USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume II pt 1 > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
1
93
ALABAMA IN FEDERAL POLITICS.
abilities. Clear headed, thoughtful, zealous and industrious. he is thor- oughly en rapport with the people he represents and is a highly useful member.
PARTY ISSUES FROM 1874 TO 1892.
After the discovery of the rich gold deposits in Californa in 1849, and in Australia in 1852, the world's supply of gold for coinage purposes rapidly increased for many years. The gradual and steady accretions to the general money stock caused a steady increase of prices. This greatly added to the general prosperity: but throughout the world holders of fixed incomes, such as inure from money at interest, and especially from long-time bonds, leases, annuities, etc., took alarm. The purchas- ing capacity of their incomes was being diminished, and a movement was set on foot. first in Europe, to demonetize one of the two money metals, either silver or gold. After a time this movement took the shape of an agreement among the representatives of certain European nations to demonetize silver, the stock of that metal beng also then on the in- crease. England has been on gold alone since 1819, Holland, Denmark and some other nations joined her from 1867 to 1870. and, in 1871, the congress of the United States. republican in both branches, also demone- tized silver. The law that accomplished this important result was an apparently insignificant clause of an act regulating coinage, and the public did not for some time know that the white metal had ceased to be a legal tender for the payment of debts. When the effect of the new law did become generally known there was wide-spread dissatisfaction, and, in the forty- fourth congress, 1875-7, the democrats for the first time since the civil war being in possession of the house of representatives. an ineffectual . effort was made to remonetize silver. In 1878. the subject was again taken up. and what is known as the Bland bill was passed through the house, which was again democratic. As the bill went over to the senate, it provided for the free coinage. i. e., the coinage at the old ratio, of all the silver that might be presented. All the Alabama delegation, both in the house and senate, voted for the bill in this shape, but it was so amended by the senate as to limit the coinage to not less than 2.000.000 or more than 4.000,000 silver dollars per month. The house accepted the amendment. Thus was enacted the Bland law, under which 575. 166,793 silver dollars have been coined. Divisions on the passage of this meas- ure were not strictly on party lines. Nearly all southern and western democrats and many western republicans voted for the bill. Most of the eastern men of both parties voted against it. A larger percentage of democrats than republicans, however, favored the measure. Free silver still remains a question upon which neither of the great parties is united. although a much larger proportion of democrats than of republicans has always favored it. But free coinage has lost much ground since the question was first mooted. Silver in the interim has greatly depreciated iu value and no bill for its unlimited coinage has ever passed the house-
-
.
94
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
since 1878. The Bland bill, as amended in the senate. then passed each house by more than two-thirds majority. No national democratic plat- form has ever irdorsed free silver. Republican and democratic national platforms have alike evaded it. Neither party has been willing to drive away either its free-silver or its anti-free silver voters. There were always other questions upon which both parties were willing to make direct issues and which were indeed more important. For example, the national democratic party has never failed to stand as a unit in favor of allowing the states local self-government; and has been unalterably opposed to the southern policy of the republicans.
When Mr. Cleveland was elected in 1884, it was known that he did not favor the free coinage of silver by the United States alone. Indeed. he urged upon congress the repeal of the Bland law because, in his opinion. the white metal was falling in price so rapidly and silver coins were accumulating to such an extent as to threaten to drive out gold and leave the country silver alone. When the subject was up for considera- tion during his administration the writer of this sketch made a speech in the house of representatives. April 8, 1886, a liberal extract from which is here made, because he cannot now state more clearly "the silver ques- tion :"
"The president believes that we ought to continue in existence all the silver we have, and that we should, if possible, keep it at par with gold. To that extent we all agree with him.
"He believes we ought, if possible, to obtain the co-operation of other nations in the work of rehabilitating silver. In that proposition, too, there is a general concurrence. One of the first acts of his adminstration was to send abroad an ambassador or agent of the government to en- deavor to secure this co-operation. If I were disposed to criticise, I should say that he committed a mistake in the selection of his agent. Manton Marble is a man of undoubted ability and great purity of character, but he is not known as a decided friend of silver. Allen G. Thurman would have inspired more confidence. But the president also commissioned Mr. Walker, our consul-general at Paris, to collect information for us upon the subject and attend a monetary conference. and he is an avowed silver advocate. That mission failed, and we are now face to face with the silver problem.
"Can this government solve it without the aid of other nations? Shall we repeal the Bland act. that provides for the coinage of not less than two or more than four millions of silver dollars per month? Shall we open our mints to the unlimited coinage of silver? These are the ques- tions now before the house.
"Silver and gold have been the money of the world from time imme- morial. But silver has been stricken down by adverse legislation. and now the gold value of the bullion in a silver dollar is less than 50 cents. I most earnestly favor the rehabilitation of silver. But I have been re- luctantly driven to the conclusion that this government is not of itself equal to that great task: that 60,000,000 of people can not control the relations between two metals used in different proportions and in varying quantities by 900,000,000 of people: and that any attempt on our part to do this by passing the pending bill, to open our mints to all the silver
.
