Newspapers / The Catawba County News … / Oct. 27, 1893, edition 1 / Page 1
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J4 rin: I ; n t i; i: n;is v. Otlirc TI'KNS Ol'T GOOD WO IK. SUBSCRIBE FOB THE ExTEnPBISE IT PRINTS thn NEWS. $1.00 A YEAR. CENTER VOL. XV NO NEWTON N. C. FRIDAY OCTOBER 27, 1893. PRICE: $1.00 PER YEAR. N EWTON TIT? PRISE II - II II 1 M 11 u -4 LAS S3 SHOE Nft'WfP. Do you wear them? When next In need try a pair. n a I,, a i ucii in iiiaworiaa Acnn 00 $2.00 FOR LADIES $2.00 FOR BOYS V. is" If you want a fine DRESS SHOE, made In the latest styles, don't pay $6 to $8, try my $3, $3.50, $4.00 or $5 Shoe. They fit equal to custom made and look and wear as w;lt. If you wish to economize In yourfootwear, Jo so by purchasing W. L. Douglas Shoes. Name and price stamped on the bottom, look for It when you buy. W. L. DOUGLAS, Brockton, Mass. Sold by SMYRE, HHYXE & Co. Marshall, L. Mays. Xeavtox, x. C. PHYSICIAN AND SUIIGEOX OFFICE AT SMITH AND SMYRE. Kooins at Hotel Newton. J. C. WHITESIDE, M. D., PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON, Newton, N. C. Offers his Professional services to the people of Newton and the public goneral : :.v feeling grateful for a very liberal pat ronage in the past, hopes to merit a con rinuanee of the same. Special attention given to diseases of women and children. Mfice at residence. P. P. JLaugcnour, tjg DEMIST. Newton, N. C. Best Work, Low Pf ices, Jdv Methods, Late Improvements. ftaSTWlLL. ATTEMI CALLS anywhere that TIIK AMolNT OF WORK IS SUFFICIENT TO JISTIKV IT. Tt'th put in without plates by t he lie system of crown and brkl re work. J. B. LITTLE, RESIDENT DENTIST. NEWTON, N. C. Office m Younl $ Shrum's Building. GEORGE McCORKLE, ATTORNEY AND COUNSELLOR AT LAW, NEWTON, N. C. Will practice in thi find surrounding counties and in the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Collections and returns thereof promptly made. Office opposite Court House, on Main St. J. II C A M PRE LL,M.D . Newtos, - - - - N. C, PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON, Offers Lis professional services to the people of Newton and Catawba County. July 14th, 1891. ,J . E. THORNTON, K EEPS constantly on hand all sizes of Wood Coffins. Also Burial Robes. Strangers ! ending for coffins must send good security. .S'j cj one mill- north ol i'ovrt Uovse, NEWTON, N. 0. Dr. J. M. McCORKXE, Nkwton, - - - - - N. C. Offers his professional services to the people of Newton. After the first of May he will extend his practice tothecountry. A. P Lynch. F. M. Williams. Lynch & Williams, DEALERS IN Ileal Estate, Mines and Mining Propety, NEWTON, N. C. tSTSpecial attention given to Mining Propriety. Correspondence solicited. "ERNEST L. MOOR'eT FASHIONABLE HARDER HAIR DRESSER, Newton, - - - - - N. C. lie keeps a, Fiivt Class Tonsorial Parlor where vou will always find clean towells mid sharp razors, and a polite and at teniivebarber, Every fm; coming to Newton desiring hiiv thing in the Tonsorial Art will be phased alter they call on me, for I always please all my customers. Indispensable in Every good Kitchen. AsJ every good housewife knows, the difference between appetiz ing, delicious cooking and the opposite kind is largely in deli cate sauces und palatable gra vies. Now, these require astrong, delicately flavored stock, and the best stock is Liebig Company's Extract of Beef. 3.5 2.50 Af 2.25 Dowd's Lecture. Noble THE LATE FINANCIAL TROUBLE. A STRONG PLEA FOR A SOUND CUR RENCY THE PROFESSOR DOES NOT RELIEVE IN THE PERIODIC CHARACTER OF PANICS THEY GENERALLY' OCCUR, HOWEVER, AFTER A TIME OF EXCEPTIONAL PROSPERITY. Ti.e followiug is the Wctnre deliv ered bv Prof. Jercuie Dowd, of Trin ity Ctlloge, at the Y. M C. A- of Cnarlotte, last Thursday evening. Prof. Dowd said : Ladies and Gentlemen : No one knows more about the efs frrcts of fire than one who has been hurt provided he comes out hlive. Upon the same logic I maintain that ttie man who knows moat about the financial trouble is one who has been in it and Mt its effects provided he baa come out alive. As I have been a sufferer from the recent panic, I congratulate you on your wisdom in selecting me to enlighten you upon its causes and effect. There aie a great many different varieties of panics. The military panic had its origin in a general of Bacchus who contrived to strike ter i or into an opposing army. When a young dandy or dude banke too much on the cut of his clothes or the cbarm of his intellect, and finds him