Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1897-05-21

The silver democrats have been I'M
usually profuse this year in eulogies of
jefferson and Jackson. They have at
tempted TO make it appear TO those
with democratic instincts that il has
been the regular thing for 100 years for
democratic statesmen to champion sill
YER and cheap money. Jetferson's oppo-
sition TO cheap money and reputation
of debts, and his advocacy of a coinage
ratio which should always be kept close
10 the natural or market ratio, has been
made clear during the last few months.
The appeals of the silver democrats TO
Gen. Jackson are meeting with the same
fate. In a recent speech eX-CongreSs-
man Josiah Patterson, of Tennessee,
after calling attention to the fact that
previous to 1876 no American statesman
of any party approved of the absurd
] doctrine that government can maintain
! bimetallism regardless of natural ra-
tics, spoke at some length upon Jack
sons position on money and currency.
/ Here is what he said:
Nothing within the range of po-
litical absurdity could equal the spec
tacle presented by the followers of
Bryan when they met on the sth of jan
uary to eulogize jackson, who coura-
geously restored the gold currency.
Have these gentlemen ever paused
long enough in their assault on the pros
perity of the country TO inquire why it
was during Jackson's administration
the ratio was changed from fifteen TO
sixteen to one? If, as they teach
the people, we had the concurrent
circulation of gold and silver
from the passage of the act of
1892 down TO the suspension of the coin
age OF the silver dollar in 1873, why
was this change made? Are they igno-
rant, or do they disguise the fact that
after the act of 1892 gold relatively TO
silver was undervalued and went out of
circulation because it was worth n lit
tie more as bullion than as money? Do
they forget or do they suppress the fact
that gold remained out of circulation
for more than 30 years prior to 1894?
Are they uniformed, or do they
conceal the fact that statesmen illustri-
Gus in democratic annals for many
Jackson advocated the restoration Of
the gold currency? Have they never
read history, or do they withhold the
truth, when they ignore the fact that
the bank of the United States selfshly
opposed the restoration because the
people would prefer its bank notes 10
n currency so bulky and inconvenient
as silver? It was Jackson who saw the
necessity for action, and who struck the
blow which crushed the bank and
brought hard money 10 the pockets
of the people. 1t was Thomas II. Ben
ton, speaking for the administration Of
Jackson, who declared in the senate
that the only way 10 crush the power
of the bank was 20 restore gold to cir
culation. Here was the necessity and
the only reason for the passage of the
act of 1884 establishing the ratio of
sixteen TO one.
THE similarity between the discus
sion which took place in 1894 and the
discussion which took place in 1896 is
striking and instructive. Hard money
democrats. in supporting the policy Of
Jackson, advanced the same arguments
which the sound money democrats adj
vanced in supporting the policy OF
Cleveland. If the hard money dem
ocrats insisted that the differentiation
of gold by the act of 1892 forced it out
Of circulation, the sound money dem
ocrats insisted that the proposition in
the Chicago platform to undervalue sill
yer, if carried into effect, would bring
about the same result.
IF the hard money democrats recog-
nized that the act of 1892 had no per-
ceptible influence on the commercial
value of either gold or silver, and the
only way TO restore gold to circulation
was TO change the ratio, the sound mon
ely democrats recognized that the free
mintage of silver at the ratio of six
teen to one when the market ratio was
thirty-two TO one, would result inev-
itably in silver monometallism. If the
hard money democrats contended that /
all mankind had a prediction for
gold" the sound money democrats con-
tended that a gold standard was pref
cradle to a silver standard. If the hard
money democrats, in order TO main /
tain the gold currency when restored, /.
undervalued silver by making the coin
age ratio sixteen to one when the mar
ket ratio was 1888 to /, the sound money |
democrats resisted the scheme to over
value silver so as TO force the retirement |
of gold. If the hard money democrats, |
after the passage of the act of 1894, |
pointed with pride and exultation to the |
prosperity which followed the restora-
ton Of the gold currency, the sound
money democrats have never faltered in |
warning their countrymen of the dis
aster which would follow its retire
ment
THE truth is, the country is indebt-
ed to the hard money democrats, of |
whom Jackson was the chief for the /
gold standard. could go on and show
how the act of 1894 had an effect exact
ly opposite TO that of 1879, how under