Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1896-10-31
1892


1890 as a cowardly makeshift, fraught
with possibilities of danger in the fu-
ture which should make all of its
supporters as we'll as its author anx-
ious for its speedy repeal. We hold
to the use Of both gold and silver as
the standard money Of the country,
and to the coinage of both gold aud
silver without discriminating against
either metal or charge for nlintage,
bat the dollar unit of coinage of both
metals must be Of equal intrinsic and
exchangeable value, or be adjusted
through international agreement or
by such safeguards of legislation as
shall insure the maintenance Of the
parity of the two metals and the
equal power of every dollar at all
times III the market and in the pay
ment of debts, and we demand that
all paper currency shall be kept at
par with and redeemable in such coin.
1896.
Recognizing that the money ques-
ton is paramount to all others at this
time we invite attention to the fact
that. the constitution names silver and
gold together as the money metals Of
the United States, and that the first
coinage law passed by congress under
the constitution made the silver dol
lar the money unit of value and adj
mitted gold to free coinage at ratio
based upon the silver dollar unit.
We declare that the act OF 1873, de-
monetizing silver without the knowl-
edge or approval of the American peo-
pie, has resulted in the appreciation
OF gold and a corresponding fall in the
prices of commodities produced by
the people, heavy increase in the
burden OF taxation and of all debts,
public and private, the enriching Of
the moneylending class at home and
abroad, prostration OF industry and
impoverishment of the people. We
are unalterably opposed to monomet-
allism, which has locked fast the
prosperity of an industrial people in
the paralysis of hard times. Gold
monometallism is British policy,
and its adoption has brought other
nations into financial srvitude to
London. 1t is not only un-American
but anti-American, and it can be fast
ened on the United States only by the
sitting of that indomitable spirit and
love of liberty which proclaimed our
political independence in 1916 and
won it in the war of the revolution.
We demand the free and unlimited
coinage of both silver and gold at the
present ratio of Is to /, without wait
ing for the aid or consent of any other
nation. We demand that the stan
dard silver dollar shall be full legal
tender, equally with gold, for all debts,
public and private, and we favor such
legislation as will prevent for the fu-
ture the characterization OF any kind
of legal tender money by private con-
tract. We are opposed to the policy
and practice of surrendering to the
holders of the obligations Of the Uni
ted States the option reserved by law
to the government of redeeming such
obligations in either silver coin or
gold coin.
We are opposed to the issuing OF
Understanding bonds of the United
States in time of peace, and condemn
the trafiicking with banking syndi-
Gates, which, in exchange for bonds
and at an enormous profit to them
selves, supply the federal treasury
with gold to maintain the policy Of
gold recommendation.
Congress alone has the power to
coin and issue money, and President
Jackson declared that this power
should not be delegate to corpora
tions or individuals. We therefore
denounce the issuance of notes in
tended to circulate as money by ma
tional banks as in derogation OF the
constitution, and we demand that all
paper which is made legal tender
for public and private debts, or which
is receivable for duties to the United
States, shall be issued by the govern
ment of the United States and shall