self rejected about the time he vens lures to spoil the crease in his pants his condition may be said to be that of a panic. When your Uncle Sam presumes too mueh on hip re sources and vtntursUo fsr in bis flirtation with Lame Fortune, he often experiences a similar eeusation a sudden collapse of coufi lence and, perhaps, the rupture of a sus pender. Financial panics are like the others nauml, in their origin and effects, oi ly tbat money is at stake instead of life or love. Panics occur generally aftrr a pr rion of exceptional prosperity. The expansion of the Bupply of mt-ney stirs up the epiiit of enterprise. Crtdit becotres easy upon which vast ntw enterprises aie set to work. Speculation runs high and everything apparently turns to gold. At least something happens which absorbs the gold cr silver, upon whish credit id based. Then credit contracts, cotficUtce disappears and a panic breaks out everybody wants to un load and buyers flee from the mar kets. Prices fall lower and lower and those who have payments to make are involved in failu e. One bankruptcy follows auotber until the prevalence of low prices tempts money to come out from it biding llce. Panics in England have been some what periodic in their visitations and some economists btlteve that a kind of natural law pioduces them. Mr. Jevune says they are caused by spcts on the sun. "'The principal caue,' says he, '"is the uporlatien of spicie Spicie is exported to pay for the im port of giain duriDg years in which the Lai vest is lad. Bad baiveuts ar the result of inclement summers and these are caused by the spots on the sun." If Mr. Jevons is correct in bis views, the Democrats in Congres are making a great mistake in altri. buling the recent panic to the Sher man lw. However, I do not believe in the periodic character of panics and I am inclined to think that their causes. Be somewhat nearer us than the spots on the sun. I believe that all panics can be traced to bad legisla tion or reckless financiering and l at it lies within the province of statesmanship and the science of finance to prevent their occurance. I do not believe that the panic which has just swept over tbeUnited States with such disastrous result, had its origin in the Sherman law, but I do believe that the large vol ume of silver coinage since 1878, ex aggerated the effects of the panic, and constituted a vulnerable point for the attack of a panic which was almost world wide in its sweep, I agree with Senator Daniels, in his recent speech, who says thatfctbe panic began in South America, where there is no Sherman lw. It swept over Great Britain, where there is no Sherman law, and where castles of the British money princes cme tumbling down. It swept on to Austral'a, whose people are the richest in the world per capita, and who have do Sherman law. It agitated Austria, Italy, and India, aDd is now giving Europe the chills, without the frigid presence of a Sherman law." In September, 1857 a panic began in the United States. In November it crossed the Atlantic where it raged with violence. It spread frora Eng land to Hamburg, Scandinavia Cope-bagen and Stockholm. Ik in Prof. vaded Gerciany.VViennn, Egypt, the lodes and Java end c mpleted the circuit of the world by wty of Cb;ll B Lien on Ayres and Rio Janeiro. The fact tbat the movement of goid from tbia country beao two years oerore the Sherman act, d es no!; barmnnizi the Sherman act, doss not harmonize with the theory . tbn! thnt ct is -ntirelv responeibe for our financial trouble. A panic breaking out in one conn try ia likft an epidemic of cbolsra rit will epread when ever condition" exist that invite it. The- inflation of onr currency in the last fev years has given an artificial stimulus to trade and superinduced au ei lirge ment and expansion of credits. From 1880 to 1890 the private indebted ness of the United States iucrewfd 19,700,000. The funded debt of the railroads i: creased 129 per cent., the loans and over drafts ot banks increased from $994,000,000 to $2, 171,000,000. State and muuicipa. indebtedness increased $12,000,0001 The departure of gold from our shores list spring and summer left this immense pyramid of credit standing upon its apex and, of course, a collapse and panic were inevitable. In order to show the pait played in the late crisis by the coinage of 6ilver, I shall have to go somewhat into a discussion of the principles involved in the ubb of gofd and silver as money. People who have no special occa sion to study finance