4
95
ALABAMA IN FEDERAL POLITICS.
in the world, will necessarily result in the inflow of silver. the cheaper metal, and the outflow of gold. which so many nations are struggling for, until we shall have nothing left but silver In the earliest stages of civilization, when there was but little intercourse between different peoples, it was largely within the power of a nation to adjust for itself the relation between the two metals. I believe Abraham did it when lie was looking after his people and his flocks. in Canaan.
"But with the advance of civilization ths has become more and more an international question. Now. when prices are regulated by the click of the telegraph, a movement of i per cent. in the price of bullion and stocks in Liverpool is responded to instantly by the markets in New York. Bearing this present fact in mind, iet us glance briefly at our past monetary history. It is beyond all doubt that the relations between gold and silver in the United States even in the days when all commerce was carried on by sailing ships were affected by the ratio established by law in Europe.
"Under Alexander Hamilton's advice this government began with the ratio of 15 ounces of silver to 1 of gold. The ratio in the dominant commercial nations of Europe was at the time 15 1-2. to 1. The conse- quence was, gold, which was valued lower here than in Europe, left us and went there. In 1834, in order to invite gold back, Thomas H. Ben- ton, that old-fashioned democrat. who believed in both silver and gold, secured the passage of a law fixing the ratio at 16 to 1. This made silver too low, just as before it had been too high. and thereafter silver sought the European market and gold came to America.
"Silver was the more plentiful in the United States before the Benton law. Gold was more plentiful afterward. These facts are indisputable, and their import cannot be mistaken. The inference is that even in the days of the sailing ship the ratio between silver and gold was one to be regulated by international agreement. The nations of the earth had not at that time discussed and did not thoroughly understand the principle underlying the ratio of metals to each other. They seemed to sup- pose there was some real relation between the values of silver and gold. and in seeking by their legislation to arrive at this value they in effect established an international agreement; imperfect, because the ratios es- tablished were only approximately the same. In France the ratio was for a time 14.50, afterward 15.50; in Spain and Portugal, 16; in England, 15.21.
"For centuries we find in nation after nation this ratio between two metals ranging at from 14 to 16. France, a great commercial nation, by keeping her mints open to both metals and making them inter-exchange- able at 15 1-2 to 1, assisted as she was by the imperfect agreement among other nations, according to which the ratio could nowhere go higher than 16 or lower than 14. succeeded for seventy-five years in preserving a practical equilibrium between the two at her established ratio.
"But in 1873 Germany began the effort to replace her silver with gold. Sweden, Norway and Denmark had already demonetized silver, and the United States in 1878 followed stealthily in their wake. England had been on the gold standard since 1819. None of these things had affected the relations of the two metals: but when Germany, to whom France had agreed to pay one thousand millions of dollars as war indemnity, de- termined on demonetization, France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and Greece, in order to protect their stocks of gold, limited their coinage of silver. In 1878 they totally suspended. Silver thus began to fall in 1573,
1
96
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
and had already fallen greatly when. in 1878. we passed the Bland bill, providing for the coinage of at least 82.000.000 a month.
"We hoped it would rise under the impulse of this measure, but it has continued to fall. As it has fallen here so it has fallen in Europe and Asia; or, what is the same thing, gold has risen. In the mean time two international monetary conferences have been held in Paris-one in 1878 and one in 1881. A study of the proceedings of these conferences, especially that of 1851. is instructive. From this study, which I have made most carefully, two conclusions follow: First, that there was then in 1881 a general concurrence in the truth of what Bismarck said. the blanket gold was too narrow to cover the nations that were tugging for it.' The commerce of the world has vastly increased, and the supply of gold was falling short. Secondly: the gold-standard nations represented there. Great Britain and Germany especially, were anxious over the situation. and held out inducements to France, the United States and other nations to adopt free coinage.
"If they would do this Germany was willing to restore part of its silver circulation: Great Britain offered to use more silver. But France and the United States were represented by statesmen who were not carried away by any feeling of vengeance against those who had wrong- fully demonetized silver in the United States. who were influenced by no motives of hostility to any class of our citizens, and who considered the question calmly on its merits. These representatives of the United States were S. Dana Horton, W. M. Evarts and Allen G. Thurman.
"In the course of Mr. Thurman's reply to a ' questionaire,' he said : " 'Each of the propositions, as I understand it, requires that the United States and France, and perhaps the chief states of the Latin union. shall open their 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 the states of the Latin union, or other states of Europe here represented, may think of such propositions. Their delegates will answer for them if they see 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 bound, speaking frankly, to say I think it would not. There is a great and vital difference between a grand bimetallic union, that. by fixing and maintaining a stable relation between gold and silver. would stop, or. at least, powerfully tend to stop, the efforts so often made to drain a state at one time of one of the metals and at another time of the other, and a little and half-way union that might leave each state liable to a recurrence of such drains.
