Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1897-10-02

casually profuse this year III eulogies of
Jefferson and Jackson. They have at
nEmpted to make 1t appear to those
with democratic instincts that it has
lnssn the regular thing for 100 years for
asInocratic statesmen to champion sill
Nsr and cheap money. Jefferson's oppo-
Iusaion to cheap money and reputation
~ debts, and his advocacy of n coinage
5nsso which should always be kept close
No Shc natural or market ratio, has been
,sefe clear during the last few months
Ihe appeals OF the silver democrats to
H911. Jackson are meeting with the same
sfe. In recent speech ex-Congress-
psan Josiah Patterson, of Tennessee,
lftar calling attention to the fact that
hwuvious to 1870 no American statesman
70 any party approved of the absurd
Apctrine that government can maintain
kmetallism regardless of natural ra-
E1sos, spoke at some length upon Jack
nRn's position on money and currency
Here Is what he said
Nothing within the range of po-
1fical absurdity could equal the spec
nele presented by the followers of
NEyen when they met ON the sth of jan
ksnxy to eulogize Jackson, who coura-
kecusly restored the gold currency.
'Have these gentlemen ever paused
Ding enough in their assault on the pros
herity of the country to inquire why it
Mas during Jackson's administration
he ratio was changed from fifteen to
xfeen to one? If, as they teach
khe people, we had the concurrent
ion of gold and silver
he passage of the act of
to the suspension of the coin
ee silver dollar in 1873, why
ksan this change made? Are they igno-
hunt, or do they disguise the fact that
N9Her the act of 1902 gold relatively to
lVer was undervalued and went out OF
INSULATION because it was worth lit
NE moro as bullion than as money? Do
Aey forget or do they suppress the fact
Aat gold remained out of circulation
H more than 80 years prior to 1884?
J ~Are they uninformed, or do they
issnceal the fact that statesmen illustri-
sas in democratic annals for many
Nears prior to the administration of
9acksou advocated the restoration of
mo gold currency? Have they never
bad history. or do they withhold the
Nsuth, when they ignore the fact that
0he bank OF the United States selfshly
opposed the restoration because the
Neople would prefer it's bank notes to
= currency so bulky and inconvenient
iaa silverf TWAS Jackson who saw the
aseessity for action, and who struck the
blow which crushed the bank and
Drought hard money to the pockets
ID the people. 1t was Thomas II. Ben
rDH. speaking for the administration of
jackson, who declared in the senate
nat the only way to crush the power
- the bank was to restore gold to cir
aalation. Here was the necessity and
ne only reason for the passage of the
ack Of 1884 establishing the ratio of
Nxteen to one.
~The similarity between the discus
Gfo0 which took place in 1884 and the
Hkaenssion which took place in 1896 is
aeriking and instructive. Hard money
1emocrats. in supporting the policy of
jackson, advanced the same arguments
which the sound money democrats adj
vanced In supporting the policy of
Cleveland. II the hard money dem
ecrats insisted that the undervaluation
q gold by the act of 1892 forced it out
Of circulation, the sound money DEM
eerats insisted that the proposition in
The Chicago platform to undervalue sill
NeF, If carried into effect, would bring
about the same result.
IF the hard money democrats recog-
1fned that the act of 1892 had no per-
Geptible influence on the commercial
value of either gold or silver, and the
emily way to restore gold to circulation
was to change the ratio, the sound mon
sy democrats recognized that the free
ruinta9e of silver at the ratio of six
csen TO one when the market ratio was
Qairty-two to one, would result inev-
xtably In silver monometallism. If the
bard money democrats eontended "that
sll mankind had a prediction for
ooid." the sound money democrats con-
tanded that gold standard was pref
arahle to a silver standard. If the hard
1soney democrats, in order TO main
esin the gold currency when restored,
nndcsvalued silver by making the coin
gge ratio sixteen to one when the mar
net ratio was 1888 to /, the sound money
democrats resisted the scheme to over
SAlue silver go as to force the retirement
Of gold. II the hard money democrats,
sitter the passage of the act of 1884,
pointed with pride and exultation to the
prosperity which followed the restorao
tion of the gold currency, the sound
money democrats have never faltered in
warning their countrymen of the dis
sster which would follow it's retire.
znent.
''The truth is, the country is indebt-
Cd to the hard money democrats, of
whom jackson was the chief, for the
gold standard. I could go on and show
how the act of 1884 had an effect exact
j opposite to that of 1870, how under
the operations of the same infexible
seonomic law gold went out of circula-
tlon under the one and silver under the
other, how congress in 1853, on account
Bf the retirement of silver, was forced
to coin il as subsidiary money In order