Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1897-07-08
THURSDAY, JULY S, 1897,
BolEs THROWS UP THE SPONGE.

BOIES THROWS UP THE SPONGE.
Among the prominent candidates for the
Democratic nomination for President III
1896 was the Hon. Horace Boies, ex-Gov'
ernor of Iowa. He was pronounced adj
vocate of the free coinage of silver at the
"16 to l" ratio. Now Mr. Boies admits
that the fight for the free coinage Of silver
at the ratio advocated by Bryan and his
followers is hopeless one. The question
was practically settled, he seerEs to think,
by the results of the great battle fought in
1896. In a recent interview he said;
elbow can we win? This is the one
overshadowing question that should be
pressed home to the heart, the conscience,
the intelligence of every friend Of silver
For one. do not believe it possible to sue
coed upon platform that demands the
unqualified free coinage of silver at the
ratio of 16 to l with gold. We have
fought ne battle, and it is lost. We can
never Gght it over under circumstances
tavorabe to ourselves. If we hope to sue
coed wo must abandon the extreme de-
mand. We must frame our platform so
that success will insure bimetalilsin; so
that no aan can say that it will do; so
that our enemies will be compelled to fight
the prr pie of bimetallism and openly de-
fend gold monometallism as the one sole
basis OF our financial system"
Mr.. Doies is shrewd politician and
sees WI ii way the wind is blowing, His
abandonment of the position which he has
heretofore held and which is still held by
white metal extremists is the beginning of
break n the ranks of the Democratic
Populistic combination that will make tia
powerle combination in 1900. Mr.. Boies
while deeerting or yielding his views on the
free coinage of silver at the ''16 to - ratio
is anxious to do something for silver. He
suggests the following plan;
"The idea which l advocated N my let
ter to Colonel Fox was to issue Treasury
notes in exchange for both gold and silver
bullion at the Treasury of the United
States, at its commercial value, such value
to be determined by the market prices at
the leading centres of trade on the day OF
receipt, the notes to be redeemable in
either gold or silver at the option Of the
government at the commercial value of the
metals on the day of redemption. Wecan
SO frame the details Of such plan as to
attract to the Treasury of the nation every
grain of the silver mined in the United
States that can he spared for monetary
purposes, until the last dollar Of paper cur
rency now in use in this country has been
supplemented to its full face value by silver
and gold"
&c You may call this what you like-per-
\ haps bimetalIism; the main idea is to have
currency based on the precious metals
which are held by the government, not
necessarily coined. l cannot see wherein
this can fail of increasing demand for sill
yer and diminishing the demand for gold.
Silver will go up, gold will go down. Nei'
Their will the adoption of this plan result IN
gold or silver monometalism. >"
This new scheme, which We suppose
should be called the Boies idea, Is virtual
admission that the free coinage plank of
the Chicago platform was absurd and thor
oughly impractical. 1t is an acknowledge
ment of the correctness of the contention
of the Republicans and Sound Money men
that the ratio between the two mgtals can
only be fixed by their commercial value.
such value being determined by the mar
ket prices at the leading centres Of trade"
If the scheme of Mr. Boies, should be put
in operation il would soon bankrupt the
government. The silver mine owners
could deposit their bullion and receive in
exchauae therefor Treasury notes redeem
able either in gold or silver. They could
then, by combination, put down the price
of silver bullion and force the government
either to pay them back much larger
amour of bullion than was originally
placed there by the bullion owner or to re-
deem tile Treasury notes in gold These
silver men have nothing better than their
plan O. s to l to offer, and all the sound
thinker. on finance throughout the civil
lied world have placed the stamp OF dis
approx upon that plan. The free silver
craze is destined to share the same fate as
that Of the greenback craze,
4