The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1896-08-12
For He Believed In Free Silver and
Said That the SINGLE Standard
Would Have a Ruinous
Effect on All Except Those Whose
Investments Yield a Fixed Re-
turn In Money, and the
G0Idbugs Now Call This Anarchy
and a Whole Lot of Oth3r
Hard Names.

From tho New York Tribune, Feb. 8, 1873.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7.-The morning
hour having expired in the senate to-
day, the silver bill came up for discus
sion, and Mr.. Blaine (Rep., Mainel
spoke as follows:
The discussion on the question of re.
monetizing silver, Mr.. President, has
been prolonged, able and exhaustive,
and l may not expect to add much to
its valre, but l promise not to add
much TO its length. shall endeavor to
consider facts rather than theories, to
state conclusions rather than arguments
believe gold and silver coin to be
the money of the constitution-indeed,
the money of the American people ante
iior TO the constitution, which that
great organic law recognized as quite
independent OF its own existence. No
power was conferred on congress to de-
clare that either metal should not be
money. Congress has, therefore, in my
Judgment, no power to demoDetize sill
yer any moro Than to demonetize gold
no power to demonetize either any more
than to demonetize both.
In this statement am but repeating
the weighty diotum Of tho first of con.
stitutional lawyers. II am certainly of
opinion, said Mr. Webster, THAT gold
and silver, at rates fixed by congress,
constitute the legal standard of value in
this country, and that neither congress
nor any state has authority to establish
any other standard or to displace this
standard" Few persons can DO found,
l apprehend, who will maintain that
congress possesses the power to demone-
tie both gold and silver. or that con-
gress could be justified IN prohibiting
, the coinage of both, and yet in logic
and legal construction it would be diff
cult TO show where and why the power
of congress over silver is greater than
over gold-greater over either than over
the two If. therefore, silver has been
demonetized, am in favor Of remone.
tizing it. II its coinage has been pro-
hibited, am in favor of ordering it to
be resumed If it has been restricted. i
am in favor Of having it enlarged.
What power, then, has congress over
gold and silver? 1t has the exclusive
power to coin them, the exclusive pow
er to regulate their value--very great,
very wise, very necessary powers, for
the discreet exercise Of which critical
occasion has now arisen. However men
may differ about causes and processes,
all will admit that within few years
a great disturbance has taken place in
the relative values Of gold and silver,
and that silver is worth less or gold is
worth moro in the money markets of
the world in 1873 than in 1878, when
the further coinage Of silver dsllars was
prohibited i'll this country To remone-
tie it now, as though the facts and
circumstances Of that day were sur
rounding us. is willfully and blindly to
deceive ourselves. II our demonetiza.
ton were the only cause for the decline
in the value of silver. then remonetiza-
ton would be its proper and offectual
cure But other causes quite beyond
our control have been far more poten-
.ially operative than the simple fact of
congress prohibiting its further coinage.
and as Legislators we are bound to take
,ognizance of these causes
The demonstration of silyor In the
great German empire and the conse-
quent partial or well nigh complete
suspension OF coinage In the govern
ments Of the Latin union have been
leading. dominant causes for the rapid
decline In the value of silver 1 do not
think the oversupply Of silver has had.
in comparison with these other causes.
an appreciable influence In the decline
Of its value. because its oversupply
with respect to gold in these later years
has not been nearly so great rs was the
oversupply Of gold with respect TO sill
yer for many years after the mines OF
California and Australia were opened.
and the oversupply Of gold from those
rich sources did not affect the relative
positions and uses Of the two metals
In any European country.
The responsibility of re establishing