and economic questions, and amature statesmen who, bj reason of the principle of rotation in omcf, annually nil our ball of legislation, very natural iy believe in the free coinage of silver and gold. I believed in it and ad vocated it once myself. The immediate caut-e of all panics is a scarci'.y of money, si' hough the real and remote cause may be its superabundance. Hence the ruassts who tee only surface causes cry out for more mouey and the more thsy get and the more worthless and abundant it gets the more they cry for it. Ihere has been a cLrouic complaint of lick of money through out all ages The supersticioin be lief in the increase of the circulating medium as a means of growing rich 1 as infecUd all races of mankind and perhaps accounts for the ruultiiLcity of articles used as money by primitive communities. Ancient Greece attempted to maintain a triple s'andard consist ing of gold, ilver and oxen. Homer tells us tbat a certain prize for a wrestler was valued at 12 oxen. Mr. Jevous relates tbat a noted Paris einger "made a professional tour around the wot Id and gave a concert in the Society Islands. In exeban e for a selection from Norma and a few othtr songF, ebe was to receive a thiid part of the re ceipts. When counte), her share was found to consist of 3 pigf, 22 turkeys, 44 chickens and 500 cocoa nuts, besides considerable quantities of bananas, lemons ad oranges. As the fair signer could not consume or utilize any considerable portion of this quintuple variety of money, it became necessary in the mtantime'to feed the. pigs and poultry with tbe fruit.'' This incident illustrates some of tbe disadvantages of having too many standards of value. Tbe North American Indians ex perimented to a considerable extent with the double standard. Furs and black and white beads were used as their money. A strirg of black beads one foot long was worth two feet of the white beads. The furs went out of fashion in EeglaDd and destroyed the equilibrium of their currency. Corn, tobacco, egg, dried cod fish, nails, bullets, cotton, iron, lead, tio, coffee, nickel, silver and gold and nearly everything else has been used separately or conjointly by va rious nations and people throughout the past. Mr. Edison, our electrician, has recently suggested the idea of con densing tbe nutritious elements of wheat into small packages and using them for money. This system of money would eliminate the necessity for the sub-Treasury scheme, and if our currency failed to command re spect abroad, we could eat it. The progress of civilization has produced or been followed by a diminution in the number of stand ards used in commercial transactions. The primitive societies have many standards, the more highly develop ed nations of tbe earth have only one. ..The efforts of nations to maintain two or more standards of value have probably been as destructive to hu man progress as all the wars since tbe beginning of the world- Within tbe past few centuries the evils of a double standard have been to a great extent exorcised by a scientific study of the laws underlying the use of gold, silver and other metals aa mon ey. Nearly every nation on the globe has at some time attempted to maintain free coinage of gold and siiwer upon a fixed ratio, but up to the present writing there is no record that the effort wan ever suc cessful. The monetary derange -meuts and eomiijercial calamities en tailed by the efforts to establish a double -tndard were baffling and mystifying alike to statesmen, scbol- ara nnd noanciers until a coin para tively recent time. Aristophanes observed the fact that bad money drove away good money, but did not or could not explain the reason why nor suggest a remedy for the evil The fact or principle that b.d money drives out good money was not generally understood until enun ciated by Sir Thos. Gresham a coun selor of Queen Elizabeth. The prin cipl is now known as the Gresham law throughout tbe civilized word If any nation cot.fers the debt -pay ing privilege upon any two metals or commodities to an unlimited extent the d bts are sure to be paid 'in the more easily acquired commodity. Some of the early American colo. nies allowed tixes to be paid in cat tle with the result that the tax-gath erer was overloaded with tbe lank and spavined variety while tbe slick ano iac were noarded lor nome con sumption. If the United States were to enact that wheat and corn should be legal tenders upon a fixed ratio, the cheapest article would circulate