"'Now, if I understand the views of my government and of the American people, they do not desire an alternative standard. gold to-day and silver to-morrow, nor a single standard. whether of silver or gold. and certainly not a single silver standard. Their stock of silver money is less in proportion to the wealth and population of the country than that of most commercial nations, while on the other hand their stock of gold is very large, is steadily increasing day by day, and is likely, unless prevented by some blunder. to continue to increase.
" 'Under such circunstances. it is but natural that the government should hesitate to enter into an agreement, the effect of which might possibly be to lesson the amount of our gold. It would cheerfully become a party to a great bimetallic union. which, if formed, would of course open its mints to the free coinage of silver, but Imust be permitted to
-
1
97
ALABAMA IN FEDERAL POLITICS.
doubt whether, without such a union in existence, it will by convention surrender its power over its own coinage.'
"What Thurman was unwilling to pledge the United States to embark upon, even with the aid of Switzerland. Belgium. Greece. Italy, and France, namely, the unlimited coinage of silver. I am unwilling, by my vote, to say this government shall undertake single-handed.
"The advocates of unlimited coinage ask how the silver of Europe and Asia can come to the United States when niost of the silver is coin and passes now at a higher ratio in relation to gold than that established by law in the United States. The answer is that clipped and mutilated coin, finding no recoinage in Europe. will come here; the annual supply of the world from the mines, less what is used in the arts, will come here; silver bullion, whether it is coin melted in great fires or old ornaments, or in whatever shape it may be. will come here: and whenever pressure is brought to bear upon any European bimetallic country to redeem its silver coin in gold. as they are all obligated to do. it must have gold. It will not be able to get it from the mines; it will not be able to get it with silver in Europe, because all the mints there in gold-using countries are closed to silver, and it must come to America, where gold can be had for silver until our gold is exhausted.
"Again. India, which is upon silver alone. pays many millions of pounds sterling to England. obligations incurred before the fall of silver. All this must be paid in gold. India loses now 25 per cent. in the trans- action. If we will take her silver and coin it side by side with our gold, that silver will come here and gold will go to Europe. There is no nation whose interest in bimetallism is greater than ours. We are midway between gold-using Europe and silver-using Asia. We must have gold for our commerce with the one and silver for our trade with the other. I am unwilling to give up either. To establish free coinage is to give over our gold to Europe in exchange for its silver. It is to relieve the distress that is now pressing Germany and England toward bimetallism. and thius to give up for the present all hope of re-establishing the relation between silver and gold. The present distress of Europe results from the demone- tization of silver there and the scarcity of gold.
"Contraction of the currency of a country means a shrinkage of the values measured by that currency. This shrinkage means the paraly- sis of commerce and industry. It buries capital; it starves labor. No one will buy what can be bought cheaper a fortnight hence. No one will manufacture what can be made at a lower price next month. So, finding nothing to do abroad, money goes back home, and becomes as it is now, cheap in money centers, not because it is abundant, but because there is no demand for it. It goes begging for borrowers because no prudent man will use it. This has brought about trade depression all over Europe. English statesmen are beginning to seek a remedy. Mr. Childers, chancellor of the exchequer, eighteen months ago proposed to coin a sovereign one-tenth less in value than the present one. Mr. Grenfell, the president of the bank of England, Sir Thomas Montague, and other great bankers, Mr. Thomas Sutherland. and other great ship- owners, are urging bimetallism; and the sentiment in its favor grows in England with every day of the continued distress that is depressing the industries of Great Britain.
"In Germany, as wages fall. as labor is thrown out of employment and prices shrink, the revolution in public sentiment in favor of bimet-
98
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
allism has become so great that Herr Scholtz. the German minister of finance, in the Reichstag. on February 21, 1836, stated that the empire 'was ready to consider measures for protecting the value of silver within its own national boundaries if any practicable plan could be brought forward for relieving the pressure of monometallism complained of by the farmers and other land interests.
"There is reasonable ground to hope that these great nations, before they shall emerge from the dark days they are now passing through, will consent to join us in the restoration of silver. I will not consent to vote for the passage of a bill which will enable these nations to relieve their necessities by draining us of our gold. This would be fatal to the present prospects of silver.
"But, Mr. Chairman, while I am unwilling to vote for unlimited coinage, I yet can not consent to the repeal of the Bland act. To my mind there is no argument in the declamation on this floor about the dis- honest dollar.' If the dollar is dishonest because its bullion is equal to but eighty cents in gold, then our half-dollar is dishonest because it equals but thirty-seven cents in gold. and the nickel five-cent piece is dishonest because its bullion value is but seven-tenths of a cent. What gentleman is there on this floor who would not start at the proposition that he was no better than a thief because he paid the newsboy only a nickel, a dishonest coin, for a newspaper?
