The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-08-18

y
lished communication which had for
warded you upon the monetary question
now before the people of this country In
it 1 took the ground that under our con-
stitution gold and silver We're both recou-
nzed as standard money. and that it was
not wiGhin the power of Congress. right.
fully, to destroy the mouey junction of
either gold or silver, and in support of
this view gove the opinions of Daniel
Webster and James G. Blaine.
do not profess to know more about
this question than others, yet have nv
convictions, and those convictions are not
the result of hastily formed opinions but
are more the results of examination and
study of the facts of history which sur
round the question.
This campaingn which is now upon us
we are told, is to be one of education:
then it is important that all the facts
bearing upon thequestion should be given
to the people, that they may the better
Judge the merits of the controversy and
be prepared to cast their votes Alright
The first question in this inquiry which
the seeker after truth should ask is How
| and why was silver demonetizedg Simple
as that question looks, yet it is not easily
answered, and this is owing entirely to
the conditions which surround the mat
ter. In the first place there is not a man
who is willing to acknowledge that he is
the author of the act of Congress which
destroyed one half of the standard money
of this country. Not only is this true but
almost every man who was in position
to have something tC do with the passage
of the law has stood up before the Amer
lean people and purged himself of any
completely knowingly in the passage of
that measure.
Judge Kelley, of Pennsylvania, who was
chairman of the coinage committee of the
House when the act was passed, made
this statement on May 10, 1879:
'All that | can say is that the commit
tee on coinage, weights and measures
who reported the original BILL were faith
full and able, and scanned its provisions;
that, as their organ, ! reported il: that it
contained provisions for both the stand
ard silver dollar and the trade dollar
Never having heard until long time
after its enactment into law of the sub
stitution in the Senate of the section
which dropped the standard silver dollar,
| profess to know nothing of its history;
but | am prepared to say that, in all the
legislation of this country there is no
mystery equal to the decentralization of
the standard silver dollar of the United
States have never found man who
could tell just how it came about, or
why
Now, if the chairman of the committee
that had the bill in charge in the House
which demonetized silver, repudiates the
law, and says it is not the one he recort-
ed as chairman of the coinage commit
tee, is not that enough to put every man
upon the inquiry, not only as to the val
idity of the act itself, but also as to who
were interested in securing the passage
of such law?
nt har rnSt
that of Judge Kelley in relation to, this
act which is not very pleasant reading for
those who are now endeavoring to up
hold Il condition which this infamous act
of Congress has imposed upon the people
of this country.
No man would for one moment doubt
the sincerity and honesty of Judge Hol.
man, of Indiana. Here is what he said in
the House Of Representatives on the 18th
day of July, 1876: II have before me the
records OF the proceedings of this House
on the passage Of that measure (referrine
to the act of 1879, Il record which no man
can read without being convinced that
the measure was colossal swindle.
assert that the measure never had the
sanction of this House, and il does not
possess the moral force of law and Mr..
Bright, of Tennessee, said of the act de.
monetiZing our standard silver dollar:
1t passed by fraud in the House, never
having been printed in advance. being n
substitute for the printed bill: never hav.
ing been read at the clerks desk. the
reading having been dispensed with by an
impression that the bill made no material
alteration of the coinage laws: it uassed
without discussion, debate being cut of
by operation of the previous question.
1t was passed, to my certain convic-
tion, under such circumstances that the
fraud escaped the attention of some of
the most watchful as we'll as the ablest
statesmen il Washington at the time.
Aye, sir, it was a fraud that
smells to Heaven. 1t was a fraud that
VIII stink i'll the nose of posterity, and
for which some person must give ac-
count on the day%of retribution.''
Senator Allison, on February Is 1878.
said:
but when the secret history of this
bill of 1873 comes to be told, it will dis
close the fact that the House of Repre-
sentatives intended to coin both gold and
silver, and intended to place both metals
upon the French relation, instead of ON
our own, which was the true scientific
position with reference to this subject in
1873, but that the bill was afterward
doctorcd.n
That great and 2 honest Democrat and
state sman, the greatest Roman of them
all, Judge Thurman, said:
~ cannot say what took place in the
House, but know when the bill WAS
pending in the Senate, we thought II
was simply bill to reform the mint.
regulate coinage and fix up one thing and
another and there is not single man
in the Senate, think, unless member
from the committee from which the bill
came, who had the slightest idea that it
was even squint toward demonetiza.
ton