The Dickinson press., 1897-08-07
THE OHIO DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM
Its Assertions and Arguments Consid-
cred and Answered.
PART |.

ASb N6bCA VaVM6 0UV Al &ukOVugb OVA6IV'
cred and Answered.
PART /.
"Recognizing that the money ques-
tion 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 met
ais of the United States.''
This statement is inaccurate and
intentionally misleading. The on
ly place in which the constitution
"names silver and gold together"
is where it declares that mo state
shall make anything but gold and
silver coin tender in payment of
debts" 1t does not say that sill
yer and gold shall both be coined
in an unlimited manner or that Ell
ther one or both shall be coined
at all, but specifically gives to
Congress the power to determine
what the coinage of the United
States shall be, both as to metals
used and their relations, by saying
in explicit terms in section 8:
"The Congress shall have power
to coin money and REGULATE
the value thereof" It does not
"name silver and gold together"
as the platform says, but names
silver and gold together, pointed
ly giving the preference to gold
by saying in section 10: mo
State shall make anything but gold
and silver coin payment for
debts" Is anything is to be in
ferred as to the relation which it
intended that the two metals
should bear it is clearly that gold
was to be preferred, since It is
first named in the only place
where the metals are mentioned.
If the trainers of the platform
wanted to be frank, why did they
not follow the wording of the con-
stitution in their statement and
say gold and silver" instead of
reversing it and saying "silver and
gold"
"The first coinage law passed by
Congress under the constitution made
the silver dollar the money unit and
admitted gold to free coinage at a ra-
ito based upon the silver dollar unit"
The first coinage law clearly
made gold a standard by first
naming all the gold coins which,
it is said, should be of the value
of a given number of units, and
said that the unit should be "of
the value of a Spanished milled
dollar as the same is now current,
and to contain 416 grains of stan
dard silver" If the advocates of
silver insist that this act interpre-
ted the meaning of the constitu-
tion and that this Interpretation
must be followed, why do they
now insist upon standard silver
dollar with only 412H grains of
silver instead of the 416 which the
act specifically names7 By their
own proposition they demand a
violation of what they claim is a
constitutional requirement. This
act which they claim is an inter-
pretation of the constitution on
this question provides that "every
fifteen pounds weight of pure
silver shall be of equal value in
all payments with one pound
weight of pure gold" If this is
an Interpretation OF the constitu-
ton why do these sticklers for its
observance propose to violate it
by saying that every sixteen
pounds weight of silver shall now
be equal to one pound weight OF
gold7 Would there not be equal
authority tor saying that every
seventeen or eighteen or twenty
or thirty pounds weight of silver
shallbe equal to one pound weight
of gold7 By their own PROPOSE.
ton to change the ratio they ad.
NIT that neither the constitution
nor the first act passed under it is
binding as to the future relations
Of gold and silver as money. The
fact that this act specifically said
that every fifteen pounds weigh,
Of pure silver shall be of equal
value with one pound weight oI
pure gold" indicates that gold wa:
intended to be the measure o.
value, for had the trainers of thi.
act intended that silver should b,
the measure they would have salt
that one pound of gold should b.
equal in value to fifteen pounds o
silver. Alexander Hamilton, VIII,
was one of the'framers of the con
stitution and whose report to Con
gress was the basis of this act sal,
8 81 the alleged unit, the Spanisl
dollar, "that species of coin ha
never had any settled or standar
value s while gold has
ed price BY weight with an ey
IL 6tness This greater ST