CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



149 



people. It will, if gifted with the function of 

 money, naturally flow to the Treasury and to 

 the vaults of our banks as a basis for circula- 

 tion, and will impart confidence to business 

 and value to property. Our act of 1873 deliber- 

 ately rejects its aid. Who profits by this? Who 

 suffers from it ? Can any reason be given why 

 we shall commit this act of suicide ? A debt- 

 or nation, with our option plainly written in 

 the law, with morality and justice both upon 

 the side of the people, a silver-producing coun- 

 try, seeking a return to a specie basis, we yet 

 deliberately aid to strike out of existence one 

 half of the world's measure of value, to depre- 

 ciate to that extent all of the property of the 

 country, and to appreciate by a like measure 

 our actual indebtedness. 



"The Senator from Vermont (Mr. Morrill) 

 argues that we must follow where commercial 

 nations lead. Is it wise to follow the lead of 

 Great Britain and Germany ? Both are credi- 

 tor nations ; we a debtor. The example of the 

 former, from 1816 to 1825, in changing her 

 standard from silver to gold, does not com- 

 mend itself to us when studied in the light of 

 the history of that period. No people ever 

 suffered so intensely from the throes of finan- 

 cial distress as did hers, and many sound think- 

 ers ascribe the misery of her people in those 

 years to this very cause. The change from sil- 

 ver to gold in Germany should have no encomi- 

 ums from us. It was the selfishness of a credi- 

 tor and the far-seeing imperial policy of Bis- 

 marck that beheld unity and empire in gold 

 and a single new standard, and separate state 

 policy in the continuance of silver and the old 

 coinage. Like every other act of his states- 

 manship, it was to add to the unity and power 

 of the German Empire, and to cause their ne- 

 cessities for money to bring familiarity with 

 the new regime. 



" As a silver-producing nation, it is to our in- 

 terest to give it use as money. If we demone- 

 tize it, we discriminate against our own pro- 

 ductions. We appreciate gold by discarding 

 silver, and legislate to raise the value of the 

 article we are buying. This is contrary to the 

 interests of our own people, and demanded by 

 no standard of morality. With a double stand- 

 ard there is less fluctuation in value than with 

 a single one. The use of both metals gives 

 healthy progress, basis for confidence, value to 

 currency in paper, and a just measure of value. 

 The use of but one strikes out of existence a 

 large part of the world's capital as a measure 

 of value, and is prejudicial to the progress of 

 civilization. The value of the dollar of 412 

 grains has been steady from 1792 to 1873 ; its 

 value in all those years has never been inter- 

 fered with by legislation ; it is implied in the 

 word ' coin ' used in all our statutes creating 

 indebtedness; its coinage was suspended, not 

 because it was cheaper, but because it was 

 dearer than gold. During all of the years 

 when onr credit was pledged, as well as when 

 the public-credit act of 1869 and the funding 



act of 1870 were passed, it was above par in 



?3ld and was plainly implied in our contracts, 

 here is nothing in our obligations to our 

 creditors that impinges upon our right or pow- 

 er to retain the double standard. It is the 

 only safe and sure path to resumption of specie 

 payments. It is most unjust and inequitable 

 for those who own and control the measures 

 of values to seek to reduce the quantity thereof 

 upon the ground that there is an over-supply of 

 one of them. Those who own the debt have 

 no right to dictate the terms of payment. 

 Those who owe it, and are to pay it, are to be 

 consulted before the contract is repealed. 

 There is no foundation, either in morals or in 

 law, for enhancing the value of the debt, and 

 it is neither just nor expedient to do so; and 

 the exercise of the power to adopt a gold 

 standard awakens distrust among the people 

 and tends directly to weaken the binding obli- 

 gations of the public faith." 



The Vice-President : " The question pend- 

 ing is on the amendment reported by the Com- 

 mittee on Finance, which will be read." 



The Chief Clerk : " The amendment report- 

 ed by the Committee on Finance is in section 

 1, line 12, after the word 'contract' to strike 

 out: 



And any owner of silver bullion may deposit the 

 same at any United States coinage mint or assay of- 

 fice, to be coined into such dollars, for his benefit, 

 upon the same terms and conditions as gold bullion 

 is deposited for coinage under existing laws. 



" And in lieu thereof to insert : 



And the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized 

 and directed, out of any money in the Treasury not 

 otherwise appropriated, to purchase, from time to 

 time, silver bullion, at the market price thereof, not 

 less than $2,000,000 per month nor more than $4,- 

 000,000 per month, and cause the same to be coined 

 into such dollars. And any gain or seigniorage 

 arising from this coinage shall be accounted for and 

 paid into the Treasury, as provided under existing 

 laws relative to the subsidiary coinage : Provided, 

 That the amount of money at any one time invested 

 in such silver bullion, exclusive of such resulting 

 coin, shall not exceed $5,000,000. 



Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, said : " Now that 

 silver has reached the lowest point known in 

 the history of the world, that moment is taken 

 advantage of to construe the wording of the act 

 under which certain bonds and obligations of 

 the Government of the United States were is- 

 sued, to insist at once upon a declaration that 

 it is proper and right and honest that, in the 

 hour of this extreme depression, it shall be 

 brought in as a means of payment of certain 

 public debts. This was embodied in the resolu- 

 tion of the honorable Senator from Ohio (Mr. 

 Matthews) that I have already discussed, and 

 do not propose now to repeat it. Some reasons 

 I gave were satisfactory then, as they are now 

 to my own mind, and to which as yet I have 

 failed to hear any reply whatever. I hold that 

 those bonds were the obligations of this great 

 Eepublic, and I know they have but one secu- 

 rity no property, no possibility of coerced col- 

 lection only one thing and nothing more, the 



