The herald., 1896-08-30

| of silver denied the functions of money.
| the unit of value taken from it and given
| to gold. An interesting history of the
matter from the speeches and public acts
| of the Hon. John Sherman.
| I have been asked, Did you read
Senator Sherman's speech August 18th ?'
/ answered, Yes" We have heard from
| Senator Sherman again on the financial
question. With many people the ques-
tion is settled when he has spoken.
WHAT SHERMAN DID TO DIS
CREDIT SILVER.
He says: 1T is one of the objects of
those who advocate the free coinage of
| silver to force the government to pay
these bonds in silver coin reduced in
value"
That is the unfairest statement of ALL.
! The object of the advocates of free coin
| age is to restore silver to a parity with
! gold by giving 1t the same privileges and
functions which are given to gold.
Nothing more. When that course was
pursued silver ana gold kept on a parity
Let us see what were the relative prices
Of these metals when he began to manip-
ulate the coinage. In our country on
account of the ratio going 16 to 1, silver
was under-rated. Although our mints
were open to its coinage at that ratio it
was sold abroad because the ratio of
x
1t greater value in bullion as Sherman
says. and gold became the only coin in
circulation" as a result of under valuing
silver but the present gold advocates
tell us we were on a gold basis before
1878, as there were at that time none OF
our silver dollars in circulation.
Quoting from Senator Sherman's Sat-
urday speech:
The owners of silver bullion could
send 1t to France and have it converted
into coin at that ratio 05la to L. thus
receiving about 3 per cent more for his
bullion than if coined at the American
ratio of 16 to l. Gold became the only
American coin in circulation"
How do these words accord with the
ideas of those who tell us that silver was
demonetized for the reason that it had
fallen in value as compared with gold.
Also that our people would never use
silver as silver Is too bulky and for that
reason there were no dollars in circula-
tion before 1873?
A DOLLAR THAT WAS TOO VALUA-
BILE TO FLOAT.
In the senate on the 30th Of AuglNt,
1898. Senator Sherman said: although
l was quite active in business which
brought under my eye different forms of
money | do not remember at that time
Gin 1879 to have seen a. silver dollar 1t
was an unknown quantity, the silver dol
lar at that time was worth more than
the gold dollar" Then why wasiit de-
monetiZed if 1t was worth more than
gold? Think of 1t! the dollar contain
ing 412l2 grains of standard silver (the
few that We're coined) just left the
country as soon as possible after being
struck from the mint because they We're
worth more as bullion and We're to Sem
ator Sherman an unknown quantity"
because they were worth more than
the gold dollar" Now this dollar, for
which there seems to have been SO much
demand that it could not be kept in our
country, that gold was in circulation in
stead was certainly sound money. This
was the dollar that should have been re-
tanned if the philosophy of the Senator's
Saturday speech is correct, it had the
largest purchasing power. But why
must it be superseded? Who had pro-
nounced its doom? Simply this: 1t had
been decided by the power which manip-
ulated the mints and the coinage of our
money (of which Senator Sherman has
been the recognized leader) that gold
standard should be substituted for the
bimetallic standard of our country. To
accomplish this a blow must be struck
at silver. Now let us see how it was
done.
We are told by Senator Sherman that
our silver dollar contained so much sill
Yer that it could not be kept in crcula-
tion and instead of this dollar of 412ia
grains the house put in the bill a dollar
counting only 3S4 grains. Giving to sill
Yer the same price which France gave to
it.
A DOLLAR THAT WOULD FLOAT.
In this shape the bill was reported
from the house to the senate, the dollar
containing only 3S4 grains.
On January II, 1873 Senator Sherman
said in answer to question by Senator
Casserly (when the bill was on its
paSSage):
he tar oil -
see that the preceding section provides
for coin which is exactly interchange
able with the English shilling and the
five-franc piece of France; that is the
fve-franc piece of France will be the
exact equivalent of a dollar Of the Uni
ted States in our silver coinage" (Con-
gressional Globe. part l. page 672)
AT the same time he told the senate:
"We are providing that it (the dollar)
shall float all over the world" He
went on and said: This bill proposes
a silver coinage exactly the same as
the French and what are called the as
sociated nations Of Europe, who have
adopted the international standard of
silver coinage; that is, the dollar pro-
vided for by this bill is the precise equiv
a!ent of the five-franc piece"
This the senator tells the senate i'm
medidtely preceding the passage of the
bill. The bill is thereupon passed as
he presented it. and this dollar which
was going to float round the world.
having 3Si grains of silver, seems to
have floated out of the bill for the
reason that the bill as enrolled omitted
entirely this dollar. Did Senator Sher-
man. when the fact of the omission of
this dollar was called to his attention.
raise any objection? He did not Some
one had accomplished his purpose; this
dollar had been strangled." This we
know Shermans statements made
on that day were taken down and print
ed in the Congressional Globe as he
made them and that record has escaped
being doctored, as much of the records
i'll connection with this fraud have been,
to cover up the tracks of those en-
gagged in this wise measure of public
policy. carefully discussed and consid-
cred during three years"
But let us see in what shape the
bill is after its final passage (Sherman
having assured the senate that ii con-
tanned dollar which would float all
over the world" having the same
amount of silver which had been adopt
ed as the international ratio) Nor
has Sherman ever explained what he
meant by this plain, unmstakable lam
guage, there being no such dollar in the
bill.
A DOLLAR THAT WILL SINK.
The bill as finally passed, which has
been satisfactory TO the senator from
that day to this. reads:
That the silver coin of the United