The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-09
EIGHT GOVERNORS OF ALABAMA
1374-190I
No. 78-Conditions of the Farmers Movement
Thomas Seay, Governor
Cont inued)

national bank" OF issue, because ii
was a private corporation. legally ere
ated with a vested right in the ma
tiona1 debt Under the law the nation
al bank could issue no notes and draw
no profits from the issue of notes, the
moment the national debt ceased to
exist. The producers OF the country
argued that in their capacity as bear
ers of the burden OF the national debt,
IT should be paid off and extinguished ed
in accordance with the practice from
the beginning of the life of the ma
tion and In plain and imperative duty
to the cause of liberty.
The farmers, especially the farmers
of the south, protested against the
monetary system established in ma
tional bank currency, because, among
other reasons. the statute which cre-
ated the national bank of Issue denied
to them the use of their land as coll
lateral with the bank and because the
same statute taxed out OF existence the
state banks which had from the begin
ming supplied the necessary currency
with the farm land as collateral.
Let US inquire to what extent pre-
cedent justified the demands of the
farmers and other producing classes.
Let us discover somewhat of the the
ories Of money and finance held by the
authors of the principles on which the
lists
No one feature of the government
was more laboriously put in form of
written language than government con-
troll of the money of commerce.
The constitution of 1887 first took
away from the several states the right
which up to that time they enjoyed to
coin money and to make any substance
but silver and gold legal tender in the
discharge OF debt.
Accordingly. in exactly so days after
the first Congress was organized and
began the work of legislation a bill
was passed to establish a mint at the
seat of government to coin silver. gold
and copper money.
There was not a silver or gold mine
in the United States. Already a con-
siderable commerce with Europe was
maintained and in the purchase OF
American commodities foreign coin
came in no small quantity. 1t was In
knowledge of these circumstances that
the trainers of the constitution gave
to Congress the right to regulate the
value OF foreign coin.
The government went on with little
use for the mint at Philadelphia. The
two terms of Washington. the one term OF
Adams, the two terms of Jefferson, the
two of Madison expired and yet the gold
for the mint remained in very limited
| supply. The second war for independ-
ence was won by Jackson and the west
ern frontiersmen at New Orleans, with
| out money from the mint. In 1924, while
the second term of Mr.. Monroe was ex-
| piring. the only gold produced in the
| United States was from a small area In
4 North Carolina. In that year the yield
was $1,000. In 10 years, from 1924, gold
was mined in six states and the mint al
Philadelphia turned out SS6S,000 of the
1I1ot An M rt-
| ed by the arts or exported.
| At length another mint was set up al
New Orleans. to accommodate the for
eign commerce of the Mississippi valley
The act providing for coinage of the
United States prescribed the ratio between
silver and gold to be 10 ounces of silver
to one of gold. The ratio proved to be toe
low. Notwithstanding the great and ever
| increasing output of the mines, gold coin
refused to circulate. The metal either in
| the form of bullion or in coin direct from
| the mint became a commodity of COM
merce.
| The ideas OF government entertained
| by Gen. Alexander Hamilton, Secretary
| of the Treasury, were the reverse of the
| American idea. He was the father of the
very principles which the farmers a cen
| tury later and their allies, the wage-earn-
| ers. sought to overthrow.
Two years after the government went
| into operation Hamilton succeeded in cre-
| ating a national debt and a national bank
of issue. 1t was the interest then OF
| the national bank of issue to discourage
| tho gold currency. Hence the coinage
| ratio OF 10 to l remained and gold did
| not circulate. In every state a large
number of state banks of issue sprang
up. AS late as 1860 the cotton shipped
out of the port of Mobile, nearly a mil
| lion bales, was all paid for there by the
! notes of the banks of Alabama.
President Jackson. in his first tenn, 1928
| 32. succeeded In putting the national bank
| OF the United States out of business
In Jackson's second term Senator
Thomas H. Benton or Missouri succeeded
| in restoring gold to the currency by q
bill fixing the ratio with silver at 16 to l.
That ratio has been preserved to this
| day.
Gold coin came into general circulation
| when in 1850 the mines Of Californis
and Australia emptied their product or
| the market. The United States then cir.
culated coins OF 81, $3.50, s.. SO, $2t
and $50.
Gold and silver were legal tender alike
| for any amount up to 1853. The fractional
silver was then debascd by act Of Con
gress and the legal tender limited to S.
This was the general coinage situation
when in the first administration Of Gen.
eral Grant, in 1872 the republican Con-
gress dropped the silver dollar from the
coinage. 1t was not the first time the
piece had been withdrawn from the mint
! In Mr.. Jeffersons time in the presi-
dency 1t appeared that the silver dollar
pieces were exported as bullion. He ad-
vised that their mintage be suspended
| to cut short the trade in them as bullion
but the same metal went into the frac-
| tiona1 coins.
| In 1873, the second term Of GSneral
| Grant. the silver dollars then in the
country were demonitized. This anti
silver legislation was in the interest OF
| tho national banks of issue.
Silver was then higher on the market
than gold.
| In 1878 Mr.. Bland of Missouri carried
| through the lower House of Congress 8
bill to restore the silver dollar to the
mint and to reinvest 1t with legal ten.
der quality.
| This bill for free coinage of the silve,
dollar at 16 to !, went to the Senate
There after long and violent opposition
to require the government to coin not
| less than two and a half million silver
dollars per month, but to forbid the coin
| ing Of more than four million per month
all at the ratio OF IS to l.
This law remained in operation as tn,
Bland-Allison act from 1878, IL years, un
til 1880. In the latter year Senator Johr
Sherman OF Ohio succeeded in passing
| an act repeating the Bland Allison coin.
| age law. He passed bill known a,
| the Sherman silver purchase act" The
act required the Secretary OF the Treas.
ury to purchase monthly 100000 ounces
of silver bullion or SO much thereof al
| the market might offer.
In payment for the bullfon-it came ir