and the one having the higher market velua would be withdrawn for the same reason that the lank and spav ined cattle was paid to tbe tax gath erer and the fat and sleek retained at home. The same principle applies to the use of gold and silver. Until a recent time tbe English people suffered great annoyance from bullion dealers and bankers who made a profit by collecting for the melting pot, the new coins from the mint and passing tbe ill and worn ones into circulition. In 1858 the government of Japan recognized ga'd and silver as legal tender at a latio that undervalued the gold coin. The English merch ants trading in Japan took advantage of the discrepancy and used gold and silver to purchase the Japanese gold at the undervaluation ai.d drained it fiom that country. A eioiilar discrepancy between the market and the legal ratio of gold and silver ?n France between 1849 and 1869 drove out silver and estab lished toe gold standard. In 1870 by a change in the market ratio the gold began to disappear and silver to come back. Sumner relates in hia work on American curreaey tbat tbe legal ratio of gold and silver in Massachu setts in 1762 undervalued siver mak ing it the dearest metal with the re. suit that it was displaced by gold. In 1779 the attempt of Congtess to make a fiat paper moLey circulate on parity with gold, resulted in driving all specie out of circulation leaving a deprec ated paper currency for the business of tbe country worth oi.ly 2 cents on the dollar. In 1780 this paper mouey with the seal of the government on it, (which ac cording to some statement is all tbat is necessary to give value to money) this paper currency was pasted on tbe walls of barber shops in Phila delphia and a dog coated with tar and these legal tenders wan paraded in the streets. Tbe excessive issue of paper mon ey by tbe Middle and Southern States about 1813 drove specie out of those States and caused a suspension of payments by the banks. This process has taken place with every attempt to maintain a double standard. The displacement of one money for an inferior kind was aeon stant source of annoyance to tbe American Colonies prior to the adop tion cf our constitution. The finan cial history of that period furnishes many instances of the operation of the Gresham law. . Tbe market ratio between gold and silver is now about 1 to 24. If we should attempt the free -coinage of silver upon the present legal ratio 1 to 16 tbe inevitable result would be to drive gold out of circulation. A banker or merchant could go in to tbe markets abroad with one -rain of gold and purchase 24 grains of bullion silver. He could take those 24 grains to the American mint and for 16 grains have a eilver dollar coined, leaving 8 grains as a prfit on the transaction. This process car. ried on upon a large scale would be very remunerative, and quickly leave us with an immense volume of silver money depreciated to its market val ue, because no gold would be left in tbe country upon which to main tain it In 1794 the United States govern ment provided for the free coinage of gold and silver upon the ratio of 15 grains of silver to 1 of gold. ' At that time the actual market ratio was 1KJ-to 1. Therefore gold was unl dervalued as compared to lver. It became the dearer metal, being at a premium ever silverat from 5 to 7 per cent, between 1821 and 1834. In obedience to the Gresham law ti e gold ! waa driven away, and silver became the standard of vj lae. Tbe disap pearance of gold was everywhere commented upou. Owners of silver bullion carried it to tbe mints to be coined, because it was worth consid erable more in coin than in bullion. From the foundation of our goven ment to 1834 only $11,825,000 of gold waa coined a period of 42 years while silver,was coined to the amount of $36,575,000. In 1834 the statesmen, seeing tbat tbe free coinage of tbe metals had worked evil, attempted ta rectifv the matter by altering the ratio. Seeing that the gold dollir waa worth more in the markets of the world than tbe silver dollar, thej concluded to di minish the quantity of gold in the dollar so as to bring it down on an equality with the silver dollar. So, without auy regard to the effect on contracts or tbe interity of our mon etary standard, tbe geld dollar was debased 6 5S0 per cent was taken out of the gold dol'ar, reducing it to 23 22 grains of pure gold. This brilliant achievement cost every creditor in the conntry 2 cent on every do lar due. Even by this change the legal