United States. Congress. House and United States. Congress. Senate. "Danger from Free Coinage of Silver a Theory, not a Condition : Speech of Hon. William T. Crawford of North Carolina, Debate in the House of Representatives" in The Money Question of the 52nd Congress (March 22, 1892). https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/308/item/6179, accessed on March 19, 2025.

Title: Danger from Free Coinage of Silver a Theory, not a Condition : Speech of Hon. William T. Crawford of North Carolina, Debate in the House of Representatives

Date: March 22, 1892
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image-container-0 Danger from Free Coinage of Silver a Theory, not a Condition. SPEECH OF HON. WILLIAM T. CBAWFORD, OP NORTH CAROLINA, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Tuesday, March 22,1802. The House having under consideration the bill (H. R. 4426) for the free coin- age of gold and silver, for the issue of coin notes, and for other purposes- Mr. CRAWFORD said: Mr. SPEAKER: This is no new spectacle now presented in the history of monetary legislation. It is simply history repeating itself; the same old struggle of the rich and strong to control the poor and weak, of capital to control labor, of the classes to dominate the masses, and an effort of the creditor to enslave the debtor. Now, we do not in any sense concede the truth of the conclu- sions of those who oppose this bill, but on the contrary we in- sist that the argument is misleading, fallacious, uuil unfounded in fact, and that the predicted danger exists only in the imagina- tion of those who have become the victims of the gold craze and adopted the theory of European governments, which have never had any policy on the great monetary questions outside of pure selfishness and greed. In 1857, after the discovery of gold in Australia and California, Austria and Germany, supposing that the whole world was going to be literally flooded, demonetized gold, and declared silver to be their coin standard and legal tender. But an experiment demonstrated the fallacy of that theory, and should have taught them that the parity of the two metals is not appreciably dis- turbed by the mere increase in the quantity of one of them. In a short time the vast silver mines of^Nevada were being opened, and promised a greater yield than the gold fields of California. Germany had in the mean time extorted from France a thou- sand million dollars as an indemnity on account of the Franco- German war; and again becoming excited on account of the pros- pective increase of silver, reversed her policy demonetized silver, demanded that France pay her in gold, and thex^eupon declared gold to be her sole money s.tandardf England demonetized silver because she could not keep it in circulation on account of the premium it commanded in India, China, and Japan; and from that day to this she has been a speculator in silver, and never has lost an opportunity to depreciate it in the markets where she buys, so as to give her a larger margin where she sells.
image-container-1 2 Mr. Speaker, I submit that it is a bad policy for a great Govern- ernment like the United States, the very center of the commercial world, with illimitable resources and the finest soil and climate the world has in it, and producing more than half of the whole an- nual output of silver, to stand by acquiescently and allow England and other European Governments trying to stand on a gold basis, to fix the value of silver as an international money. They pro- duce no silver and therefore have no interest in it outside of spec- ulation. We can not expect silver to receive fair treatment at the hands of its enemies. We are timidly waiting for Europe to take the initiatory for the restoration of silver to a parity with gold. We have the power to force recognition in the adjustment of the financial policy of the world, and I believe it to be the duty of this Government to assert its right and do it now while Eu- rope is in the very throes of bankruptcy, because gold can not be had to sustain her inflated bank credit system. And a full and complete recognition of silver by the United States would be the entering wedge for an international conference, and the re- sult would be a ratio upon which gold and silver would be recog- nized as money without disparagement one to the other whether in coin or bullion. Austria-Hungary is now taking steps looking to an interna- tional bimetallic agreement. The currency commission is ex- amining experts on the financial situation, and would welcome an opportunity for settling the status of the two metals perma- nently, once for all time. There is not enough of gold and silver to supply the increas- ing demands for money in the rapidly expanding trade of the world. And I do not understand that the opposition to free coinage of silver is based on the ground that it would give us too much money, for that argument would not bear the test and scrutiny of investigation. The report of the Comptroller of the Currency shows that the national banks have on deposit subject to check, $1,608,585,414, and other banks and trust companies have in round numbers $1,200,000,000, all told $2,700,000,000, and have in reserve only $500,000,000 as a basis of redemption, including gold, silver, greenbacks and national-bank notes. Five dollars and a half, we may say, of inflation or credit money for every dollar of actual cash. What would be the result if a great money panic were to sweep over the country and shake the confidence of the people in the banks and these deposits were immediately drawn upon? The banks would be crushed, the business avenues paralyzed, and the country ruined. And the situation is even worse in England, for she has $15 of check or confidence money for every dollar of gold in the banks, and when the Baring Bros, failed the great Bank of England was shaken from center to circumference and but for the timely assistance of bimetallic France in the loan of $15,000,000 it would have collapsed and scattered ruin broadcast throughout the land. The chancellor of England immediately ordered the banks to increase their gold reserve $200,000,000 or cut down their credit medium $1,000,000,000. In the face of all this you point us to Eng- land's magnificent system of finance, the most unstable and rotten on the face of the earth. Here is a splendid field for the genius of those who are afraid of 210
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Date: March 22, 1892
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