New-York tribune., 1876-07-24
VOL. XXXVI.... NO IL, ,0l9.
WASHINGTON.
SILVER INITIATION.

w,sH1yGrox July 23.-The danger of unwise
,lation on the silver question before the adjourn
.Se+ of Congress is much greater than that of the
osoce of any act either to increase the greenback
f:,,Iot;on or TO repeal any part of the Resumption
-. 1873 No measure of direct initiation like
.hoso rropOscd in both Houses of Congress two
,oors AGO has been seriously advocated since Gov.
tuons defeat in Ohio; the champion iniatonlstS
.ian,solvcs now dscaim any desire to increase at
.no.or+ tbe volume of the paper circulation, but
r. directed their attacks upon the Resumption
80 or1 the National banks Their crusade against
a. hopks has never had much effective strength.
ond their efforts to repeal the Resumption
80. tis session will certainly fail. The Senate OF
corrse will not pass repeating act becanse
:, p,,,bIicans of that body, whatever their
oriDious ON the currency question may be- under
otand that 70 stand by the law of 1875 is, just now,
sto " trpp card in politics, while in the House,
turo honest uncompromising hard-mOney men on
t'o R9,king and Currency Committee have dared to
stond mn for their convictions and their party
en- suicidal act in spite of the st. Louis plat
fo,n and the arguments and almost threats of
b,,5rad Democrats in the House. Randall l.. Glib
60, of Louisiana and Scott Wike of Illinois have
Tins far prevented the House from getting the re-
neal bill before it in such shape that majority
could pas it. and for their honorable course they
deserve the thanks not only of their party, but OF
the country.
Rut the danger of unwise and even disastrous
LEGISLATION on the silver question is really imminent
The House by vote taken few weeks ago showed
that il was strongly in favor of making the ola
silver dollar legal-tender for all debts public ana
priyate and now bill for that purpose bas actually
been reported from the Committee on Coinage
Weights and Measures, and is the first business IN
4 ftar Nlpntl a
If vote upon it is reached the bill will certainly
pass the House. The result in the Senate is more
doubtful but the taint of infation-the desire to
devise some way for the payment of debts III
che9p ccpreciated currency-is very strong, even
among the Republicans of that body; and an appeal
from the demagogucs In behalf of the debtor
classv for the money of the Constitution" Sec
onded by the Pacific Coast, which has always stood
like a stone wall against paper money imitation,
might be successful.
Without discussing the relative merits Of the sin
Gle and double standards, | think nothing can be
plainer than the danger that would attend dis
turbancc of our metallic currency just at this time,
when the fluctuations in the market value of silver
are greater and more sudden than they have ever
been before in the history of the world. One OF the
most essential qualities of good currency Is sta
bilitv. Silver does not now possess that quality,
IS
which, like India have an exclusively silver crcua-
ton. and perplexity and heavy loss where the
double standard obtains as in France Belgium, and
Switzerland Fortunately for us, Congress, without
foreseelng the enormous depreciation in the value Of
silver which had only just begun at that time,
by the act OF 1878 saved the United States from
similar disasters. To walk right into the abyss now,
with our eyes wide open, would be the hight OF
folly. Ii may be wise for our Government TO re-
adopt the double standard at some future time, aud
thus to utilize silver IN our currency, but now
every consideration of policy and of sound political
economy urges that it be postponed until the silver
problem is settled and'the ground once more becomes
solid under our feet. In the mean time, no one IN
this country suffers unless it be the few owners OF
tie bonanza mines.
The argument that by the legal demonetzation Of
silver in February 1873 Congress has deprived the
Government and the people of the right TO pay their
debts in the currency in which they contracted,
or that it makes it necessary to pay them in cur
rency more valuable than that in which they were
created Is based premises that wholly false.
All coin debts contracted in this country after the
act of Congress Of 1884, reducing the mint ratio of
silver TO gold to one TO sixteen and prior to the act
of February, 1873, whether by the Government Of
the United States or by individuals, gold debts,
and IL occurred to anybody until after the act
of 1873, either to offer or demand payment Of any
coin debt in silver. In fact, SILVER just much
demonetizcd before 1873 as It has been since.
There are two ways to drive any species Of
money out of circulation-to demonetze it.
One is to make the market value of the substance
of which it is composed greater than its tale
rency value and the other by making laws against
it-by depryHg 1t of its legal tender property and
forbdding its issue. These two methods equally
effective as the experience of the United States
the last eighty years has proved. From the passage
of the fiIst coinage laws in 1892 10 1884 we had
nOminally double standard, but actually a single
-syer-staGdard. In 1901, when Alexander
Hamilton wrote his report on the Establishment of
Mint, the most careful investigation he was able
TO make showed the market ratio of silver to gold
10 be about one to fifteen, and he therefore recon-
mended to Congress the adoption of that ratio in the
new coinage OF the country. His suggestion was
acted upOn but as events proved, ne had not
made allowance for the relative deprecia-
ton Of the market, value of silver caused
by the increased production of the mines
In Mexico and other influences that the market
ratio Of silver to gold, instead of remaining the
same as the mint ratio, almost Immediately fell be-
low 1t. In other WORDS the pure metal in gold
eagles and half eages>was worth more in the mar
kets of the world than ten OF five silver dollars
while as money in our circulation the latter
had the same value as the former. The gold in the
circulation disappeared; it went to the metingpot
or was exported, and silver the only metallic cur
rency which remained in circulation in tins country
Thus it Will be that while the act of 792 made
the double standard legal by undertaking gold, it
IN TACT drove 1T outof the circulation and demon
euSed 1t as ehectually as though it had provided
that the sole coinage of the United States should be
OF SILVER and that gold should not be legal tender
ior deots either public private During this period
oil contracts were basad On silver. f,.,. IT,