Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-05-15

the creator who has the option Whether payment sna
be made in geld in silver, and, consequently that
though gold may deprecate in value and continued as
legal tender the debtor hss thereby 20 new privilege
conferred upon him. he had under hip original agree
neut the right to pay his debt in this metal which right
he undoubtedly would continue to exercise even If no
change made in the law long silver bore pre-
MUM. When, therefore, the new coinge bill merely re-
arms the previous right Of the Lessee In the case sup
posed to pay his annual with fifty Of gold II
does nothing which in any way nterfss with the terms
Of the contract or gives any just CAUSE Of complaint 70
the lessor does it make the least aceal difference
in the mode of settlement which, without any change in
the law; would ofceurse be in gold s4 ltJaHAH 7k
But what do the advocates for silver being made the
sole legal tender at its present hnd oneness con
tend fors They that gold has and there
fore it is unjust that the same quantity Of gold should
discharge an eqnal amount Of debt aa it did previous 70
ssch depreciation Let IT be supposed this depreciation
10 ten per cent and that an onnceof god instsad Of
being worth twenty of silver il only worth eigh-
teen, and that silver coin at its present weight and fine
is the only legal tender and gold only OF its market
value compared with silver Our lessee Of the supposed
groundrent had already stated the right BY his or
ginal agreement to pay his annual rent with ounces
Of go but by this plan he would be obliged to pay
,ue ounces is true, he is not obliged to pay any
additional quantity of sy the thousand ounces oft
will still legally discharge the debt but he pre-
viou Obliged pay these thousand ounces Of silver
the option lay with hm give either that or fifty ounces
of gold but by the panof sole silver tender hewoud
longer be authorized 70 pay his debt with ounces
Of gold but would be obliged to give five ounces more
than his contract compelled him to pay. fa0E sN
But it is said these fty-fye of gold of
more value the lessor and cost the lessee more in
labor or otherwise, than the fifty ounces did previous
the depreciation Suppose this ground instead of
thousand dollars per annum had been leased for yehun
bred bushels of wheat when this grain was worth two
dollars per buse and in the course of years
wheat had fallen dollar per busheI would the lessor
have any just claim call upon his ground tenant pay
him hoaad bushels of wheat, the plea that it
worth more to him, he lessor and that it, cost
the tenant no more than five hundred bushels at the
time the ground was leased? Yeta law compelling this
tenant to pay the thousand bushels of wheat under such
circumstances would not be whit unjust than the
advocated in favor of making silver under existing
the only legal tender by which the party
would be compelled to pay fty-fve, or seventy, Off
the depreciation continues to that exentone hundred
ounces of gold when by his contract he had stipulated
pay only fifty ounces irt.s.! llss1s 5t Re ~sla FAX
law, then, making silver at its present weight and
neness the nlyegal tender and denying the right of
parties to tender gold would be clear and palpable
violation of the obligation of contracts whilst the pro-
visions of the coinage bill passed by the Senate
in way obnoxious to hecharge 1t merely continues
Alright already enjoyed by the debtor and in no way
infrnges the rights of the creditor. If silver should
again its former relative value with gold, the
debtor of would tender gold in
payment Of his debt; and if the latter the creditor,
when he receives It, ceuld if desrable exchange it for sill
without loss In the time, whilst receiving the
full stipulated quantity of gold that he is entitled for
his debt, if he finds it less valuable than formerly he
must consider it of those
hall lahlo anAf
is suitable remedy. l.-sI ast = IL sst Ri s-g.ss
Any unfayorabe results to individuals arising from the
present and prospective abundant supply Of gold can
bear no comparison that which would result from
general commercial crisis The financial crisis Of 1897
doubled if it did treble the value Of money in the
of few months. Congress might, with equal pro-
prety have been called upon at that time protect the
debtor and regulate the settlement between him and his
creditor the basis of prices which existed during the
period Of expansion which immediately preceded the
crisis to protect the creditor against the injurious
result his interest," by being obliged to receive his debt
in gold because the latter had fallen in value since he
made his contract t. -frs- ~st s-..s,s.,rs ssf vg
The depreciation in the yalue Of the legal currency Of
country must Of affect the pecunary relations Of
the community but the depreciation in the value Of the
precious metals is by thing, but on the
contrary, has been steadily progressing for centuries
more slowly previous to the discovery of Mexico when
they suddenly and rapidly fell in value immediately after
the first food poured into Europe from the mines Of
that country and have been steadily declining since that
period The depreciation is apparent, within the
memory of those living, in the universal increase in
prices particularly of labor-whch is the great founda-
ton for the value Of every hingand of real estate Of
every description tits true that this depreciation pro-
misses at present to be rapid than formerly in gold
in consequence of the immense increased supply, and
which will also necessarily or less affect unfayoraby
the value Of silver. The continued depreciation of gold
or silver both Is an event which neither Co.
vernments people exercise control IL depends
exclusively on the supply; nor can the Laws of any
country regulate the relative value Of the two metals diff
ferent from that Of the rest of the world the operations
Of and exchange viii render that relative value
very nearly or quite equal in all commercial and access-
bic countries, The power Of Government may make
deprecated metallic currency legal tender for the pay
men Of debts within Its own territory; but
spch required to pay debt in foreign country either
by transmission there by the purchase Of bill Of ex-
change and payabein the currency Of that country
is only available for its intrinsic value according to its
weight and fneness Congress may say that the relative
value in the United States OF gold to silver shall be
sixteen but law Of that tenor would be practically
void If the relative value in Europe only to ff
teen for Of course would give sixteen Of
silver for Of gold when he could buy in Europe
ounce Of the latter with fifteen OF the former
II is In vain to suppose that any legal enactments can
regulate the relative value Of these metals any
than they that Of iron compared with copper
tin in both the value is regulated by the supply
and demand II is therefore impossible for Congress to
fix any standard Of relative value between gold and silver
which win be permanent under existing circumstances
With the almost certainty Of further fluctuations IL be-
doubly inconvenen IL not impractcabe to main
tain two standards Of value and renders il matter of
necessity that one only should be adopted and the other
discontinued.
In another communication II will be shown that silver
standard cannot be adopted without either violation Of
public faith or imposing on the public treasury burden
which II could not well sustain, and which, at any rate
Of limited bc