ratio and tbe market ratio did not agree. The legal ratio was about 1 to 16 and the market ratio abeut 1 to 15. Thub tbe relation of the two metals was reversed the silver dcllar became worth more than the gold in the gild dollar. In obedince to tbe Graham liw, silver, the dear er metal, was driven out of circula tion and gold came back for coinage, because worth more in coin thau bullion. From 1834 to 1873 there was coined at one mint $759,830,000 of geld and only 843,675,000 of sil ver a period of 40 years. We coin more silver than that now i , two years. Tbe United States has tried tbe free coinage of gold and silver twice. The first attempt by undervaluing gold droe it out of circulition and pi teed us on a silver standard basis. The second attempt by undervaluing silver drove it away and placed us a gold standard basis. The fig ures 1 bave just quoted are tbe proof of thet-e statements. To illus trate how completely the Gresham iw worked in the latter case but r A AAA V O,ouu,uuu ot silver was coined in i the 20 years prior to 1873, yet we were under a free coinage law. ow so much clamored for as a means of increasing tbe volume of money, Silver roee to a premium of 1 to 3 per cent acd was seldom seen in commercial transactions. The fact tbat silver was no longer used in business almost none coined caused Congress to omit any pro vision for its coinage in tbe act of 1873 known as the act demonetizing silver. ! The experience of the United States with tbe double standard is the same as that of all other nations. Every attempt at a double standard has been a failure. The reason lies injthe operation of tbe Gresham law just illustiated. Tbe impossibility of a double- standard is now recog nized by tbe statesmen of the world, except in the United States, where a few of them persist for free coinage in ignorance of a law as well estab lished as that of gravitation acd in blindness to tbe history of their own country. In obedience to tbe bard learned lessons of experience, tbe advanced nations of the world bave discarded the double standard idea and adopt ed what is known as the composite legal tender, but erroneously and popularly termed mono metalism. This system is now firmly establish ed in Great Britain, France, Germa ny, Italv, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Portu gal, Turkey, Brazil, Egypt, Japan and other countries. In none of these countries is there any preten tions toward a double standard. They all recognized gold as the standard of the world. Yet they are not mono-metalic countries. They use silver and other metals in limited quantities. So long as silver or any other coined metal does not get out of proportion to the geld circulation of a country there is no d-nger of the operation of the Gresham law. Under our limited coinage system, if an ounce of gold will buy 24 ounces of silver in a forign market, there is no dan ger of an influx of silver, because only a limited quantity is coined at the mint, and no man will speculate with a possi- bililyof having the bullion left on his hands. However, if under a limited coinage system, such as we have in the Sherman law, the volume of silver impairs or threatens to exceed the volume of gold, then the silver doliars will be presented at the Treasury and exchanged for gold. At the present rate of coinage it is only a question of a few years until the treasur er will be obliged to pay out silver, for current PTlienaea nnrl inta r. ,K I 1 " ...- i. jw i i r u 1 lie debt, in such quantities, as to drive gold out of circulation. This brings me to the interesting and vital point of contact between the opera tions of the Sherman law. I do not claim that the late crisis was entirely due to the Sherman law, but the volume oj silver has reached so near the limit of exceeding that of gold, that the ' late crisis excited the fears of our finan ces, caused the hoarding of gold and a want of confidence in the integrity of our monetary standard, which partly pro duced and undoubtedly aggravated our troubles. The fact that gold is. now returning to our shores is cited by adocates of more free coinage experiments, aa a proof that the coiuage of silver has nothing to do mm luisi-nsis. ney say tnat gold ia drawn hither by the balance of trade. This is true, but what regulates thebal ance of trade? It is regulated by the prices that prevail in the various coun tries, and are not the prices governed by the volume of money? If we drive gold away by silver issues we diminish