The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1898-02-04

ne-g ary 70 deny The truth of the self,
evident and universally accepted theory
that The law Of supply and demand ap.
+ plies in regulating the value Of money.
inst as 70 does in fixing the value Of al.
things for which money Is exchange.
able. Ia 1875 Mr.. sherman engineered
/ through congress the bill providing fol
+ a return 10 specie payment In 1879 AZ
/ the law OF 1878 Ind practically d5moDs.
tizad silver. gold was the only money
/ then ayoIlable for redemption purposes.
/ II begun 10 dawn upon ~tbepsogle Of the
country that under the gold STANDARD
the redemption ofspceie payment would
De doubIy difficult and immensely more
distressing In 1870 the agitation foi
the ramouetization Of silver began ia
manifest itself in 1877 10 was yet
stronger aud in February 1878, the
Bland Allison bill became o law Thi.
BILL introduced by Mr. Bland IN the
house, WAS originally q free coinage
measure Hayes was the nominal pres
ideut, but he was owned and manipn.
lated by John sherman, who was then
secretary OF the treasury. Influenced
by sherman, tho president was hostile
to free silver and this fact was utilized
ia the senate TO secure q compromlse
bill under the plea that the president
would surely veto free coinage meas.
ure Dut might approve one providing
/ for limited coinage. Thus the Bland
Allison bill was agreed upon, passed.
and. being vetoed, was passed over
Hayes veto and became a law MT.
sherman was partially successful inc
Bland Allison law still lett silver on u
false basis only portion oil u an
npai product could pe coined, VIZ hoh
could be coined except such as the gov.
eminent owned After the secretary Oh
tbe treasury had boughttor the govern.
monl d good deal Of silver bullion
would be left without a market inc
surplus of bullion, like the surplus OF
any other product, would inevitably
lower the price OF The whole supply oi
such commodity This would create a
gap between the bullion and the com
value which would, at some DAY N tne
future, serve as a pivot on when 10
hinge o. strong argument against silver.
Mr. sherman would bido thaJ Time
But he was not idI7' he lott no oPpoI-
tnnity to inJure silver untFied In 1915
me wrote to Attorney General DeYens
to know If. under the the retnhdlhg
act he could not issue bonds payaDlo
specifically IN gold To this inquiry
the Attorney General replied, stating
TINT such bonds could not be issued
The Stanley Mathews resolution was
passed, and was too strong and PLAIN IN
it's wording and intention for Mr.. 5her-
man To openly disregard, Hence IN
December of that year we hnd In his re-
port the admission that the country
was again on q bimetaliie basis. In the
Same report he stated that he would re-
deem grceubacks with gold, where the
holder preferred gold, but expressly
reserved the option of the government
Mr. sherman seems to have kept reason
ably quiet during the remainder of the
Hays administration, Garfield, who
succeeded Hays had been q pronounced
FREQ silver man, so nothing hostile
could be effected through him. Presi.
dent Arthur was quiet and conscrya
tive. and too honest to become the tool
Of Mr.. Sherman. so no measures were
taken against silver during his term,
with tho election of Cleveland came a
chance in his first message he recon-
mendod the cessation of silver coinage
His recommendation met with such
little favor that he had not the nerve
TO push Tin any of the subsequent mes
sarcs Of his first term. IN 1883 Harrison
WINS elooted He made Foster secretary
Of rbo treasury ,robn sherman was in
tha senate IN 1890 under tbe nrotepso
that bc v,opfed the country I'm have a
grsotor annual increase in the volume