Congressional Record-House. 3265
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1886. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 3265 8weden, Norway, and Denmark had already demonetized silver, and of Europe results from the demonetization of silver there and the fre United States in 1873 followed stealthily in their wake. England scarcity of gold. had been on the gold standard since 1819. None of these things had Contraction of the currency of a country means a shrinkage of the affected the relations oftlie two metals; but when Germany, to whom values measured by that currency. This shrinkage means the paralysis France had agreed to pay one thousand millions of dollars as war in of commerce and industry. It buries capital; it starves labor. No demnity, determined on demonetization, France, Italy, Belgium, Switz one will buy what can be bought cheaper a fortnight hence. No one erland, and Greece, in order to protect their stocks of gold, limited their will manufacture what can be made at a lower price next month. So, coinage of silver. In 1878 they totally suspended. · Silver thus began finding nothing to do abroa{l, money goes back home, and becomes, as to fall in 1873, and had already fallen greatly when in 1878 we passed it is now, cheap in money centers, not because it is. abundant, but be the Bland bill, providing for the coinage of at least $2,000,000 a month. cause there is no demand for it. It goes begging for borrowers because We hoped it would rise under the impulse of this measure, but it has no prudent man will use it. This has brought about trade depres..c;ion continued to fall. .AB it 11M fallen here so it has fallen in Europe and all over Europe. English statesmen are beg~ning to seek a remedy. A.sin.; or, what is the same thing, gold has risen. In the mean time t.wo Mr. Childers, chancellor of the exchequer, eighteen months ago pro international monetary conferences have been held in Paris-one in posed to coin a sovereign one-tenth less in value than the present one. 1878 and one in 1881. A. study of the proceedings of these conferences, Mr. Grenfell, the president of the Bank of England; Sir Thomas Mon- . CiSpecially of that of 1881, is instructive. From this study, which I ta.gue and other great bankers, Mr. Thomas Sutherland and other great have made most carefully, two conclusions follow: First, that there was ship-owners, are urging bimetallism; and the sentiment ·in its favor then in 1881 a general concurrence in the truth of what Bismarck said, grows in England with every day of the continued distress that, is de '·'the blanket gold was too narrow to cover the nations that were tug pressing the industries of Great Britain. ging for it.', The commerce of the world had vastly increased, and the In Germany, as wages fall, as labor h thrown out of employment supply of gold was falling short. Secondly, the gold standard nations and prices shrink, the revolution in public sentiment in favor of bimet represented there, Great Britain and Germany especially, werean.xious allism has become so great that Herr Scholtz, the German minister of over the situation, and held ·out inducements to France, the United finance, in the Reichstag, on February 21,1886, stated that the empire States, and other nations to adopt free coinage. "was ready to consider measures for protecting the value of silver If they would do this Germany was willing to restore part of its silver within its own national boundaries if any practicable plan could be circulation; Great Britain offered to use more silver. But France and brought forward for relieving the pressure ofmonometallism complained the United States were represented by statesmen who were not carried of by the farmers and other land interests., away by any feeling of venge..'lnce against those who had wrongfully There is reasonable ground to hope that these great nations, before demonetized silver in the Un_ited States, who were influenced by no they shall emerge from the dark days t-hey are now passing through, motives of hostility to any class of our citizens, and who considered the will consent to join us in the restoration of silver. I will not consent question calmly on its merits. These representatives of the United to vote for the passage of n bill which will enable these nations to re States were S. Dana Horton, W. M. Evarts, and Allen G. Thurman. lieve their necessities by draining us of our gold. This would be fatal In the course of Mr. Thurman's reply to a "questionaire," he said: to the present prospects of silver. Each of the propositions, as I understand it, requires that the United States But, Mr. Chairman, while I am unwilling to vote for unlimited coin and France, and perhaps the chief states of the Latin Union, shall open their age, I yet c..'l.n not consent to the repeal of the Bland act. To my mind mints, and keep them open, for the free and unlimited coinage of silver into money having full legal-tender quality. It. is not for me to say what France or there is no argument in the declamation on this floor about the "dis the stat~s of the Latin Uniont..or other states of Europe here represented, may honest dollar.'' If the dollar is dishonest because its bullion is equal think of such propositions. Their delegates will answer for them if they see to but 80 cents in gold, then our half-dollar is dishonest because it fit to do so. I can speak in reference to my own Government alone. Would such an agreement as that proposed be acceptable to the United States?" I am equals but 37 cents in gold, and the nickel 5-cent piece is dishonest bound, speaking frankly, to say I think it would not. There is a great and because its bullion value is but seven-tenths of a cent. What gentle vital ditl"erence between a grand bimetallic union, that, by fixing and main man is there on this floor who would not ~tart &t the proposition that taining a stable relation between gold silver, would stop, or, at least,. power fully tend to stop, the efforts so often made to drain a state at one time of one he was no better than a thiefbecause he paid the newsboy only a nickel, of the metals and at another time of the other, and a little and half-way union a dishonest coin, for a newspaper ? that mi~ht lea...-e each state liable to a recurrence of such drains. Thetruth is, acoin isworthjustwhat itwillbuy. If asilverdollar Now, ifI understand-the views of my Government and of the American people, they do not desire an alternative standard, gold to-day and sill"er to-morrow, will purchase, as it does, just as much as a gold dollar, it does equally nor a single standard, whether of silver or gold, aud certainly not a single silver honest work and is just as honest a coin a.s the yellow dollar. The fact standard. Their stock of silver money is less in proportion to the wealth and that the silver dollar lias for seven years maintained itself side by side population of the country than that of most commercial nations, while on the other hand their stock of gold is very large, is st-eadily increasing day by day, with gold is ·a refutation of the fundamental proposition of the mono and is likely, unless prevent~d by some blunder, to continue to increase. metallists that the State can weigh and measure coin, but that it is Under such circumstances, it is but natural that the Government should hesi powerless in any manner or to any extent whatever to affect its value. tate to enter into an agreement, the effect of which might possibly be to lessen the amount. of our gold. lt would cheerfully become a party to a great bimetal It is a demonstration of that truth imbedded byourfathers in the Con lic union, which, if formed, would of course open its mints to the free coinage of stitution, that Government can not only coin gold and silver, but may, -silver; but I must be permitted to doubt whether, without such a union in e:x: to some extent at least, "regulate the value thereof." ~stence, it will by convention surrender its power over its own coinage. All history, however, warns us that there is a limit to this power of What Thurman was nnw~lling to pledge the United States to embark the law. France, Belgium, and other European countries ceased to coin upon, even with the aid of Switzerland, Belgium, Greece, Italy, and silver because they feared they were nearing the danger-line; and no France, namely, the unlimited coinage of silver, I am unwilling, by one knew better than the framers of the Constitution of the United States my vote, to sa.y this Government shall undertake single-handed. that this control of the law over coinage might be abused, and for this The advocates of unlimited coinage ask how the silver of Europe and reason they took away the power over money from the States. The Asia can come to the United States when most of the silver is coin and original States, especially .~assachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode passes now at a higher ratio in relation to gold than that established by ~and, had their fiat-money troubles and taught their lessons before law in the United States.