, 1876-03-11
Something 10 Think of.


atory Of the silver coinage laws, providing
for the coinage of new silver dollar equal IL
weight and value to two Of the present hall
dollars. The bill does away with trade dol
Iars es a legal tender, and makes the nep
dollar legal tender for twenty dollars, ant
half dollars legal tender for ten dollars.
This bill might properly be entitled biI
TO legislate gold out of the country. ii i
should become law it would sweep III,
country as barren of gold as it was iu the
years previous TO the financial collapse o
| 1887 Then the average business men did
not set gold tive-dollar piece from one year
| years eud 10 another. There few of thes,
coins in brokers' offices and curiosity shops
but 10 the masses of the people it was al en-
tire stranger. The banks, when they paid
specie at all, paid in silver. y gold dollar
was worth, compared 10 silver, Sl.O66 silver
! cents, ten dollars being worth $40 66. Oi
course gold did not circulate where, If cur
rent at all ii would pass for less than It's value.
IL went to England, and We used silver as
the basis Of our currency and 10 perform the
service of token money. IL Is perhaps pos
sible 10 bring about this state of things
again. 1t remains with Congress 20 say ii It
Is desirable The introduction Of greenbAcks
as the business currency OF the East has re-
tired gold TO Wall street, where 1t Is yambled
for like railroad shares OF other speculative
stocks. The proposed redemption OF fractional
currency in silver is the first step Of a move
ment to redeem the whole grevnbaek cur
reney III silver This would be an easy and
cheap way to resumption if it could possibly
be called resumption. In the East, where
greenbaoks are the currency and are rather
liked Jhan otherwise, not one man In a hun
dred would exchange a bill worth IS cents
in the market for q piece of coin worth IN
itself only about the same sum. If the STAN
dard value Of silver coin could be raised to
95 cents, the offer to exchange it for green
backs would either retire the latter currency
OF raise 1t to the silver standard. But with
silver coin possessing about the same intrin-
! sic value rs greenbacks possess OF promise Il
paw, comparatively few would prefer the
coin. 1t would simply lie in the vaults and
serve as security against fall in green
backs beIow the bullion value of the silver
coin. This in fact is about the only etfee,
silver assumption would have IN the Eastern
States.
But on the Pacific Coast it wouli be diff.
ferent. Gold Is our standard Of value.
Silver, though in common use as a pocket
chang, has been substantially token money,
| and has maintained It's value 50 close to gold
that small purchases are paid for with either
coin, as the case may be. Even now, with
silver at discount of four per cent, men
pay out fve OF zen dollar gold piree, receive
change in silver and think nothing of it
But if silver Is coined in quantities, and used
in the East as an equivalent for greenhacks,
It's value viii soon be reduced to that point
| with Us We cannot maintain silver here at
Il higher value compared with gold than It
maintains in the East. We are thus CON-
fronted with the possibility that our silver
| coin will fall as low as greenbacks- If, then,
the bill of Messrs Sargent and Piper become
! a law. this cheap currency, worth twelve per
cent. less than our standard, will become q
| legal tender for twenty dollars. Now 1t Is
apparent that no community can maintain
two currencies so widely Offering in value
| One must be made the standard, the other
merchandise When the question WAS pre-
sented before. the Pacific Coast made gold
the standard and greenbseks merehandis
On the other side they made greenbacks the
standard and gold the merchandise. The
something We have to think Of Is, what shall
we DO when we are called upon 10 choose be-
| tween SILVER anc goa We '3'H's "a" O"'
small business in in silver and our large busl'
ness IN gold. The difference IN value /
clearly to great for that. We must either
make gold the standard, and treat silver a.
we treated sreenbscks. or we must come to
tn Els,ern practice Of accepting tie cheaper
currency as the general standard Of walt e
aud holding gold as merchandise, to b
bought when ueeCel. This il probably the
gravest question We have had to consider IL
the last ten years 1t Is practically the
| yreenbask question over again II We sue
eumb to silver, and The government redsem'
its greenbacks In silver a; the hglier' option
We ,haII resort to d greenback currency io'
convenience. Their value being equal, I'll
ver would be used only as change. To tn
oreciss extent Of silver's depreciation a. com
nar.d with gold, merchandise would rl-e IA
n,r market. This would Involve a Tls- IL
rents. and. to save the industrial classes from
br.ring the bruut Of the loss, It should IL
volve a rise in wages. f. Cal.