, 1876-12-26
TIE SILVER QUESTION.
Dispatch from Minister WASH
burne to Secretary Fish.
A Summary Of Both Sides Of the Ques-
ton in France.
Thtartts as 10 thu Cause af Tho Depreciation oi
Si7er In Continental Europe.

Fyom Orr otnn tb7rtspondsnt.
WARRINGTON, D. G., Dec 2l.--Afintstcr WASH
burnc has sent to this State Department an H.
tcrcstipg summary Of tho present status OF
the silver controversy In France. ThcfolloHiug
Is the text Of tho paper:
LEGATION or THE UNITED STATES, PAn.s.--
sITer Ta wS'cb ha IS for @ sone tme ptfaeted The
attention ot tho principal economists and lnnn-
clal men Of Europe, is now becoming matter
OF sdr1uus tlucaaincss to tho Governments that
m av te e w Xef Of sFfp fr6se @
many, and England, tLs lust pa1racd fur her In
The questiop is Of such vital importance, it
threatens to assume sueh vast propors,ons, and
measures at present under consideration In our
country regarding the resumption OF specie
payments. that havc thought It would not be
unintercstlnK to sou to know how It Is present.
ell In Europe, and what sulut1ons the Inostcoin-
pctcnt Frcucl, economists propose for crisis
the whole commercial world.
Tic European States tnay be divided into two
which havo adopted gold alone for their none
tary standard, ind tllusc which usc both gold
and silver standard. The 1rst aso England,
Germany, the latter since tho 1st Of January
only, anu Holland, It mny be noticed, however,
thut,, Willie England recognizes 10 other legal
bus no other ciirrency thnn silver. Tie scconu
elass comprises Fsanse, ltaly, belgium. swltzer"
land. and ureeee. T0 these we SHOULD, ten
Gcrmau Empire has begun to withdraw Its varl-
GUS oliver coius, and tas decided by law that on
arid nfter tho 1st OF january OF tho present
year the gold mark ehall he the only legal ten
DER It las, nevertheless, authorized for IN indie.
Russia and Austria, which arc both doomed
to paper currency for long. time to como, need
not bo taken into consideration.
Tho b-ucta!llc or dnubie-standoFd systcn
can evidently subsfst but by tile assumption ot
m unynriabfc ratio between the yuluc OF guild
aud TINT Of silver. In France, that ratio wus
determined by q lnw Of the year xl (1s0tN.
TEN, and which establishes for tho relative
value Of gold and silver tho ratio OF ono to
fifteen and half. This means that to have In
silver tho equivalent of any given weight OF
gold, we must multiply that weight by fifteen
!. Tho Frcnch ratio was successfully adopted by
tic SIX above-namcd States, md during long
t!no the vulue tnns settled underwent very
s!gtt variations. When gold was ltscoverca n
metal would suffer certain depreciation. nnd
various measures Terc rcsortcl to iH order to
avoil tho tmpcnt.nlg danger. Holland even
went SO far as to declare tllat goa should no
moro bc alcgal-teudcr. but atteF q short pcrtur-
bation thu relatiye value Of the two u,ctals WIS
brought back to its former stato, aud the ratio
Of llllceu AMI half to oneronained unchanged.
It waa not until 1877 tllat this 1atlo bcsan to
expesic1cc variaslons detrimental to silver and
favorable to gold. Eighteen hundred and sixty
Bevg1l WAS tho year Of tho Universal Exhibition
ut Paris. On that occnslou an international
monetary conference WIS held hero, tho great
object OF which was tho Investigation OF tito
means Of establishing monetary unity. Tho
conference, In which nearly all tho Civilized
countries, the United Statcs among others,
wore represented, and to which 1nen ctn!nent!y
skilled In financial tnattcra had been callci, gave
gold as tho solo monetary standard. From that
moment tho value Of s,lytr began to decline.
