New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-12
NOT FOR GREENBACK RETIREMENT

NOT FOR GREENBACh nh Ih>"'-'i'
Chairman Dingley has made himself the tar
get for much abuse by truthful statement.
Finding himself quoted In the House, on tbe
authority of new journalism" as declaring
that It was the policy Of the Republican party
after securing adequate revenue TO lmponhd
the greenbacks" he announced that he had said
no such thing, and hoped better authority would
be found in the future for any remarks The
chairman probably did not reflect that he ex-
posed himself by this statement of facts, not
merely to the wrath Of any who had misrepre-
scented him, but also TO the malevolence or that
active and noisy faction which Is every day
trying TO bully the President into some declara-
ton hostile to the platform of his party and to
his own assurances when candidate.
1t seems necessary to repeat, not for the hrst
time that the Republican party Is in no way
pledged or committed to the retirement or the
legal-tender circulation, nor to the scheme for
appointment of a monetary commission. Those
who are perpetually making that assertion have
surely but scanty care of their reputation for
veracity For it has been pointed out many
times that the Republican National platform
contains no pledge of the sort, nor the slightest
indication of such purpose; that no individual
member of the party had power to make for 1t
n nledpe differing from that Of National con-
ven,iOn and that President Mckinley himself
showed no disposition 10 favor such a policy
but Oh. the contrary distinctly declared it the
polIcv Of the party to maintain In use and as
good as gold all the paper in circulation.
There has been necessarily at work for some
months n combination of men who are pro-
foundly Interested In the extinction of the
greenbacks Part Of them imbibc their fanat-
clsm on the subject in their Overzealous worship
of MIR. Cleveland when he was laborinS to con-
vince mankind that tine disasters of the country
duriny his Administration had come, not from
his Free Trade policy, but from Republican
laws which kept legal-tender notes III use ana
redeemable in gold. Having definitely pro-
posed in one annual Message the unrestricted
issue of State bank notes. to the unspeakable
delight of his Democratic and Populist friends
of the West and South he found no step in that
direction practicable without first melting war
against greenbacks. In subsequent efforts to
that end he was first supported by conven-
ton Of National bankers, who appeared to have
| taken inspiration from some of his Immediate
adherents. and then with great enthusiasm by
some other National bankers who desire to see
an unlimited field open for the circulation Of
cism OF the men who knock their foreheads on
the earth when Cleveland speaks. have created
In favor of greenback retirement volume Of
sound altogether disproportionate to their real
influence like the croaking Of frogs In swamp.
Yet the fact stands that no more than pitt
full fraction Of the Democrats can be brought to
favor retirement Of legal-tender notes. except
as a means toward virtually unlimited issues Of
| irredeemable paper. Because leveheaded Re-
publicans know that this Is the practical alter
native, and that the retirement of United States
notes can have no other result than the substtu-
ton Of paper currency not restricted in volume,
ard without the guarantees for redemption
which now fortify the paper circulation, they
have as a body absolutely refused TO be drawn
into any approval whatever Of the policy so per-
slstently urged by Mr. Cleveland. his Admins
tlation and the various gatherings Of banke. g
who were disposed to act In harmony with his
political aims. On the contrary, there is proba-
bly, large majority Of Republicans now,
as there has been constantly since the war. who