Willmar tribune., 1899-12-27

II the Gold Standard Is Good. WHY
Not De Open and Above Board
About 1t.

If the gold standard is good thing,
measure that appeals to the sound
judgment CT an intelligent public, why
was it necessary to pass the demon
etization act by means of falsehood,
fraud and forgery? Will some gold
standard advocate please tell us why?
An intelligent public is generally able
to appreciate a good thing when it it
presented to them in the light of it's
own merits, without having to be forced
to accept it by means that are for
bidden by the moral law and made Grim
inal by the statutes.
It was the fifteenth section of the So
called mint law of 1873 that demon
etized silver. It accomplished its pur-
pose: by simply omitting the silver dol
lar from the list of coins, and confining
the legal tender feature of subsidiary
silver coins to five dollars. The follow
ing is a literal copy of this infamous
section, which was printed near the
middle of bill that measured over II
feet in length when set in type:
Sec. IS That the silver coins Of the
United States shall be a trade dollar,
half-dollar. or 5o-cent piece, a quarter
dollar, or 25-cent piece, dime, or ten-cent
piece; and the weight of the trade dollar
| shall be 420 grains troy; the weight of the
half dollar shall be IL grams and one-half
OF gram; the Quarter-dollar and the dime
shall be, respectively, one-half and one
| fifth of the weight of said half-dollar; and
said coins shall be legal tender at their
nominal value for any amount not ex-
| ceeding five dollars in one payment.
Now, for the purpose of bringing the
issue squarely before the public, we
| assert that this section was not only
| worded and printed in such a way as to
avoid detection and to deceive, but it
was forged. It was not in the bill that
passed congress, it was never read
before either house of congress, it
was never debated by congress-; in
fact it was not before congress in any
shape or form whatever, but it was
in the bill that the president signed.
1t was plain, deliberate, criminal forg-
cry. We fully appreciate the gravity
of this charge, and we do not make it
with view of creating a sensation.
We state a simple fact, the proof Of
which we have in our possession.
Who was the forger? AS to the ac-
tual writing of the forged section, that
is a matter of conjecture, but cir
cumstantial evidence stronger than
that which has been known to hang
men points to the party who might
have procured the forgery. Congress
will be asked to investigate this matter
either at the coming session or the one
| that will meet in December, 1900, and
all the evidence will then be submitted
and published.
During the time that it was before
congress this so-callcd mint bill' was
| also sent to England and submitted
to the board of directors of the Bank
of England for their approval. Why
was it necessary to refer an American
law to the Bank of England for it's sane
ton? Will some gold standard advo-
cate please answer this question? We
would like to ask, also, if conscientious
ly honest men, knowing these state
ments to be true, can continue to give
their support to law that was secured
by falsehood, fraud and forgery, and
which had to be secretly sanctioned by
the Bank of England before it could
pass the American congress. Of course
some will say that this is mere trick
of politics, and ease their conscience
in that way; but in due time, and in the
proper place, proofs will be presented
that are absolutely overwhelming
Mississippi Valley Democrat.