The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-13
INGALLS, is OUT.
Cuts Loose From the Money
BarOns' Lead.
DenOunces Attempts to Crush
the Greenbacks.
RIPS DINGLEY'S BILL
And Violently Opposes the Pro-
posed Tariff
Which Will Increase Cost of
Shoes, Coats, Etc.

Cincinnati, May 13-The Enquirer
prints the following letter from John
J. ingalls,:
''Atchison, Kan, May 10, 1897.
TT is obvious that if the greenback
treasury notes, silver certificates and
other paper obligations of the govern
ment are to be presented for redemp-
ton in gold, redeemed in gold, reissued
and presented again for redemption in
gold Indefinitely, it will be necessary to
have surplus revenues in gold or to sell
more bonds for gold.
There needs no ghost, my lord,
come from the grave to tell US this
AS an economic proposition, it does
not make much difference whether the
people are taxed to obtain the surplus
revenue or taxed to pay the bonds is
sued, to enable the gamblers and
brigands to plunder the nation by
methods that make Monte Carlo res
pectable.
1T seems incredible that the ink is
yet wet upon contract by which Pres
ident Cleveland transferred the protec-
ton of the treasury and the defense OF
the public credit to a foreign syndicate
which agreed, for a profit of $8,000,0 900,
to restrain their own depredatiOns up
on the gold reserve till the following
October Any private business conduct
on such a scheme would cOnsign its
proprietor to the bankruptcy court, the
almshOuse or the penitentiary, accord
y
disposition of the jury.
The fatal infirmity of Mr. Dingley' 5
theory is his assumption that the eX-
ecutive has the right TO hold the green
backs in the treasury, either to eX-
change for gold or for the purpose of
bonds The greenbacks limited to $346,-
61S.016, were intended as perna nent and
constant addition to the legal tender
currency of the country, and any poll
cy which has for it's object their tenn
pOrary or final withdrawal is without
warrant in law.
Another defeat in the hypothesis of
Mr. Dingley is his assertion that the re
tention of the greenbacks in the treas
ury would not contract the currency be-
cause the gold for which they were eX-
changed would enter into and become
a part of the circulating medium OF the
country. Every body knows to the CON
trary.
''Practically gold is never in circu-
latiOn. 1t is not available in the daily
transactions of wage earners because 1t
is not susceptible of subdiViding into
coinage of small denominations IN
placid times of tranquil and contented
prosperity the people prefer paper and
gold remains in unsOught seclusion-
When distrust and apprehension pre-
vail when credit is impaired and con-
fidence shaken, then gold is boarded or
transferred in bulk from kingdom to
kingdom, to be buried in the vaults of
the Jews, or to repleniSh the treasures
of mOnarchs.
The statement of Dingley empha-
sizes the declarations OF those VINO
framed the financial plank in the St.
Louis platform, and of their Democratic
allies that sound money means u1ti-
mateIy the retirement of the green
backs, the degradation of standard sill
yer money and the transfer of the legal
tender function of gold coin alone. The
volume of the currency should have no
more to say about the number of dol
lars to be issued than about the num-
Der of hats to be made or the number of
bushels of wheat to be ground or the
number of cattle and hogs to be raised
1T should retain and assert such
power as would punish scOunterfeits and
insure security, but the amount of
money should depend on the require
ments of business and not on the cap
rice of congress, the edicts of rapacious
syndicates, or the complaint vagaries
of a renegade secretary of the treasury
'All the people of the United States
are unreservedly in favor of honest
money and the maintenance of public
faith credit and honor. Many of them
believe in the principles of a tariff for
revenue and for protection. But any
measure whose justification is the con
traction of the currency, or which Will
reduce the price of wool, hides and 9TH
er raw material by Unrestrained COM
petition, and increase the cost of coats
and shoes by heavy duties on the man
ufactured product. viii not be received
with unmeasured enthusiasm by the
Republican farmers of the Mississippi
11eax-1