-Uf
ffe
6 The Conservative.
wishes of the people in this regard and
stop the present suicidal nml dcstnictivo
policy of contraction.
"Wo believe that , a United States note
issued directly by the government , and
convertible on demand into United
States obligations , bearing a rate of in
terest at. . not exceeding one cent a dny
on each one hundred dollars , nnd ex
changeable for United States notes at
par , will afford the best circulating me
dium ever devised. Such United States
notes should be full legal tenders for ail
purposes , except for the payment of
such obligations as are by existing con
tracts especially made payable in coin ,
and wo hold that it , is the duty of the
government to provide such circulating
medium and insist , in the language of
Thomas Jefferson , that "bank paper
must bo suppressed and the circulation
restored to the nation to whom it bo-
longs.Vf
" \Vf \ further protest against the mile of
i/oreritment / hondxfor the iinrjioae of fnir-
chttxiitij silrer to In' lined an ti snhblilnte
for our more coiireiiient and less Jlnctnat-
'hnj fractional cnrrencif , which , althoityh
well calculated to enrich owners of xilrer
mines , yet in operation it will still fur
ther oppress in taxation an already over
burdened people. "
In the light of recent history this
"protest" against silver as a substitute
for fractional currency on the ground of
enriching owners of silver mines is most
significant , aud the attitude of the people
I ; ple of the country toward money and
the condition of the times could not
more clearly be set forth than in the
money planks of these platforms.
Both republicans and democrats de
manded a return to specie payment , the
maintenance of the national honor and
credit by redemption of the nation's out
standing obligations whether bonds or
greenbacks. The republican party
looked forward to a return to sound
money within a few years by gradual
progress with the least disturbance to
business , giving debtor and creditor
ample notice to adjust their debts. The
party was animated by a patriotic desire
to strengthen the public credit , so as to
bring up the value of the depreciated
paper dollar to a par with ijold. This
policy commended itself as conservative ,
and as events showed was supported by
the people.
AT THIS CALL OF THE CREDITOR.
On the other hand , the democrats ,
chafing under restraint of the republican
administration , impatient to go by leaps
and bounds to specie payment , distrust
ful of the pledges given by their oppon
ents , savagely denounced the resumption
act of 1875 as a makeshift and an empty
promise made in bad faith. It de
nounced the great expenditures of the
government as extravagance and wast
ing of the revenues and burdening of
the people with excessive taxation. It
demanded a judicious system of prepar
ation to a return to Kjtecie payments
which shall enable the nation soon to
assure the world of its ability and its
readiness to pay its debts "at the call of
( he creditor. " The democratic platform ,
surely , was a strict demand for honest
money and called for strict accoxmtabil-
it.y of the nation to pay its just debts
"at the cull of the creditor entitled to pay
ment , " not , "at the option of ( he debtor , "
as the gospel of that party for 18(5 ! ) (
preaches. "Whatever other shortcomings
the democrats of 187(5 ( have to answer ,
they connot be charged with the sin of
repudiation.
Looking back after twenty years to
that time when the democratic party
was most keenly alive to the mistakes of
the party in power and denounced the
republicans for their failings , is it not
significant and remarkable that not a
word appears in the platform of 1870 in
condemnation of the "crime of 1875 ! ? "
"What , a battle cry that would have made
for a campaign slogan when the "crime"
was still fresh and "just discovered , " as
the Bryan orators would have us believe.
Not in 1880 , nor 1884nor 1888 , nor in 1802
was the "crime" found out. Is it not
astonishing that the first and only men
tion of the "crime of 1873" in the plat
form of the democratic party appears in
the platform of 1851(5 ( , twenty years after
wards , and then only because its presi
dential candidate inspired the plank.
