Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1896-10-29

We refer you to the official pro-
gram and souvenir issued on the Occa-
sion of the q. A. X. national encamp-
ment at Louisville in 1896, which con-
tain list of the Commanders of the
q. A. II. since its organization. John
Palmer, of Albany, New York, was
the Commander in 1891. He is prob
ably the man responsible for the ut |
terances charged to Gen. John Nc
Cauley Palmer, who was never Il. A.
II. Commander so far as that publ
cation mentions.
OUR DEMOCRACY.
We have always felt So sure of the |
unimpeachible quality of our Democ-
racy that we have never thought il at |
all necessary to parade declaration
that I'VE are Democrats" but have
applied and advocated our sincerest
Interpretation of Democracy to all
public questions, and expect to con-
tinue in that course. We recognize
i'm Jefferson the greatest exponent
of Democracy when the Government
was in the formative and expert
mental stage, and in Jackson anoth-
or great and true Democrat at later
era when many Democratic theories
based upon Democratic principles
were II demonstrated success. While
Jefferson and jackson are great
sources of Democratic inspiration we
really derive our Democracy, like
they did, from the fOuntain-head,
viz: HUMAN RIGHTS. Jefferson and
Jackson were human and fallible,
and iii the application of the princi-
pies of Democracy to the details of
government were liable to mistakes
from the fact that republican govern
ment based on our Constitution was
necessarily experimental in many
and important respects. But we have
never found any occasion to "ditfer
with Brothers. efferson and Jackson"
on the financial question, and consid-
er the extracts quoted from their
writings in support of the silver her
esy to DE unwarranted and violent
Interpretations. Such declarations
may be and probably are Democratic
in the concrete, but are not worthy
to stand alone in the abstract as un-
qualified truths. Even the most of
the aphorisms and adages express
but a partial truth. When jefferson
wrote to Hamilton that he agreed
with the latter that 1.-The unit must
stand on both metals" he didn't
mean irrevocably and forever. The
experiment was being made of pro-
viding monetary standard and a
currency. After thoughtful consid-
Grafton and investigation, and as all
the great nations were trying to es-
tablish it, they agreed that bimetal-
lism, or the concurrent circulation of
gold and silver money at a fixed ra-
ito of coinage, was the proper thing.
Bimetallism was still an experiment
al a n,
ing to prove that Jefferson and Ham
ilton would have continued the ex-
pertinent after it had repeatedly
failed. They were too progressive
and practical for that, especially so
was Jefferson. To say that Jefferson
would insist upon a theoretical dOu-
BILE standard when all experiments
toward real, practical double stand
ard had ended in complete failure is
to discredit his intelligence. Again,
the extract you quote from Jefferson
on the banking Institutions, we are
confident, did not refer to banks i'm
general, but to some specific banks of
that day which were abusing their
power. To say that Jefferson would
oppose the general system of banking
that is now practically indispensable
! to the magnificently developed bust
ness and commerce of the day is to
proclaim the great statesman hide
bound provincial, too narrow to be
seriously considered.
We agree with Brother Jackson
that gold and silver are "constitu-
tional money" Nickel and copper
and paper currency as representative
of money are constitutional" when
Congress authorizes them under the
Constitution, whose sole declarations
on the money subject are:
1.-THE Congress shall have power
to coin money, regulate the
value thereof, and of foreign coin
and fix the standard of weights and
} measures"
+ mo State shall coin money
emit bills of credit, make anything
,, but gold and silver coin a tender in
, payment of debt"
Thus the Constitution reserves tC
Congress all rights of declaring the
standard, and Congress can coir
constitutional money of any metal oil
: alloy. Congress unquestionably has
; the right to make gold the standard
; and silver and other coins mere tokeT
! currency, as is the law today.
brother Jackson" did i'm 1884 Civ,
his approval to the bill which wa,
enacted into law for the expressly
J aydxed purpose of establishing il
, practice the gold standard. That law
. did establish the gold standard, anC
the gold standard has existed i'm prac
tice to the present day except during
, the era beginning in 1852 and lasting
. to 1873, when paper was the sole eur
j rency i'm ordinary circulation. Ever
|, the paper currency was valued really
in gold, although gold was ordinarily
, spoken of as at a premium. "BrOth
er Jackson" wrote himself down il
! history as gold-bug, and We are
! proud to fall back on" Brother
Jackson along with Cleveland anC
Carlisle. And we even feel perfectly
! safe in falling back on Jefferson
+ in saying that if gold and silver
i are to be coined in unlimited guam
! titles into legal-tender coins they
= can be honestly coined only at theil
, commercial ratio, which right now
, would be at over 80 to l. We do moi
, favor even that sort of a coinage pol
: icy, for we are confident that it would
, not establish bimetallism; but il
/, would not rob creditors nor wage
. earners.
If the theory of Bryan and present
. day silverites is correct bimetallisu
+ does not depend for its establish.
! ment upon any ratio; one ratio is as
, good as another; all that is necessary
is a law allowing unlimited legal.
tender coinage, and bimetallism Ii
established. But if you tacitly adj.
nit that bimetallism at 10 to l was a
failure you give the whole silverite
T case away.
There is deal of quibbling by the
silverites on the meaning of the word
j "bimetallism." We take it to mean
the concurrent circulation of gold
and silver at fixed ratio of coinage.
You seem to interpret it to mean the
enactment of a law allowing the I'M
limited coinage of gold and silver at
at fixed ratio. What good does the
establishment" of your sort of BIZ
metallism do towards providing a
bimetallic currency? Your defini-
ton of bimetallism we don't consider
the true one, because the mere en-
actment of bimetallic law did not
cause the concurrent circulation of
gold coins and silver dollars at any
time between 1874 and 1873. The
purposes and objects of law-making
on the money subject are practical
, results If "A bimetallic law Ooes not