Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-02-05

editorial we find the following:
There is no warrant in the history of
legislation that any one contemplated
payment in silver at the time the gov
ernmeT8 contracts were made. Such an
idea would have been absurd in view of
coined in the United States in all the
years Of its history up to that time. AND
OWING TO THE SCARCITY OF THEM
EVEN THEN, WITH FREE COINAGE
ERY DOLLAR WAS WORTH MORE
THAN A GOLD DOLLAR AND WAS
ONLY KEPT AS A CURIO OR RELIC.
Again the Register must stand spon-
sor for the capitalization.
IN so doing, the Registers only de
sire is to bring out President Grant
and the Intelligencer in strong and
vivid contrast on this paramount cues
tion of The coinage and of the MA
TIONAL HONOR.
To begin with, President Grant said
that ITO PROTECT THE NATIONAL
HONOR" in the days when silver was
worth more than gold, that we should
be permitted to pay our deots in
GOLD. then the cheaper metal-that
it WOULD NOT BE HONORABLE
NOT TO.
Oar nlighbor admits that at that
time gold was the CHEAPER money
metal The silver dollar was worth
about three cents more than the gold
dollar.
Therefore, according to the logic of
our neighbor, General Grant was advo-
eating payment in THE CHEAPER
MONEY METAL IN DEFENSE OF
TIE NATIONAL HONOR!
Really, we would not have thought
if the esteemed Intelligencer had not
suggested it. itself--of charging our
neighbor with accusing President
Grant Of the dishonorable motives
which it SO freely lays at the door Of
those who now want to restore silver
to its proper, lawful and constitutional
place in the coinage Of the United
States-the place it occupied when
General Grant spoke the words quoted
above
President Grant-like the brave and
honorable man he was-stood up IN
his manhood not for the creditor
against the debtor, as the gold advo-
Gates do to-day, but for the govern
ment contract and the HONOR OF
THE NATIONAL which the spell
binders of the gold ring like to talk
so much nowadays.
The governments contract says that
its bonds shall be paid in COIN-not
gold, not silver-but COIN-either
gold or silver-at the discretion of
the government.
The bonds in question were con-
tract9d when silver was worth more
than gold at the legal ratio of sixteen
to one because silver then had not
been robbed of its value as a money
metal. The crime was against the
American debtor on behalf of the Eng
lish creditor.
Things have changed since then,
however. The cry Of Grants party
now is, Down with the debtor, Up
with the creditor-the bondholder."
The characterization of silver cut val
ues in half, including that Of silver,
and has proportionately enhanced the
price of gold bullion, by which all
values are now measured. 1t is yard
stick doubled in length and a bushel
measure doubled in capacity, requir-
ing twice as much of products and
labor to get a dollar in gold or pay a
debt as it did before one Of our money
metals was stricken from free coinage
at United States minis. And it is in
this appreciated currency that the
Republican party now wants the
debtor to pay his debts. The contract
when the debt was made called for
payment in gold or silver, but the
Republican party now says that this
does not mean gold or silver, but
dOhD Oi1ls LII OluSI NOIuS, tHS
debtor, who has been growing none
the richer despite the fertility Of this
greatest country on Gods EARTH must
pay his debt-NOT ACCORDING TO
THE CONTRACT-but in the dearer
money metal-in dollars worth twice
as much as they were when he con-
tracted his debt.
Is that sort of thing preserving the
nations honor? President Grant,
whom our neighbor quotes, did not
think So He advocated upholding the
governments contract and in paying
the government debt in COIN, gold or
silver. as might be most convenient to
the, government, and as silver at the
coinage ratio was then worth more
than gold, Gen Grant stood by his
Guns and advocated payment in the
most convenient money metal, the
"CIIEAPEST' money metal which at
that time was gold.
The gold standard advocates seem to
have boundless sympathy for the
creditor. but they cannot bring them
selves TO consider the existence of the
debtor. or his rights under the law