The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-02-08

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Marty has been himself Il party to making
theso so-caIlad 4O-cent dollars the STAN
dord money of this country: has been
himself a party to making them legal
tender for the discharge of all public
and priv;lte debts. And Yet, Mr.. Iresl-
don't the gentlemen who have done this
tbinr the party who are responsible
fo,. this thing. would seem to be I'M
conscious that they are doing themselves
or their countrymen any wrong when
they make pretensions upon this floor
which would cut down their own char
acters. besmirch their own record, and
mire them up to the neck in the stains
with which they cndeavored to be-
sprinkle us.
The policy declared to keep the coins
at par does not alter the promise to use
them and to coin them. Now that we
have them in the treasury-have them III
the Treasury by Republican legislation,
have them in the Treasury by the high
moral creeds now preached to us ana at
us-we should use them. And now tlat
we have the bullion there, put there by
New England and by the Republican
party. we should coin it, as they prom
ised to do. In doing so we should take
the rreatcst of all steps to discharge
the other part Of that act-to keep the
coins at par, Il step winch mas always
tended to keep them at par, Il step with
out which they can never be put at par
the step which is the plain, obvious,
constitutional. historical, and customary
course to preserve parity.
We should ourselves at least treat at
par the thing which we wish others to
take at par, and freely coin the bullion
of each metal at par, and make both
gold and silver an equal legal tender at
par, and pay our debts with them at par
according to the contract, according to
the Constitution, according to the laws,
according to the solemn pledges and en-
actments of the Republican party and
the Democratic party alike.
Thus alone, Mr.. President, can we
keep faith with the people of the United
States. Thus alone can we make stable
and sound money. Thus alone can we
maintain the integrity of contracts.
Thus alone can we e~ffectuate our free
%bimetallic Constitution. Thus alone can
we build up an independent national
system of finance and escape subserv-
iency and dependency upon London
and upon Europe.
The repeated refusal of Congress to
authorize the issue of gold bonds has
not only strengthened the resolution,
WI. ltSIdSIl. II N"' nv
sions of both Democratic and Republican
presidents that they have no such au-
thority have officially confirmed the law
as expressed in the resolution, and
given to it the construction which we
ask for now, the sanction of their legal
concurrence and appreciation. President
Cleveland I'D President Mckinley nave
both acknowledged that the law is as
we contend for, and the country has
paid dearly. if their supporters may be
believed, to keep it as it is-that is, free
from any outstanding obligation on our
part to pay gold.
Mr.. President, if but a little silver was
coined before 1878 into standard silver
dollars. much has been coined since 1878,
when the resolution was adopted. Much
has been coined by the action of the Re
publican party. and by its sole action.
Neither the one circumstance nor the
other can affect either the law or the
equity of it. Because sometimes we
have paraded before y the fact, as was
the case when the rtS)lutiOn was Orlgl-
naIly considered, that only some eight
million standar silver dollar pieces
were coined by the United States prior
to 1873. an argument is made that coin
as used in the bonds could not have had
reference to silver. since so little had
been coined, and it is attempted to be
re-enforced by the declaration that
Thomas jefferson. when President,
stopped the coinage of silver dollar
pieces.
These are but half facts, and can only
deceive the ignorant who do not know
the whole fact. jefferson never had any
legal right to stop and never attempted
to stop at any time the coinage of silver.
He f9 VOTnI the cninaOa of silver He
participated in the construction of the
act that coined it freely; during his adj
ministration all he could get of it was
coined freely. and he desired to get and
to coin more. He wanted more of it,
and hence caused an order to be ISSUED,
rs was his rightful discretion to coin
it into smaller denominations than dol
lars, for the reason that our dollar pieces
contained so much silver that they flow
ed away from us into European minis,
where less metal was put into the coin.
While 1t is true We coined only some
~SS,0OO.o00 into dollar pieces, it is also
true that we coined nearly a hundred
million in lesser denominations; and it
IS also true that at the very time when
silver was demonetized in 1873. we were
coming more silver dollar pieces than
ever before in the history of the country.
1t is Il historical fact that when General
Grant was president of the United
States and unwittingly signed the bill to
demonctize silver he was i'll contempla-
ton Of silver to come into the mint to
help him to execute the act funding the
bonds of the United States and to per-
feet bis plan for the resumption of
specie payments.
He saw what the act meant. He
knew what specie meant. He looked to
the co!nage Of his country, silver and
gold, to enable him to execute the law;
and he was the most aStonished man in
all this land when there was rela ted to
him the fact which he had never before
known or discovered, hat the party to
which he belonged, the party to which he
was the c%hieftain, had silently dropped
out Of the coinage that silver dollar
which he looked to for rescuing his
cOuntrymen from deb
Ernest Seyd has explained this matter