Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1896-05-28

John Sherman said years ago that
$5O.0O0,O00 of silver was all we could
coin without driving out all our gold
and going to silver basis, and Presi-
dent Cleveland declared in 1885, in his
message to congress, that we then had
s265, 100000 of silver, and If we coined
any more we would drive out all our
gold, go to a silver basis, and destroy
the credit of the government.
We have now about s624, 100000 silver,
and still there is some gold in the
country. True, 1t is difficult to get hold
of because the holders of it will not
invest it in any legitimate business,
preferring to buy government bonds
with it. But the gold has not all left
the country as Mr.. Sherman predicted,
neither has the credit of the govern
ment been destroyed as President Cleve-
land declared it would be if silver coin
age in excess of the amount we had in
1885, occurred. The fact of the matter
is, not one of our great fnanciers has
ever yet made a prediction on the
future of silver that has been verified.
Suppose gold would leave the country,
it. would add to the stock of the yellow
metal wherever it went and lessen the
demand for it, and diminish its pur-
chasing power by increasing the price
of our commodities. AS the law now
stands, and as now construed and
sought to be executed by the executive
department of the government, gold is
the single standard of value and the sole
basis Of redemption of everything that
is called money. Primarily, it is claimed
that there is now no money but the gold
reserve of 100000 or less More
than half the remaining S275,000,OO
silver outside of the treasury is in bank
vaults as a checking basis for what is
known as confidence or credit substi-
tutes for gold IN use by banks and
clearing houses in settlements among
themselves and for speculative uses.
What is gold, and what is our present
supply of gold worth as a redemption
basis of our currency supply? Four
fifths of all the gold outside the treasury
can only be reached by the sale of bonds
The government is obliged to issue
| Understanding obligations to secure
| this gold, and the interest Is the premium
paid on the yellow metal, and we are
told that gold and silver are on a parity
1t is really amusing to hear opponents
of silver coinage argue that our silver
dollar is just as good as gold, because
the government says so, and then justify
the gold-bug policy of refusing tt
redeem Sherman notes and greenbacks
| with this same silver dollar. In this
| they stultify themselves. If, by dictum
| OF law, q silver dollar is as good as gold
| dollar, why should not the government
| use it in redemption of its obligations
as well as accept it in payment oil
obligations due? The government itself
by it's own action, creates this disparity
| of the use Of silver. It says silver will
iquidate a bill due it, but is not good
| enough to pay out when gold men want
to raid the treasury. The holder of 6
greenback Of Sherman note can gel
gold for it, while that privilege is denied
w oIO hOloSI VI GIO S1ly0T uOlidT, alt
yet the Secretary of the treasury has
refused to give silver in exchange fol
gold. Still, we are constantly reminded
by the "sound money" people that ou1
currency is all on an interchangeable
basis. Why is 1t that, while the Law
says greenbacks and treasury notes are
redeemable in coin, meaning gold and
silver, the treasury refuses to redeem in
silver the notes which were given for its
purchase? In other words, the govern
ment issued note in payment of silver
at large discount, and then redeems
the same note in gold at premium OF
nearly hundred per cent, over silver
bullion, when the latter coined can as
well be rendered in payment as the
| former. Was there ever before such
juggling with the finances of the
country? The gold-bugs themselves
had they been allowed to form the laws
of the country, could not have improved
on this nefarious system of milking the
treasury" If Secretary Foster had not
taken it upon himself to state that
greenbacks and treasury notes were
redeemable. if demanded, in gold. there
would have been no trouble now