the volume ot money that measurers prices, and consequently we cauae prices to fall commercial stagnation ensues, and a panic, perhaps, such as we have just had. Now how is gold brought back to our shores? Surely by the low prices that have prevailed during the panic. As a practical illustration of this truth I will quote a fact related by Hon. Bourke Cochrane, of New York, in his recent very able speech on this subject. He says: If the wheat exported during June or July, 1893 had been sold at the rate which prevailed during thecorresponding period in 1892, that is to say at 90 cents a bushel, $20,760,719 would have been realized instead of $17,289,964, which shows that the agricultural producers of this country have sustained a loss of 13.500,000, and this was the sacrifice they were compelled to make in order to bring back into the channels of our trade the honest circulation medium ex pelled by the operations of the Sherman law." Having stated my views respecting the causes of the late financial trouble. I shall conclude with a brief statement of so-ie of its effects. An unfortunate feature of all the evils resulting from legislation tinkering with the mouey question is that the poor people, the middle class and wage-earners, are the greatest sugers. The bank ers and capitalists very often suffer loses, but when the laborer loses his little sav ings or is thrown out of employment, his ail is gon. Iu 16t0 the derangement of thecurren cy by legislation in Massachusetts colo ny, completely prostrated the colony and produced wide-spread misery among thepoorT For a considable time after that, more people went back to Europe than came over. Some of the colonies were plunged into misery and ruin by land loan schemers about 1719. Speak ing of the results of them a writer said "The evils of litigation abound. People of estate cannot raise money. Individu als depending on their labor are forced to ta"e one half to two-thirds in goods." I will quote a single instance re- corded by Sumner illustrating the many hardships and penalties inflicts ed by the excessive issue of paper money in 1779. A young lady in Pennsylvania was left a competence by her father fhicb her guardian had invested in real estate six years before. He now proposed to pay her fortune in paper money worth two cents on the dollar. Referring to this flat money scheme a states man of tbat day said. ''It polluted the equity of our laws, tnrned them into enemies of oppression and wrong corrupted the justice of our adminis tration, destroyed the fortunes "of thousands who had most confidence in it, enervated the trade, husbandry and manufactures of our country and went far to destroy the morality of the people. Unwise legislation brought on the panic of 1819 and in August of that year 20,000 laborers were thrown oat of employment in tbe city of Phila delphia. A proportionate number were idle in all tne principle com mercial cities ol the . North and al' the newspapere were filled with ad vertirement of sheriff' sales. Tbe crisis of 1834 precipitated by another effort to bave two standards of money, caused hundreds of faiU ures, and general stagnation in trade Within a few weeks not less than 20,000 psople depending on their daily labor for their daily bread were thrown out of employment. Being profoundly impressed with these facts Daniel Webster said: "He wLo tempers with the currency robs labor of its bread. He panders, in deed, to greedy capital, which is keen sighted and may shift for itself; but he beggars labor, which is hon est, unsuspecting, and toobuBy with the piesent to calculate for tbe fu ture. The prosperity of the working class lives, moves, and has its being in established credit and a steady medium of payment. All sudnen changes destroy it. Honest industry never comes in for any part of the spoils in that scramble which takes place when the currency of the country is disordered. Did wild schemes or projects ever benefit the industrious ? Did ' irredeemable bank paper ever enrich the laborious? Did violent fluctuations ever do good to him who depens on his daily labor for his daily bread?" Lord Macau lay impresses the satna lesson when he saye: "It may , Highest of all in Leavening Power. Latest U. S. Gov't Report MM 1 Xi J352i5 ABSOIllEiy FUSE be doubted whether all the misery which has been inflicted on the En lish nation in a quarter of a century by bad kinge, bad ministers, bad Parltments, and bad judges was equal to the misery caused in a sins