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duJ" Cn-' Ik J VOL 1, NO. 37. SILVER CITY, N. M., WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1895. PRICE 5 CENTS BLACKBURN FOR SILVER. He is After Secretary Carlisle's Po litical Scalp. Beimtor Blackburn Huh (ilven HIh Views on the Silver Question to the Pub lic Through the Press. Senator Dlackburn bas given tbo fol lowing tot lie Louisville Courier-Journal: "If I bave heretofore shown any in disposition to be interviewed by you, gentlemen, who represent the daily papera of this city, it baa not been lie cause of my purpose to conceal from the people my views uikhi any public, ques tion, but. because I was anxious to avoid, if possible, a perversion and distortion to which my utterances have generally (of course, unintentionally) been sub jected. "I never had, have not now, and never intend to have any secrets in politics. I never did and never will ask the support of the people without, giving them the fullest information as to my position and sentiments. I am at a loss to under stand how anyone, especially in Ken tucky, can remain in ignorance as to my sentiments upon the silver question if they feel enough interest in the matter to desire information. For the last 20 years, in congress and on the stump, anywhere and everywhere, I have earn estly and persistently insisted ujkhi the restoration of the silver metal to that place, in the money system of the country which it had always held prior to the passage, of that disastrous act of demon etization passed in 187;. If there is ono man in puhli.! life in all the country whose views upon this pnbjVct were en titled to lie known of all men by reason of his acts and utterances I had reason to lielieve that I was that man. Upon this subject I have never held an opinion nor made an utterance that I bave in the slightest degree altered or mudifled in all these years. Yet if there are any still uninformed, who desire to know those views, I will reiterate them in the shortest space posible by saying that 1 am in favor of opening the mints of this country to the unlimited coinage of the silver metal on an equality ivith gold. "I am oposed to gold monometallism and just as much opposed to silver mon ometallism ; without reserval ion or eva sion I am a bimelallist. I want and mean to continue to insist upon the use of both metals on equal terms as the re demption money of this country. I would be glad to see this result brought about by the action of an international conference, provided that it could be done without delay. I am opposed to tbip government waiting for any such conference to act. Our experience with such agencies has not. lieen such as to give us either confidence or hope of the attainment of this purpose. Upon the contrary, our participation in such con ference have in their very barrenness become farcical and ridiculous. "In 1702 this country, with only 4,000, 000 of people, was liold enough to prove itself able to discard the monetary sys tem of Great Britain and establish one of its own, which for nearly 100 years met. every demand and stood every strain that the growth and development of the country put upon it. I lielieve that the destruction (entailed upon us by this de monetization jKilicy) of one-half of our redemption money has contributed more than any cause to the shrinkage of all values, the depreciation of all property, the stagnation of trade, the paralysis of industry the financial troubles in which we now find ourselves. "Whilst it may be true that the restor ation of silver to its place of unrestricted coinage, and unlimited legal tender func tion may not prove a panacea for the ills that, we now suffer, I am convinced that it will do more and go further in that di rection than any one piece of legislation that has lieen suggested. I have an abiding faith in the capacity of this meial to work out and maintain its per manent parity with gold, provided the oppressive hand of the law is removed and the mints of the country thrown open to its coinage. I lielieve, and always did lielieve, that the act of 187.1 was an unconstitutional measure. I lielieve that the act of 1873 would have been so held by the pnpreme court of the United States had not a partisan spirit domina ted the action of that tribunal. This conviction I have slated in debute upon the Hour of the senate as broadly as I put it here. "I agree with Daniel Webster, who, in his day, was always held to be an au thority as a constitutional lawyer. He declared that the constitution of the United States made gold and silver the redemption money of this country, and that neither congress nor any state had any rightful power to substitute anv other, nor to destroy either the one or the other of these metals. If congress had the power to demonetize silver it must lie conceded that it had the same power to demonetize gold. It has seen fit to exercise this assumed power as to one of these metals. Had it exercised the same power over the other, the anomalous and somewhat embarrassing condition would have obtained that we had not any money at all. If they could strike down half, thev could strike down all. "I am in favor of the restoration of the silver melal at the ratio of 16 to 1, lielieving, in the light of an experience that covers a century, such ratio will es tablish and maintain )cniianently the parity between the two metals. I be lieve that we should take this action at the earliest day possible, independent of the policies or views of other nations. I have as abiding faith in the ability of my country to establish and maintain its own monetary system as that which I cherish in its ability to defend its own soil from invasion or its institutions from assault. "In my judgment, we are as independ ent of foreign dictation or domination in the one as in the other. "In August, 18OT, when the bill pro posing to repeal the purchasing clause of what was known as the 'Sherman Act' was liefore Ihc senate, I said, in a speech then and there delivered, that I wanted the right of coinage for the silver metal, and that without limitation: that if seigniorage was what my opponents de manded, I was willing, not as a matter of fairness, but in a spirit of compromise, that the government should take 10 per cent, or 1 per cent, or 20 per cent, or even 25 per cent, of the silver bullion presented for coinage, or that if the question of ratio was what was troubling, I was willing, not as a matter of justice, but in a spirit of compromise, if 1(5 was not acceptable, to take 17, 18, 1!) or even a ratio of 20 to 1. "Hut the opponents of this metal were not to Ik? placated by any concessions, either on tho line of increased seignior age or advanced ratio. They had de stroyed the metal by a process that lias never lieen, in my opinion, successfully justified, and from the hour of its taking off until now they have never been will ing that it should be reinstated. Let those who will seek to distort and per vert the issue pendinjr. the effort will