of the highest patriotism.
Now the silver mine owners, for whose ben
eft the country made a losing fight from
1873 to 1898 and prosecuted the s~tupendous
experiment of trying to hold up the price
of silver against the markets of the world.
are demanding that the government go
back to an obsolete STANDARD and an impos-
sible ratio in order to put more millions
into their pockets.