Year: 1876

in 1873


The creditors of the Government
invariably took their option. They
bought our bonds with Treasury notes
when they ware not worth over fifty
cents on the dollar! / am not COM
planning of that, because it was the
law and when a man lives up to the
letter of the law there is no ground
for complaint. But the debtor class
has an option in that law. They have
n right to pay those bonds and the in
terest on them either in gold or silver
coin. Now it is clearly to be seen that
the object of 1873 was to deprive the
aebtorclass of that right; and it is for
that right l am now contending. l
that the right which was
taken from the debtor by the act OF
1878 should be again restored to them.


Did not the act repudiate the con-
tract2 Did it not say that the debtor
should not have the rights that be
longed to him under the contract !?
And is not that repudiation 1t is of
the same class of legislation as that Of
1869. The act of 1869 was repudi.
atiug act. 1t repudiated the contract
and said that the bonds should be paid
in coin, which under the original con-
tract should have been paid in lawful
money. 1t said that hereafter they
should be paid in coin alone,7 Aud
now, because one kind of coin is de-
preciating in value this bondholding
class is IL OF satisfied with the first re-
pudiation. but come i'm with q second
act, and declare that such
silver coin shall not be regarded as
money.


The object of this amendment is to
prevent this second outrage and act OF
Now, if the debtor class
has a right TO pay their debts in silver
will this Congress deny them that
right? II they have not that right
and Congress should say that silver is
a full legal tender, it is = question for
the courts to determine, aud as mat
ter OF course they are always open TO
decide such questions. From the leg
islation of the past it would seem that
the debtor class have had no rights
here. Shall this thing continue? Are
your constituents all creditors? Mine
belong to both classes.


Bnt the gentleman from Ohio dwells
on the fact that silver has declined in
value. Now, when a contract has
been made and parties bound by it to
pay debt either in silver or gold coin
at its lawful rate, ask if it is any
fault of the debtor if either of these
decline in value before
the debt falls due? l never heard that
question raised before. Suppose q
contract to be made to pay a debt in
wheat or corn and the price fixed is
the standard of certain number of
pounds to the bushel, and when the
time for delivery arrives grain has de-
clined in value, would any sensible Or
honest man say for that reason more
pounds should be put into the bushel
to pay the debtP There is just as
much sense in one proposition as the
other. Certainly your contract is not
to pay in them at their value when the
contract was made, and it would be
as much an act of injustice to the peo-
pie to change that standard as it
would be to the bondholder should
they appreciate in value. But would
like the gentleman from Ohio or any
other gentleman occupying the posi-
ton on this question that he does, to
prove to this house that silver has de-
clined and that gold has not advanced
in value. Iwould like any gentleman
to show how he would determine the
question of values compared with each
other. We know that they are eepa-
rate and apart. Is there not just as
much argument to prove that gold has
advanced as that silver has declined
The argument that silver has declined
is because in many governments, in
our own, silver has been de-
Has not that act alone
created a greater demand for gold !?
The value of all commodities is regu-
lated by supply and demand; if you
cut off the demand for one and in
crease it for another | ask if each
would not be equally affected by the
change. aa Il So is


The question now is whether or no
we have aright to pay our debts III
silver? The word coin used in all the
acts authorizing the issue and sale OF
bonds, according to Chief Justice
Chase, means that we have two kinds
of dollars; we have one dollar, a, pa
per dollar, and we have coin dollar,
which is piece of gold and silver of
a certain degree of weight and fine
ness" Again in the act Of 1869, W hich
was an act to explain what the lam
guage of the various acts relating 10
the issue of bonds meant, you will
lind that the word "coin" means gold
or silver, and it was in consequence


of the use of that language that the in


famous act OF 1873 was passed. l


want the double standard restored,


because all contracts have been made


under the double stardard, which has
existed since the foundation of the
Government The silver dollar that


we now seek 10 restore was inaugu-


rated by Mr.. Hamilton In 1892, and


has never been changed since that day


so afar the amount of pure silver it


contains is concerned, while the stand.


ard of gold has been changed twice.


*a* ON Y If you pass


this bill making silver a full legal ten.


der, you will find. in my Judgment