gleyear by bad crowns and shill ings" Mr. Sumner in his concluding re marks on the history of American currency says: "We often boast of tbe resources of our country, but did not make the country. What ground is there for boasting here? Whar have we made of it? No one can justly appreciate the natural resourc es of this country until, by studying the deleterious effects of bad curren cy 'and bad taxation, he has formed some conception of how much, since the first settlers came here: has been wasted and lost," TLa late financial panic has, in my opinion, thrown out of employment more laborers done more to dis courage the wage earner from sav ing tnd pressed more people over the line of poverty than any our country has ever experienced. It has spread its black wings of despair over many homes and left countless imprints of sorrow on tbe faces of helpless woman and children. This brings me to the point of suggesting some good effects that may possible result from the recent panic. In a republican form of gov ernment safety from bad legislation ies in the education of the masses. The wide spread study and discus sion of the currency questisn will undouDledly result in the propaga tion of sound views upon this ques tion among n larger class of voters than has heretofore had and intelli gent comprehension of it. Prior to 1879 there were very few people of either party who did not believe ia the free coinage idea. Now the number in either party who favor the composite standard, is legion. The debates in Congress are rapidly educating tbe people in line with the enlightened people of the other great nations of the earth, The knowl edge gained by the discussion of his question will go far to relieve the people in general and tha wage earners in particular from the hard ships of unwise legislation. Many obstacles to a solution of he silver question arise from a mis understanding of tbe question at issue. There is no proposition pending in the Uaited States to demonetize silver. We have simply been coin ing too much of it, and we must sus pend or diminish the coinage tern porarily nntil our gold coinage as sumes a healthier proportion to the volume of silver. Without soining any more silver we should still have nearly $600,000,000 of it, with $700, 000.000 of gold to sustain it. France has S700.000,000 of gold and $800,000,000 of silver, yet it has the eold standard as we have had it since 1873. The free silver advocates maintain that the so called demonetization of silver by - various governments has caused the depreciation in the mar ket value of silver. If that is no, its remonetization by the United States would not restore its value, unless all other nations should also remon etize it, However, if by remonetiz ing it, or by any other legulative slight of-hand, the value of silver could be restored or raised to the skies, it would not prevent the ops ration of the Gresham law. But the fali in the value of silver is immediately due to natural causes. It was the ratio to gold of 1 to 10 in the 15th century, and has been steadily falling ever Bince, owing to itsjabundance as compared to gold. Tbe fact that the production of gold for a period of years is greater than silver will not appreciably affect their relative values, any more than a wet spell around Lake Erie would make tbat body of water larger than the Atlantic ocean. The relative values of gold and silver are deter mined by the relative total stock, and net by any one or a dozen years' production. Another fallacious argument of the free coinage men is that the de monetization of silver has caused a great decline in prices. Uncontrovertible statistics answer this argument by showing that tbe products of the farmer and the wages of the laborer will Jmy more now than they could before silver declin ed. So if the demonetization of sil ver has had anything to do with j fir Te prices, it has been a boon rather than a curse to those classes. The real cause of the fall in prices ia the invention of machinery, chetp trans portation and the general increase in the productive powers of the people. The fall in prices has been a blessing to all of us by enabling us to pcu chase more articles with the predact of our labor. No people can pro gress in any other way than by a decline in prices. By limiting the coinage of silver so as not to exceed the volume of gold, the latter metal can be kept in the conntry and the silver used to widen the base for credit transactions. Under this system more