The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-02
difference between gold and paper money is

now.
SO long rs the tokens are limited to the
very smallest coins, such as three and five
cent pieces, the evil is not tappreciable and it is
counterbalanced by their utility and conve-
nience; but when it comes to the issue of
large pieces we will find ourselves not very
far from where we are now The experiment
which Mr. Du Bois advocates with consider
able ability, is not novel; it has been
tried many times by nations in pretty
much the same predicament as we are,
and never yet with success. The value of
gold and silver is strictly commercial, and
it cannot be regulated by law, and if we
except the very smallest coins, such as the
cent, three-cent, and perhaps five-cent pieces,
it is a matter of the first importance,
that no special legislation can overcome,
that the coin of country should have
a standard and interchangeable value,
otherwise the debased currency becomes
an annoyance and constant source of difficulty
in all mercantile transactions. Mr.. Du Bois
states that his plan Is not scheme for de-
basing the standard of value, but only to re-
store silver upon such a basis, under legal
sanctions, as will enable it to keep its subsi-
diary place, whether the chief currency be
paper or gold. To accomplish this he pro-
poses to decrease the value of silver coins
about thirty per cent, and then to regulate
their issue from time to time by legislation,
so that the public will be supplied with just
so much currency as it needs and no more
Under these circumstances, it will be impos-
sible when gold comes into use again to ex-
change four silver quarters for gold dollar,
just as it is impossible now to do the
same thing with paper money; and this
difficulty will extend itself through all
the transactions of mercantile and
commercial life. The legal value of these de-
except in the pleasure that most people feel
in handling what they believe to be silver, we
do not see why the proposed coinage might
not as well be nickel or bronze, with no ap-
preciable value at all. There is one substan-
tial argument in favor of depreciation of the
silver currency, and that is to reduce its value
so much that it will be no object to send it
out of the country or to hoard it. 1t is
essential that the small silver should be kept
in circulation, and reasonable depreciation
of value to accomplish this would be open to
no material objection But we believe that,
if the plan proposed by Mr.. Du Bois were
tried, while it might afford Some tempo
porary advantages in the present state of af-
fairs, it would, ere many years, be abandoned
in compliance with universal complaint.
In adopting any scheme like this,
which proposes to remedy the difficulties of a
dirty and ragged paper currency, it is neces-
sary to consider not merely our present wants
but also those of the future. 1t is very
important matter that there should be as little
tampering as possible with the coinage of the
country, and any question Of depreciating its
value ought particularly to be carefully con-
sidered from all points of view before it is
adopted.
Mr.. Du Bois appears to have given the sub
ject thoughtful attention, but he also seems
to have become strongly biased in favor of
pet theory, so that he can scarcely look at it
except from one point of view, and we can
not conceive that such plan as he suggests
will ever meet with favor except perhaps as
an expedient to obviate greater evil. He
states that he has reason to believe however,
that his views are acceptable to the officers of
the Mint, and we may therefore, we suppose,
esteem his pamphlet as an official pronuncia-
mento from that institution. To illustrate
the proposed plan, the Director of the Mint
has authorized the striking of specimen pieces,
of various Devices which will be ready shortly
for the inspection of those who are curious on
this subject ,9