"The truth is, a coin is worth just what it will buy. If a silver dollar will purchase, as it does, just as much as a gold dollar. it does equally honest work and is just as honest a coin as the yellow dollar. The fact that the silver dollar has for seven years maintained itself side by side with gold is a refutation of the fundamental proposition of the mono- metallists that the state can weigh and measure coin, but that it is power- less in any manner or to any extent whatever to affect its value. It is a demonstration of that truth imbedded by our fathers in the constitution, that government can not only coin gold and silver, but may, to some extent at least, regulate the value thereof.
"All history, however, warns us that there is a limit to this power of the law. France, Belgium and other European countries ceased to coin silver because they feared they were nearing the danger line: and no one knew better than the framers of the constitution of the United States that this control of the law over coinage might be abused, and for this reason they took away the power over money from the states. The original states, especially Massachusetts. New Hampshire and Rhode Island, had their fiat-money troubles and taught their lessons before our constitution was made. In Rhode Island, McMaster tells us. the law could not give state-bank money circulation even with the help of test-oaths and a statute making it a misdemeanor to refuse it.
"Coming further down in our history we find that the greenback dol- lar, though a legal tender, was once worth only 35 cents and reached par by a slow and painful process. These considerations, Mr. Chairman, are enough to canse us to pause and ponder over the proposition advanced by President Cleveland in his message that the Bland act ought to be repealed, because there is a limit to the power of the law to regulate money. His opinion is certainly entitled to be treated with respect; but seeing that gold continues to come to America, that the proportion of our silver to our gold and to our population is yet so small, and believing that the circulation of all the silver already coined may be readily secured by providing for the issuance of two and three dollar certificates, I shall
99
ALABAMA IN FEDERAL POLITICS.
not vote for the repeal of this act. Our refusal to provide by unlimited coinage a method by which the gold standard nations of Europe may obtain our gold will be a proclamation to them that if they would relieve their present distress they must enter with us into a bimetallic union. Our failure to repeal the present law will be to all these nations an earnest that bimetallism has one constant friend, who will heartily co- operate in any measure for the rehabilitation of silver."
The bill then pending to repeal the Bland law failed in the house; so did the free coinage bill. All the Alabama members voted against the former and all except the writer for the latter.
In the summer of 1890, the republicans, being in possession of both branches of congress and the presidency, repealed the Bland law, substi- tuting for it the Sherman silver-purchase law. under which silver coin is purchased to the extent of four and a half million ounces per month and treasury notes issued. based on the market value of the silver.
In the present congress the silver question came up again in the spring of 1892 upon a free coinage bill reported by Mr. Bland. So great had been the change of sentiment since 1875 that, though the democrats have in the present house of representatives 138 majority, the bill failed to pass. The votes for and against motions to table, etc., were almost precisely the same. and after an ineffectual struggle of some hours the friends of the bill gave over the effort to secure a direct vote upon it. All the Alabama members voted in favor of the measure except Mr. Her- bert, who voted against it. Later in the session. after Cleveland and Stevenson had been nominated for the presidency and vice-presidency, the bill again came up. and this time was defeated by a considerable major- ity, Mr. Herbert and Mr. Clarke voting against it. The ground upon which Mr. Clarke put his vote may be gathered from the following extracts taken from his speech. He said: "If. then. I vote for the bill. it will be without the slightest expectation of its becoming a law one day the earlier for that vote. Shall I do so to record myself as favoring free coinage? I have already repeatedly done that. It is pressed on this house to place democratic members on the record as favoring such coin- age? There have been several test votes, and it is well known that one now taken will show changes against the bill on the part of democrats who wish, as I do. to fight the enemy upon ground on which the whole party can and will stand united. Therefore, if that vote is to be forced by democratic leaders in this house to make a democratic record or to fix democratic policy. it is. from their own stand point. ill-advised, because it will disclose growing weakness instead of strength. Besides. we are not authorized to make a platform for the democratic party or to declare its policy upon this subject. That has been done lately by a democratic national convention. Comparatively few of us were commissioned as delegates to that convention to make that platform or declare that policy. In voting for this bill we shall simply once more declare and record our individual views, with no expectation of enacting them into law. Why should we .
.
100
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA
embarrass or weaken our party merely to emphasize personal views already recorded? *
* But I protest against its being the issue upon which this campaign is to be fought out, subordinating. as it will, the vastly more important issues of the force bill and tariff reform, ground upon which we can all stand together and win. To postpone this issue, upon which there are dissensions. to a time when we shall have put down the great enemy of the liberty, peace, and prosperity of the country -the republican party-I shall vote, Mr. Speaker, against the present consideration of this bill."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.