The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1876-03-23
Silver Change.

tfu-S luAt oecFcEarg bTiSL ~
~'ii u" longer delay pltCing out tiie
twelve million dollars or - o: siivSr
change lying Tile in the Treas
ury, The dan ger OF tine gold 3rsm "a N
rising so high IS 10 cause tue silver ~
ter II has been pail out, 20 b got to-
Sether again and exported, IS next, %
nothing. On the other han tie cry
that silver quarters are W rth less
than rag quarters is utterly without
fOundAtiOn- All tie silver change
that can be picked up from Maine to
Texas can be exe1sn gel at par for
greenbacks any day in Wall street.
The Journal Of Commerce of yesterday
informs Us that "the only bids for
American silver are par in currency" "
Par 1u currency Is exactly what it is
worth, a1d what il will continu- tO
be worth. M one should want m IRE
than that for it, aud nn one need take
less.
We sometimes hear it said that "the
Governs ment is not in default on its
fractional currency" but we d1 nut
see the force OF that observation. The
Government. it is true, undertakes to
pay its fractional currency in green
backs, but the greenbacks It refuses to
pay in coin according to the promise
on their face. How the Government
can be in default" on its greenbacks
without at the same time being in de-
fault on its fractional currency, is not
clear to us, We can not understand
how things that are equal to the same
thing can be other wise than equal to
each other. II the Government is in
default on its legsl-tender dollar bills,
is is also in default on its fifty-cent
notes.
In the early days of the war the
Government, by issuing its green
backs, drove out of the country the
silver coin which the people had used
up to that time for small change.
Small change being a necessity, aud
the various substitutes which had
been extemporized to meet the emer-
gency having quickly swollen into an
intolerAble nuisance, the Government
stepped in and occupied with its frae-
tional currency the place Of the de-
parted silver. That place it has kept
for twelve years, and it is high time
that it stepped down and out OF it..
Scraps of paper, ornamentsd with
green and red ink and pictures of de-
parted statesmen, are not real money.
Every objection that can De brought
against paper money of a higher de-
nomination can be urged with equal
force against the fractional currency
1t is the duty of the Government to
give the people back their silver
change.
We are told by men who consider
themselves friends of paper always
convertible into gold, that the people
should not be permitted to exchange
their dirty and ragged fractional cur
rency into the silver coius these raga-
muffins profess to represent. They
tell US that to buy and coin $50, 600 600
of silver tokens will cost 81, SOC, 900 a
year for interest on the bonds issued
to pay for the bullion. Suppose it
does, is it not necessary and proper
expenditure Does not the fractional
currency, which perishes as regularly
as the leaves in autumn, cost as much
as the annual interest on $50, ,000, 600
worth Of silver tokens Why should
men expect to get for nothing so use
full an article as money? ? The small
money of country, its dimes and
quarters, are fully as useful and far
more active than the larger or
more valuable coins. To extinguish
the fractional currency is the first step
in refJrm of the monetary system.
We are further told that if the Gov
ernment lays out $50, 900, 900 for sill
yer from being exported to foreign
causes gold to go in its
place, and thereby renders it i'm possi-
bic to get gold for the resumption of
specie payments. This also is mis-
taken view of the case. The very
bOnds which the Government issues
to psy for silver bullion are fully
to the silver in all eX-
change operations. Suppose the saw
ings banks take the bonds. In that
event the necessity of importing from
abroad a corresponding amount OF
bonds will be done away with. The
balance of payments remains the
same, whether we place to our credit
9 shipment OF S30, ,000. 900 worth OF sill
Yer, or forbear to import $50 900 900
worth of bonds, which we are enabled
to do by taking the bonds which Sec
retary BristOw issues. In point of
fact, the bond market is now much
budli Juc SllNcE lu1I h0Is We
doubt whether Secretary BristOw's
purchases of silver have caused the
expectation of single dollar in gold.
Finally, the Government has the
financial strength to provide
the people with small change
made of real silver, and thus enable
them to make q respectable appear
auce at the Centennial. Silver is the
best material for small change. Iron
and steel are not more proper for guns
than silver is for petty payments. A
very respectable Imitation ofa cannon
can be made out OF wood, and it will
serve very we'll for show in time Of
peace. PApsr money, being but q
wooden imitation OF true money, re-
quires constant watching. Somebody
is always trying to fire it off or do
something else with lt, which can not
be done without risking its jestruc-
tion. Why not have done once for
all with that numerous family of
the fraction of paper
Y. Times.