and languages have been forgotten, arts have been lost, treasures have
perished, continents have been discovered, islands have been sunk in the
sea, and through all these ages and through all these changes, silver
and gold have reigned supreme, as the representatives of value, as the
media of exchange. The dethronement of each has been attempted in turn,
and sometimes the dethronement of both; but always in vain. And we are
here to-day, deliberating anew over the problem which comes down to us
from Abraham's time: the weight of the silver that shall be "current
money with the merchant."




JOHN SHERMAN,

OF OHIO. (BORN 1823.)

ON SILVER COINAGE AND TREASURY NOTES;

UNITED STATES SENATE, JUNE 5, 1890.


I approach the discussion of this bill and the kindred bills and
amendments pending in the two Houses with unaffected diffidence. No
problem is submitted to us of equal importance and difficulty. Our
action will affect the value of all the property of the people of the
United States, and the wages of labor of every kind, and our trade and
commerce with all the world. In the consideration of such a question
we should not be controlled by previous opinions or bound by local
interests, but with the lights of experience and full knowledge of all