At first the depreciation was yerY sluw and
hardly pcrscpttble, but by degrees 1t went On
accclcratlnE. In 1879 1t was as rot but per
cent; In 1873 1t had become pcr cent more
In the course Of tue lattcr year tic French Gov
ern1neut, IN lopcs Of preventing, or at least ro-
Btranlng, tho further depreciation Of sikyar de-
tcrn.tncd to restrist tho vuiu!ug Of TINT metal.
| II not to tho letter Of the law of tho year NJ,
for TIL then any dentzcu had right to send to
tho mint Tor c0iniug as much mctal as he chose,
produced ai, cl!cct quite the 'rcScrse Of what
sas szpcstsd; the valus Of silver continued Ut ds;
| to gold was 1 per rent.
At that time other events took place which
seem. also; to Rare essentially contributed to
TUG depreciation Of silver. -,
poy ,te to s svor snr Ssih ncrse 9sa acr IT, IT,
conclusion Of peace, possessed ot m Immense
! capital, resolved to unity her monetary systets
and nl0pt gold rs tho aolG standard. She there
fore ordered ti!at mons Of the foreign cons, ot
Which srcat number were III free circulation
throughout tlu Emnlre, should thereafter be q
legal tender, called tn tlic dorins and other Ail-
seatlc cities, deyrced that, on and alter tlle lst
Of JANUARY, 1870, the sole legal tender should be
tho gold ulur atlti coined goll-pleces OF ten and
twenty marks, 10 tho a4,0unt Of ,20o, ,00o, 900:
In order to complete this reformation. 1t would
haVo been ncrcssary to Gull in oil tho tlalcrs
then iu c!teulatlon but as their total amount II
equal to 74o000, 600 Of francs, and as the aut-
den withdrawal Of 50 great q mass Of mctal pre-.
scnts difficulties nll kinds, Germany ias le -iict
to accomplish Il gradually, and bas, therefore, re-
taincd the thalefs us legal trndeF, assimllatlng
thcu1, however, to gold pieces Of three marks,
md u1optln5 for their valuo With regard to gold
tho ratio Of oe to fifteen anil d lalf, accept, I'd
by tic bi.mctalllc States, 50 that every thaler,
llaIf times a much as tue thrcc-lnark gold
ploco.
Therefore, though adopting ~ principle tho
monomotall!c system, and declaring. the thalcr
| to bo o proyi;tunul currency, which is retained
but not Rlloweu to be Increased, Germany b.
longs do ta:to to tho class Of bl-lnctnllc States,
suce tlc tt.alcr, or ailvcr mark and thy golduar.
are, IN that country, exclungoab!e at par. Tho
v
slow to appear. AS tho yaluo Of sllyor nbroal
| was everywhere declining, while It suffered no
depreciation at, home, thu German bankers ex-
| ported uerman gold to meet their payments IN
lurclgn countries, md kept the Goraan silver
for tcr liabilities at home, 30 that tho Govern
| ment WIS obliged to buy and Import lis own
gold. With which It paid Tor tho silver called in,
aud tlen to soil that same silver at loss.
| SucA being the situation. all tho bI-netn1lic
| atatps hnl reasot. to fear th1t Germany utEht
scpd to their min.s the silver she Withdrew from
| hor own circulation, and which she could dis
| pose Ut only at d heavy luss Ia Lpaaon, tho
| great mart ot tho precious metals ut tue world.
In fact, ut that time. 1874, silver,
which was then, and stlll Is. a legal
tender Ia France. Belgium, Italy. and swItzsr.
lind, could be coined to any amount In those
countries. There wus no inv to prevent a
| French, Belgian, an Italian. Or Gwss citizen
IRON carrolng to the mint all tlle silver le could
obtain; the c0ntng Of it could III no casv bu de-
n!cl him. 1t would, therefore, have been IN easy
matter for Germany to have Aer dorins aud
ti.alcrs, which could not bo 4dvantaEeously dis
posed Vt tn Eugland or In tho unitol 1tates,
converted intu francs aud lrcs, circulating at 4
| par with guild. France Aoped 10 avert this dan.
XeF-tt tleru was any danger In tho gase--by
| the formation 0f q monetary league, the obJect
of which was 10 rGstr|et the liberty OF cotntHg.
| This Is what IL Known as the Latin Munctury