And how will the populists of 18(5 ! ) ( , who
have opened their arms for the Weavers
and other derelicts of 1872 , explain away
the protest appearing in the greenback
platform of the year 1870 against the
purchase of a little silver by our gov
ernment for subsidiary coin and frac
tional currency which was denounced
"as well calculated to enrich tlie oicners
of sileer milieu and still further r/ < / /r.f / / /
ta.ralion an alreadiorerlnirdened / people
ple ! " It. is evident the greenbackcrs ,
never heard of the "crime of 1873" until
they wore told of it in the year of grace
180(5. ( They likewise demanded the
"immediate aud unconditional repeal of
the resumption act of 1875" not because ,
like the democrats , they mistrusted the
republican party to restore specie pay
ment , but because they wanted to keep
the inconvertible paper money and
never go back to a coin basis.
COIN AND SPECIE PAYMENT.
Now what did the republican party
mean in its platform when it referred to
the redemption of the United States
notes in coin and a return to specie pay
ment * ! The platform can best bo ex
plained by reference to the money plat
form of 1880 ; the platform upon which
Garfield stood. This was the year fol
lowing the resumption of specie pay
ments accomplished January 1 , 1879.
The republican party in its platform of
1880 , congratulated the people and
boasted that :
"It has raised the value of our paper
cnrreiK'i/ from 88 per cent to the par of
! /old ; it has restored upon a solid basis
payment in coin of all national obliga
tions , and has given us a currency abso
lutely good and equal in every part of
our extended country.
"Wo affirm that the order established
and the credit acquired should never be
impaired ; that the pensions promised
should bo paid ; that the debt so much
reduced should bo extinguished by the
full payment of every dollar thereof. "
The republican party was proud that
it had raised the depreciated paper of
the war to the par of ijatd and restored
the payment of the nation's obligations
in coin. From the use of the words i/old
and coiti in the plank just qtioted , is it. .
not plain enough language that the terms
are used to mean the same thing , and
were so intended by the party which
made the platform and by the people who
voted for it. The people of 1870 and
1880 when they spoke of coin or specie
meant i/old. / They certainly did not
mean silver. How do wo know this ?
Because there was an insignificant
quantity of silver dollars in circulation
from 1702 to 1878. Let us inquire into
this statement for a moment. From
1702 to 1878 a period of eighty-five years
the United States mint coined one billion
in gold and eight million of silver dollars
lars , an annual average of $100,000 in sil
ver , which disappeared from circulation
after 1834 as fast as minted. At the
outbreak of the war in 1801 there was in
circulation in the United States in specie
the sum of $240,400,000 , of which a mere
fraction was in silver dollars.
EVERY DOLLAR WORTH 100 CENTS.
Ill 1870 , the period of paper money and
suspension of specie payment , the mint
turned out $45,000,000 in gold , which
circulated only in California nnd was
held elsewhere for speculation and expert -
port , making the stock of the precious
metal held in the country a precarious
holding. Not a single standard silver
dollar was coined or in circulation. But
the government minted that year nearly
nine millions of silver halves , quarters
and dimes , the subsidiary coinage , and
more than six millions in trade dollars
on individual account , a legal-tender for
$5 ; the small change of the people. In
1880 , one year after the resumption of
specie payment and the accunmlntion of
the gold reserve and two years after the
passage of the Bland act , the total
amount of gold coin and bullion supply
in the United States was 300 millions ;
the amount of standard silver dollars
and certificates nearly fifty million dollars
lars ; the amount of greenback legal-
tender notes , 340 millions. All these is
sues by the pledges of the government
exchanged equally , dollar for dollar , and
wore worth one hundred cents inold. .
From 1800 when Jefferson suspended
the coinage of the standard silver dollar
to 1878 , gold was the "coin" that wont
to the mint in any quantity and was the
"specio" with which the people paid
their obligations. The average citizen
never saw a standard silver dollar for
none was in general circulation.
In the common language of the day ,
in the world of business and banking as
well as in the halls of congress for
seventy years , "coin" and "specio"
meant gold. The people so understood
it when the republican platform of 1880