The republic., 1851-01-29
From the baltimore Sun.

From letter from one Of your correspondents,
it appears that the corporation of Georgetown has
made new issue of dollar notes to the amount Of
twenty. fve thousand dollars Temporary relief
will be afforded by this measurc-just such relief
AS the drunkard receives from additional glass
! OF rum or brandy; but the secondary consequence
Will be the banshing from circulation of fifty thou
sand silver half dollars. the equivalent thereof in
smaller silver coin.
There is another question of some moment, and
that is, whence did the corporation of Georgetown
derive its power to establish rival mint-a paper
money mint-by which to drive out of circulation
the coins issued by the United States mint and its
branches? The question is important
There Is little use i'll Government going to 30 great
annual expense in coming gold and silver, if the
gold and silver coins it issues to be supplanted
| by the trash currency OF city corporations. So
long al this system continues shall be conin q
money for the benefit of foreigners, and not for the
| benefit OF our own people; for every dollar note
that Is issued causes gold or silver dollar to be
exported.
| The power of society TO accommodate itself to
circumstances ID great, and il the laws Of nature
and the laws of trade only suffered to operate,
the scarcity OF silver, produced by various causes,
would be found to be Inconvenience indeed, but
not an insutferable Inconvenience. kind Of panic
has, however, been created, and anticipation Of
approaching scarcity of silver is causing petty
boarding OF that metal, TO which, in part the pres
ent deficiency of supply must be attributed. II any
one Will take the pains to calculate the number of
exchanges single half dollar NAV effect in a ,iay
he VIII Ind that very small a,nount Of silver, IN
actice circulation, VIII suincc for change purposes.
But II any one boards his quarter dollars, his dimes
and bis half dimes, we shall, Of coursc, have a
scarcity.
The movements in Congress- on this subject are
entirely premature. II is not the frat time in the
worlds history that the supply OF gold from the
mines has been greatly increased, aud yet such in
crease Of supply has no. always been followed by u
permanent change in the ratios Of the precious me-
tails II, with every temporary change, we are 10
change our coinage, we shall have to change il
| evcry year.
In the management of our monetary affairs VIC
Amcricans have few things to boast OF; but there is
one thing OF which we may justy be proud, and
that Is, that We have never changed our official
standard OF value. Never, since the act was passed
Tor the establishment Of the mint, has the dollar
tcontained lcss more than three hundred and
seventy one and one fourth grains Of purc silver.
The alloy has been changed, but not the unantty
of pure metal No other nation can say as much
II may be that in the progress Of events we shall
have to do as the Sritish have done, that is make
| gold te- standard instead Of silver and keep a suf
/ hciency Of small silver in circulation by placing A
higher value that metal 10 coina than il bears in
the bullion market. but so radical change as THE
requires mature consideration and the more espe
cialy as, IN connexon with sma! mote system
II might leave us without either gold or silver Al
all events. before making any change in our coin
age, we should wait long enough to to see whether
the present scarcity Of silver 10 to be temporary o
permanent; and, if permanent, In what degree il
Will Affect the value Of gold According TO the best
tive as they are at present; and, though the in
crease IN The supply of silver has not been equal to
the increase in the supply of gold, il may vet be
lound that the two m tails Will ultimately settle
down at nearly their Qid rates THETA.
WAsHIsaros, d. c., Jan. %. 1851.