Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1876-04-13
SILVER AGAIN.

Our to-day's dispatches from San
appear to promise an appre-
ofthe trade dollar. Hard aNnn
the news that the Central Pacific in com
mon with the other great corporations,
has decreed that Grades" can only be
received at ten per cent. discount,
comes the information that the Bank
of Nevada. O., Mackey & Fair. Flood
& O'Brien-is offering SO cents, with no
takers. The brokers, it appears. are
boarding for a future RISE. This is
good news for Eureka, and if the rise
prove permanent, it will only remain
for the differences between labor and
capital in this district to be adjusted
and An exceptionally successful season
will open for our mining interest. The
depreciation in the value of the trade
dollar as compared with other silver
coins has puzzled many, but is sus-
ceptible of easy explanation. 1t is
True that the trade dollar is worth, in
trinsically, some six per cent. more
than two halves, aud its quotation at
50, while halves, worth much less, are
selling at 9S1a, is at first blush an
anomaly. The reasons we believe to
be these: In the first place, whenever
gold is the standard of value and coin
the circulating medium, there must OF
necessity be 3 subsidiary coinage for
the minor transactions of business.
Whatever be the intrinsic value of
these minor coins-and in this case
they are our silver coins other than the
sstrades"-the value of them is reg
ulated by the mint authorities, and
is of course confined within the wants
of business. The necessities of the case
must preserve a comparative equilib-
rum between these silver coins, thus
limited, considered merely as tokens,
and the gold standard. On the other
hand, the law permits the unlimited
coinage Of trade dollars for private par
ties, without regard to the demands OF
business. independent Of the state OF
the silver market, and merely upon
the payment Of mint charges by the
depesitor. In other words the silver
bullion holder can, at will, convert his
commodity into trade dollars, but only
30 much as the authorities may deem
advisable will be coined into halves,
quarters. etc. 1t follows, of course,
that the "trades " In mass will, in the
market. be estimated simply as so
much bullion, while the smaller coins,
though of less value, will command the
price which the demand for small
change requires.
We are not advised of the cause Of
the sudden reaction in silver quota
tons, but it appears to us NOR healthy
than the unexpected and panicky de-
cline. 1t is partly owing, no doubt, to
the proposed reconciliation of silver
by the German Empire, to the increas-
ing prospects of silver resumption in
h United states, ana To the discour'
aging reports from the Mexican and
South American mining regions. Al
the same time we have never yet un.
derstood the reason for the discrepancy
between the London aud the San Fran
cisco quotations. Silver, even at the
present period OF depression, is quoted
at fity-three pence and upwards per
ounce. This represents in our coin
somo SLIT per ounce. The cost OF
transporting fine silver from California
to London, including insurance, is
somewhat less than three cents, and
the London quotation Of ffty-thres
pence ought. it would appear to us, to
Justify q San Francisco rate Iof $1.14 in
stead Of 81 per ounce, which is about
the rate with trades at SO.