The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-22
THE MATTHEW'S RESOLUTION.

The silverites in the Senate are right in
declaring that the resolution of Mr.. Teller
providing for the payment of the bonds OF
the United States and interest thereon in
silver dollars at the option of the govern
ment is the same as the resolution pre-
scented in the Senate in January, 1873, by
Senator Matthews, of Ohio, and passed
after discussion by a decided vote. Their
deceit lies in not presenting with this claim
the changed conditions in regard to silver
since January. 1875 and January, 1898. There
is one exception. Senator Vest cannot note
any change in conditions. He declared in
the Senate, on Thursday, that President
Mckinley voted for the Teller resolution
in 1878 and consequently assumed that he
should be in favor Of it now. Mr.. Vest de-
parted from Missouri in 1861 to join the
secession movement. He was Of no service
to Jefferson Davis because he is nothing
but fiamboyant orator, but, applying his
theory in regard to himself, he must, at
heart, be a secessicnist now because he was
a secessionist in a double sense in 1861. 1t
must be admitted in favor of his theory
if "once a believer always a believer" that
he has, in all the years he has been in the
Senate, not given expression to any senti-
ment which would cause one to suspect
that he would be for the Union in the event
Of another secession movement.
Now that the Matthews resolution is to
be discussed in the Senate, it is proper to
note some of the changed conditions of the
two periods 1878 and 1898. AT the date the
resolution was discussed the Allison amend
ment to the free coinage bill of Mr.. Bland,
which the House had passed, was pending
in the Senate. The Matthews resolution was
offered on JAM 16 and passed on Jan. 25
Up to the date of the passage only S,045. S3S
standard silver dollars had been coined
since the establishment of the mint, in 1892
The bullion in silver dollar of 412s5 grains
was then worth 81 cents, and two-thirds
of the people of the country believed that
all that was necessary to make the bull
lion in a silver dollar worth as much in the
market as the bullion in a gold dollar
would be to open the mints to the free
coinage OF silver at the ratio of 16 to i.
The advocates of silver confidently pre-
dicted that the monthly coinage of not less
than $4,000 worth of silver bullion would
carry silver to par with gold. Many con-
gressmen voted for the Allison proposition
under the conviction that it would bring
the coin value of the silver dollar up TO
that of gold. Instead of that, the price Of
silver bullion continued to fall in spite of
the coinage of three times as many silver
dollars each year as We're coined between
1892 and 1878. Except a few persons like
Mr.. Bryan all intelligent people know
that the independent free coinage of silver
at the ratio of 16 to / will not create a
parity between the two dollars During the
campaign of 1886 many silverites declared
that free coinage would not make the silver
dollar worth as much as the gold. Coin
Harvey admitted that the silver dollar
would not be worth as much as the gold,
and proposed cutting the gold dollar in
two that it might be worth no more than
the silver This is one changed condition.
In 1877. the year before the consideration
of the Matthews resolution. the coinage
value of the worlds product of silver was
SSl zoo. Geo. and it had never exceeded that
figure but twice. In 1872 the year before the
suspension of the coinage of standard sill
yer dollars by law, the worlds silver out
put was s65. 250. O00. Previous to that date the
annual output OF silver had exceeded $780,