'Cbe Conservative.
was drafted. And the democrats sub
scribed to the saiuo article of faith in
that year and found no reason to com
plain when the convention which nom
inated Hancock spoke for "honest
money , t.ho . strict maintenance of the
public faith , consisting of t/oltl , and > ' / -
rcr and fxtjtcr convertible into t-n'ni on
( lemiind. Another proof to the same
fact is the greenback platform of J87(5. (
The followers of Peter Cooper under
stood coin to mean gold or they would
not have "protested against the sale of
government bonds for the purpose of
purchasing silver to enrich owners of
silver mines. "
TJTK ULAND-ALLISON ACT.
It will bo remembered that in 1878 the
Bland-Allison act was passed , a measure
which had for its purpose the encourage
ment of the silver mining interests of
the West by affording an enlarged mar
ket for the sale of bullion silver. The
government stepped into the open mar
ket as a competitor to buy silver. Its
object was two-fold ; firstly , to afford
American silver something in the nature
of the benefits of protection which it
threw about the American manufac
turer and the American miner of coal
and iron ; secondly , as a buyer of two
million dollars' worth of silver every
month at its current price , to raise the
price of silver bullion by creating a
steady demand for the increased out
put. The bullion price of silver , it was
noticed , had gradually sagged in the
markets of the world. It is true the
world's product had increased enor
mously , having doubled in quantity in
the twenty years and was estimated at
seventy-live million ounces in 1878 of
which the United States contributed
about half with a commercial value of
forty million dollars.
It was urged in and out of congress
and by the press , and it was believed by
the people who wanted to give the larg
est encouragement to the silver indus
try , that if the government bought the
surplus of the American stock annually
at the current price of silver , the steady
demand of the government would so en
hance the remainder as to bring the
market price back to about $1 .80. The
average price had been $1.8(5 ( an ounce
in 1851) ) , but kept sagging in price a little
every year until in 1878 it was $1.21)8 )
an ounce. And the American silver
mine-owner in 187(5 ( when silver had
reached an output of thirty million
ounces and was worth in the market
$1.150 and still falling , said ho would bo
satisfied if silver was restored to the
price of $1.298 , and this could bo done
if the government would only aid him a
little in taking his surplus off his hands.
As a compromise therefore between
the various parties in congress it was
finally agreed in 1878 by congress to
adopt Mr. Eland's act which provided
that the government buy two million
dollars' worth of American silver every
month , coin it into standard silver dollars
lars and circulate them as legal-tender
at their face value for all debts ex
cept where otherwise stipulated in the
contract. So the government bought
eighty-eight cents' worth of silver , put
its dollar stamp on it and circulated it
as money worth one hundred cents.
DKMOCRATIC PLATFORM OF J884.
The drift of the times to encourage
silver is reflected in the political plat
forms of the two parties. The demo
cratic platform of 1884 under which
Grover Cleveland was elected over
James G. Blaine declared in general
terms that
"Wo believe in honest money , the
gold and silver coinage of the constitii-
tion , and a circulation medium converti
ble into such money without loss. "
The republicans going a stop farther
said
"We have always recommended the
best money known to the civilized
world and we urge that efforts should
bo made to unite all commercial nations
in the establishment of an international
standard which shall fix for all the rela
tive value of gold and silver coinage. "
This was the first mention in a party
platform recommending the establish
ment by international agreement of an
international standard. Already in 1878
an international monetary conference
was held at Paris at the invitation of
Franco in which the United States and
leading nations of Europe took part.
Again in J881 a second monetary con
ference was called together at Paris to
discuss the causes of the decline of sil
ver and to find a remedy. The cause of
the fall in the commercial value of silver
was not hard to find. It was duo to the
increased output of the world's supply
in late years broxight about by the dis
covery of now fields and the opening of
heretofore inaccessible mines by rail
roads coupled with a cheapening of the
cost of producing silver as improved
methods and labor-saving devices were
invented. As the price of bullion foil ,
it had its effects upon the European sil
ver-using countries. At first they tried
like Franco to adjust the mint ratio to
the commercial value. But this method
proved unstable as the commercial
value kept falling , faster than the mint
ratio could keep pace with the decline.
Attempts were made by national agree
ment , such as the monetary treaty be
tween Austria and the German states in
1857 ; later by Franco , Belgium , Switzer
land , Italy , Greece , Rouuiania , Spain
and others from 1865 known as the
Latin Union to buoy up sinking silver.
But England had gone to a gold bnsis as
early as 181(5. ( The abundance of gold
after 1850 , when gold was discovered in
California and Australia , made it possi
ble for Europe to adopt gold , and as
nations grow commercially stronger and
silver commercially weaker they one by
one discarded silver as the monetary
basis very much as the modern railroad
train has taken the place of the slow
stage coach for transportation. The
United States practically followed the
example of England in going to a gold
basis in 1884. Germany replaced the
silver standard by that of gold in 1871.
In 1878 the United States , Holland ,
Denmark , Sweden , and Norway sus
pended silver coinage. The same year
Belgium and France , and two years
afterwards Italy , limited the coinage of
silver on individual account. It was n
period of transition from n silver to a
gold basis for all the commercial pow
ers of the world , a process still going on.
The transition is analogous to the
change early in the century from hand
work to machinery in England , Amer
ica and the Continent , accompanied by
violent protest from the working class
es before the adjustment was brought
about. By the time the international
monetary conferences met all the lead
ing countries for commercial purposes
were on a gold basis with silver circu
lating on a parity on the pledge of the
respective governments to redeem the
face value of their silver in gold. An
international agreement therefore ap
peared to the friends of silver as the
only way to prevent silver from going
out of use as money except for small
change or subsidiary coinage. The in
ternational conferences of 1878 and 1881
could accomplish nothing more definite
than to call attention to the subsidiary
place silver occupied in the world's cur
rency and to recommend to the govern
ments the necessity of some kind of an
international understanding.
THK REPUBLICAN PLATFORM OF 1888.
The presidential campaign of 1888
turned upon other issues than the money
question , the tariff coming to the fore
ground. For that reason the republi
can platform upon which Benjamin
Harrison secured his election over
Grover Cleveland had little to say on
money :
"Tho republican party is in favor of
the use of both gold and silver as money
and condemns the policy of the demo
cratic administration in its efforts to
demonetize silver. "
The condemnation of the democratic
administration for its "efforts to demon
etize silver" arose from the recommen
dation as far back as 1885 of President
Cleveland to congress to suspend the
further coinage of silver dollars under
the Bland act , and to his known oppos
ition to any further extension of ( ho
coinage of silver under the terms of the
Sherman act then under discussion in
congress.
For the second time , as in 1872 , the
democratic platform for 1888 was silent
on the money question. The election
of Benjamin Harrison could not have
boon otherwise than most gratifying to
the friends of silver. A republican con
gress promised to buy 4,600,000 ounces
of silver each month , fifty-four million
ounces annually from the silver mine
/