money can be kept in circulation than under a regime ofree coinage. Under our limited silver coinage sys tem we have coined and kept in circul. tion 70 times as much silver as we coin ed during all the free coinage period from 1792 to 1873. The composite legal tender insures the use of silver while preventing th abase I have enumerated to-night- There is no more reason in having two standards of. value than in having two yard sticks of different length in a dry goods store. There is the same season why all nations should have the same standard of value in their transactions as there is that ft -the dry goods merchants of Charlotte should have a yard stick of the same length. The fears of some people lest the sold should be insufficient for the standard of the world, are without just foundation. Whether we have the gold standard or not the total stock of gold and silver will be so much. Having a double stan dard will not increase the total stock, while it will always keep one or theother metal out of circulation. The composite standard will utilize all the gold in the world and as much eilver as the gold will sustain. I see no reason to fear that the supply of gold will ever be sufficient for all the nations of the earth. For myself I have never opposed the principle of the Sherman law. I think it is one of the wisest devices for maintain ing an abundance of both metals ever conceived by a statesman. Its defect has been that the coinage has been too rapid. With more reasonable limit? tions the Sherman law might continue in operation indefinitely with beneficial re sults. And now let me conclude by saying that the monetary policy of a country is not to be trifled with nor pat to sleep by the opiates of party platforms. We have got to face and solve Ithe question and we should do so nromntlv and holdlv. - Let us not be deterred from our convic tions nor sw erved from the path of duty Lby a fanaticism and demagogism that - uses this jrreat ouestion to arrav class against class and that applies the epi- . thets of "pirates," "gold-buga" aad "money tyrants" to those, of us who are in line with the progress and enlightened judgement of the civilized world, Let vm stand firm for the protection of the wage , earner, though he slay us, and against . ; . those who would barter the welfare of;, the masses to support an unworthy am bition. Let ns sacrifice popularity and friendship rather than be a party to de basing the currency of the people and plunging them into the misery thatloi-.- . low in the wake of demagogism and mis guided statesmanship. In the language of the lamented Ben Hill, of Georgia, in his closing words in opposition to free coinage in 1878 . "Teach the present generation teach . alt generations that, unflinching fidelity to constitutional obligations, and fideli ty to contract obligations, through all trials and at any cost, is the purest re ligon, tbe wisest statesmanship and the Ingest patriotism." GUARANTEED CUKE." We authorize our advertised druggist to sell Dr. King's New Discovery for con sumption, Coughs and Colds, upon this condition. If yon are afflicted with a Cough, Cold or any. Lung, Throat or Chest trouble, and will use this remedy us directed, giving it a fair trial, and ex perience no benefit, you may return the bottle and have your money refunded. We could not make this offer did we not know that Dr. King's New Discovery could be relied on. It never disa point. Trial bottle free at T. R. Abernathy & Co. Drug " Store. Large size 50c and $1.00, There, is as much style in house djco ration, as in the preperation of a perfect toilette. A selection of an ordinary or a common fabric for dress would be ab surd, and it is equally so when ordinary . and common paint is chosen. Always select the very best The Longman & Martinez Absolutely Pure Paints, are a marvel of beauty and of the highest grade possible to obtain. For sale by Smyre Rhyne & Co. ARE TOD NERVOUS. Are you all tired out do you have that tired feeling or sick headache? 'Ton cao be relieved cf all these symptoms by taking Hood's Sarsaparilla, which give nerve, mental and bodily strength and throughly purifies the blood. It also creates a geod appetite, cures indiges tion, heartburn and dyspepsia, Hood's Pills are easy to take, easy action and sure in effect. 25 cents a box. ,'as jc , jar.
The Catawba County News (Newton, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 27, 1893, edition 1
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