The herald., 1896-09-27
TRUTHFUL SAYINGS OF PATRIOTS,
STATESMEN, TURNCOATS AND OTHERS
BY ELI

Alexander Hamilton. 1791-To annul
the use of either Of the metals as money
n to abridge the quantity of circulating
medium, and is liable to all the objec-
tions which arise from a comparison of
the benefits of full. with the evils of
. scanty circulation.
+ Thomas Jefferson, 1901 concur with
! you that the unit must stand upon both
: metals.
tSs Daniel Webster, 1861 am clearly of
( the opinion that gold and silver at the
b ratio hxed by congress constitute the
legal standard of value in this country,
and that neither congress nor any state,
has any authority to establish any other
c standard, or to displace this standard.
~ Daniel Webster, 1S50-Liberty cannot
hong endure in any country where the
tendency of legislation is to concentrate
the wealth in the hands of the few.
Abraham Lincoln, 1S64-If the govern
ment. contracts debt with a certain
amount of money in circulation, and
then contracts the money value, before
the debt was paid, 1t is the most heinous
crime that government could commit
against the people.
General John A. Logan, 1861, for one,
can see benefit only to the money holder
and those who receive interest and have
fxed incomes. can see as a result of
this legislation (the withdrawal OF the
treasury notes), our business operate
crippled, and wages for labor reduced to
q mere pittance. I can see the hopes of
the Industrious farmers blasted as they
burn corn for fuel, because its price will
not pay the cost of transportation, and
dividends on millions of dollars of ficti-
ttous stocks and bonds can see the peo-
pie of our western states, who are pro-
ducers, reduced to the condition of serfs,
to pay interest on public and private
i debts to the money sharks of Wall street,
New York, and of Threadneedle street,
in London England.
John Sherman, 1S67-A contraction of
the volume of money would cause fall
OF prices, lassitude of trade, and national
bankruptcy and disaster. 1t would be
an act of folly, without parallel for
: evil in modern times.
Senator Benjamin F. Wade, Ohio, 1867
Il am for the laboring portion of our
people. The rich can take care of them
selves. We never agreed to pay bonds
in gold. No man can find it in the con-
tract, and will never consent to have
one payment Of the bondholders and an
other for the people. 1t would sink any.
party and it ought to.
Baron Rothschild, 1S69-The simultan-
= eous employment of the two precious
metals Is satisfactory, and gives rise to
no complaint whether gold or silver
dominates for the time being. The sup
preston of silver would be veritable
destruction Of values, without any COM
pensation.
4 John Sherman, 1S69-Contraction of
d the currency is far more distressing
Il operation than the senators suppose.
4 Our own, and other nations, have gone
through that operation before. 1t is not
possible to take that action without the
sorest, distress to every person, except
the capitalist out of debt, or the salaried
sofi1cer or annuitant. 1t is a period of loss
= danger. lassitude of trade, fall of wages,
suspension of enterprise, bankruptcy
and disaster. 1t means ruin to all deal
ers whose debts are twice their business
capital, though one-third less than their
<grfcuIturar pruuures,
reduction of taxes.
, General U. S. Grant, 1S73-With free
: and unlimited coinage of gold and silver.
: we will clear away our public debt be-
fore the close of the century.
walter Clark, LII. D., Justice Su-
4preme Court, 1876-The assertion that
over-production is a myth, as the count
fed people in the United States know
only too well. The trouble is in the leg
p islative increase of the value of the dol
lar, made in order that those who live
by clipping coupons from government
state, and other bonds, and on the pub
lie taxes, may be twice as rich as form
erly, without any additional eXertion.
Senator Matthews, Ohio, 1873, intro
duced the following resolution, which
no sec 20 Irrsr
vote of 42 to 20; and passed the house
January 2s, 1878, by a. vote of 1S9 to 70:
THAT all the bonds of the United
States issued. or authorized to be issued
under the acts of congress- hereinbefore
recited. are payable, principal and in
terest, at the option of the government
OF the United States, in silver dollars of
the coinage of the United States contain
ing 4121s grains of standard silver and
that to restore to its coinage such silver
coins, as legal tender in payment of said
bonds, principal and interest, is not in
violation of the public faith, nor in dero-
cation of the rights of the public cred
itor.''
James G. Blaine. 1871 believe the
struggle now going on in this country
and other countries, for a single gold
standard, would if successful produce
Widespread disaster throughout the COM
mercia1 world. The destruction of silver
as money, and the establishing of gold
as the sole unit of value, must have a
ruinouS effect on all forms of property
except those invested which yield fixed
returns In money; those will be enorm
ously enhanced in value and would gain
a disproportionate and unfair advan-
tage over every other species of prop
erty."
John G. Carlisle, 187S-According to
my opinion, the conspiracy which seems
to have been formed here and in Europe
to destroy by legislation and otherwise
from three-sevenths to one-half of the
metallic money of the world, is the most
gigantic crime Of this or any other age.
Its consummation would ultimately en-
tail more misery upon the human race
than all the wars. pestilences and fam
Inc that ever occurred in the history of
the world.
Speaking on an amendment to the
Bland act:
"If the execution of this measure
could be entrusted to a public officer
whose opinions on the subject were in
accord with those of a great majority
of the American people. and whose sym
pathies were with the struggling ma sses
who produce the wealth and paw the
taxes Of the country, rather than with
the idle holders of idle capital, the pro-
vision alluded to would be of little con-
sequence, because he would coin the
maximum instead of the minimum
amount allowed by the amendment. But
situated as we are, we all know, or at
best we all have reason to believe that