The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1876-08-05
Subscribers out of County, $1.2O.

culatiOn, does not become matter OF
much consideration-the price OF COM
moditles being the regulator-so long
as they pass In trade for their face val
ne and are not made lawful tender in
sums of more than five dollars. But
the case would be gravely altered if Mr..
Kelley's bill to make the silver dollar
(thOugh intrinsically more valuable
than the fractional currency legal ten
der for all debts public and private had
been suffered to become o law. Still
worse even than Mr.. Kelley's bill would
be the gold and silver bullion bill re-
ported to the house on Wednesday last.
The effect Of Mr. Keiey's bill would
have been to enable creditors to nav
debts, now payable in greenbacks worth
~ l.2 cents gold, in silver dollars
worth 81 12 cents gold. Its tendency
would have been to drain the country
of gold, because "whenever the relative
value OF the two metals differs appreci,
ably from that arbitrarily fixed coin
standard, the relatively dearer metal
Will be driven from circulation"
Silver at the present time has no fix.
cd value. Two weeks ago it declined
In London to 46 1-2 punce-to-day it il
about 5O pence the ounce. Within a
few years its market vaus has declined
% per cent. or, as the London Times
puts it, "the silver of four rupees costs
in London now no more than the silver
OF three rupees cost a very few years
since" Moreover, the general opinion
is that the present advance in the price
OF silver from its lowest point is but
temporary ;sthat it must continue TO
declire, and that part of this decline
Will be permanent. The reasors as
signed by the British parliamentary
committee, charged to ascertain whv
the value of silver had fallen, are given
in their report and may be thus briefly
stated Within the past fifteen years
the annual average production in silver
has Increased from about 954, 000 900 in
1850 to $40, 900, 900 in 1875. Germany
has demonetized her silver currency.
and the 0,00O, 900 she has thrown up.
on the market, in addition to the an
Eual production OF the mines, has caus-
ed sharp fall in the value of the metal
beyond what would have been caused
by over production. The fact that she
has yet from $40, 100000 to 500, OOO.-
OOO more of silver to dispose of, less the
amount that may be ultimately required
for subsidy coins, adds to the uncertain
| ty of the prospective value of silver.
| Austria has also thrown $50, 900, 900 of
silver on the market since 1871 while
India, which up to the close of 1871
drew upon England for S85, 900, 600 of
silver annually, has taken, on an aver
age, from 1872 to 1876, only $50, 5OO,-
OOO. AS an Offset, however, to this in
creasing glut of silver France has
bought Sl34, 900, 900 of silver since the
war with Germany; England, Russia
andSpain have also been purchasers, and
an indefinite amount has been absorbed
by China and Japan.
Nevertheless, apart from the immense
amount CT silver thrown on the market
by its demonetiEation in Germany, and
its exchange for gold by other European
states, the simple fact that the annual
production of the Nevada mines alone
is in excess Of the annual demand
makes further decline in its market
value almost certainty, although that
decline would be partially, though but
temporarily, arrested by the purchase of
the proposed fifty millions of bullion
by the United States for coinage into
fractional currency. But to make silver
coin legal>tender upon falling mark
ct would be equivalent to debasing the
coinage would drain the country of
its gold, and would be an utterly un p
just interference with existing contracts
and the rights of all.-Baltimore sun.