The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1898-01-14
The Presidents Currency Plans.
NO. Y.



not'be changed. These notes were, I'M
der the policy of Mr. Foster, already
gold obligations, and Mr.. Sherman
object now was to leave them In tina
shape, stop the purchase of silver bul
Hon, and let the silver dollars, under
mined M they now were by his cunning
ingenuity, fight their own battle against
the most disadvantageous odds. But
his bill was defeated, and u few months
later Mr.. Cleveland succeeded to the
presidency and fell heir TO John sher.
man sscleme of robbing silver Of it,
redemption feature the one function
without which its usefulness as money
and Its influence in checking the enor.
nous increase in the purchasing power
OF money was practically at an end.
NOW let me quote the proviso at the
end OF the Wilson bill
"Bnt this repeal shall not impair or
In any wise effect the legal tender
quality of the standard silver dollars
heretofore coined; and the faith and
credit Of the United States are hereby
pledged to maintain the parity Of the
standard gold and silver coins at the
present legal ratio, or such other ratio
as may be established by law"
Now, here is an apparently harmless
and innocent proyiso tackled onto this
law to repeal u portion of the Sherman
law, and it's ostensible purpose was so
highly moral, and its real purpose so
cleyerly hidden under the canting by.
pocrisY OF it, language that Pecksniif
himself might have been the author Of
II. II these silver dollars were Stand
ard dollars, rs the language of the bill
recites they were redemption dollars,
and are TO this day money of nltimnt
payment. For the only law in existence
which would seem to convey different
intimation is included in the extract
Just quoted If the standard silver
dollars are not redemption money,
then they are not standard" money.
II they are redemption money, then the
solemn pledge to maintain the parity
was solemn farce to the majority of
the intelligent statesmen who voted for
1t, and u cunning expedient to the slick
fnanciers who really understood that
the standard money Of n country is
what is depended upon to maintain its
government, and needs no government
pledge to maintain parity which it
has never lost Let it be borne In mind
that from the time OF the passage OF
the Bland Allison law up to the time of
the repeal of the purchasing clause of
the sherman law, tGere had never been
a time when the bullion value of gold
and silver was on parity ut 10 to ],
and ut the time of that repeal the bul-
lion in silver dollar was worth about
81 cents, but for not one hour Of
these fifteen years was the coined silver
dollar worth less than the coined gold
dollar During all those years there
had never been any pledge to main,
tain tho parity" nor, up to the time
that Mr., Cleveland came to the aid of
John Sherman's scheme, had any claim
been made from respectable source
that the silver dollar was other than
what the laws constituted tia stand
ard dollar which was the redecmer of
promises to pay, and not q thing which
required redemption. What upheld
the standard silver dollar" az money
Of final payment from 1878 when its
bullion value ranged from 90 down to
80 cents, until 1898 when its bullion
value fell TO II centsl There was no
pledge of parity, nor any intimation,
direct or implied, that those dollars
were "redeemable in gold" and yet,
just n few weeks previous to the pass
age of this gratuitous pledge those "5l
cent silver dollars had sold at n prem
ium Of two per cent over gold obliga
tions of the government,
Mr. Editor, behind that parity clause
there WAS a design which marks its
adoption MS another link in the chain of
evidence | am endeavoring to forge
about the conspirators,
1t was put there for twofold pur-
pose: First, it served to allay the ap,
prehensions of some Informed Con,
gressmen concerning silver, while it !
really WAS n direct attack upon the
standard" quality of the silver dollar.
Second, it was formal Legislative hint
that the silver dollar was dollar only
because the government stood pledged
ITO maintain the parity'a pledge
which was intended to inculcate the
idea and familiarize the public mind
with it. that the silver dollar the}
standard silver dollar. owed its cir
cnlation ut par with gold, and its equal
purchasing power with gold, not to the
fact that it is money in itself, but to
90 inference conveyed in that pledge
na.', the government is ready to re
ea' il with gold,
md cont the Wilson bill to repeal the
Y suryeyoig clause of the Sherman law
(aminssed, and with it was passed that
parity" clause which was on its face
30 harmless, but which, by the now
familiar system of tortuous construc-
ton, has been made the pivot on which |
the monetary system of our country has
been turned in complete revolution. II
come now to the next link in the chain
Of evidence to prove the existence of |
conspiracy to overthrow silver, which |
had its origin in this country in 1869,
and the elimination of which is shown |