The country soon became sharply divided on the issue of silver money.
Wealthy businessmen and bankers did not want to use silver money at all. They wanted the country's economy to be based only on gold. This was what was known as the gold standard. They believed the gold standard would keep the value of the dollar high. Using silver, they said, made the dollar less valuable.
FRANK OLIVER: Farmers, laborers and others wanted to use silver money. And they wanted an unlimited supply of it. Without silver, they said, the country's money supply would be too small. Gold would increase in value. People who had borrowed money would be hurt. They would have to pay back loans with dollars that were more valuable than those they had borrowed.
President Cleveland supported the gold standard. He opposed any use of silver for money. He said the United States should use only gold, as other nations did.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: President Cleveland was sure the silver purchase law of eighteen ninety had caused the economic depression. He explained the situation in this way:
The law had caused businessmen and investors to lose faith in the government's money policy. They were afraid their money would drop in value, as more silver money was put into use.
Investors began to withdraw their money from businesses. Banks began demanding early payment of loans. Everyone wanted gold. They took their paper money and their silver to the government and exchanged them for gold.
In eighteen ninety, when the Silver Purchase Act was passed, the government held almost two hundred ninety million dollars in gold. After two years, withdrawals had cut that amount to one hundred million dollars.
FRANK OLIVER: President Cleveland and other administration officials began to worry. It was possible that gold holdings might fall so low the government could not support the dollar.
Cleveland decided the only answer was to get Congress to kill the silver purchase law. Then the government could stop buying silver. It could return to the gold standard.
The Congress was not in session, however. It would not meet again for several months. President Cleveland did not want to wait. He believed the problem was too serious. So, he called a special session of Congress.
The president did not expect an easy time with the Congress. Many congressmen supported silver money -- especially those congressmen from silver-producing states in the west.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: President Cleveland believed he could get Congress to kill the silver purchase law. But if he showed any weakness, the fight would be lost. Then, just before the congressional debate, he learned he would need an operation.
He felt a rough spot in the top of his mouth. It got bigger and more painful. Doctors examined the spot. It was a cancer. President Cleveland asked how long he could wait to have the cancer removed. "If it were in my mouth," one of the doctors said, "I would have it removed immediately."
FRANK OLIVER: Cleveland agreed. But he said the operation would have to be kept secret. News from the White House often affected short-term activity on the stock market. News that the president's life was in danger could cause the nation's economic crisis to become worse.
Cleveland decided to have the operation on a friend's boat in New York Harbor. Newsmen were told he was going sailing with his friend.
Doctors made final preparations. They were not afraid of the operation. But they were afraid of what would happen if news of the operation were leaked to the press.
One of them spoke with the boat's captain. "If you hit an underwater rock," he said, "hit it good and hard, so we will all go to the bottom."
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: As the boat moved slowly up the East River in New York, the doctors put President Cleveland to sleep with an anesthetic drug. Then they began the operation. That will be our story in the next program of THE MAKING OF A NATION.
BOB DOUGHTY: Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Shirley Griffith and Frank Oliver. You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and images at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- an American history series in VOA Special English.
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