The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1877-08-30

REORGANIZATION OF Sill.
/ S - & - YER.
Views Of aaichigan Members o.
KS Congress
The chleaso |, Intusoossa ssnt 4
clF9S|1 . ~ enh@! Of Qonkres
o10n o. ren1onetia1nQ silver. ~
received two hundred replies, neax1y
all OF which are favorable 10 remonetiS
auop. We. republish the views u
Micht9an members ~
Ser sseslOf ,christiancy write = fol
I am. and. ever since the4 nxtiaEadS
monetization of silver, have been In
favor Of restoring 1t to general circula-
ton. But / am not In favor Of the
simple repeal, OF the law OF lS73,and the
"restoratton of the dollar of the faith
ers' to its old place in the coinage"
Nor do i believe that the power of
Congress, or the most absolute and
despotic human power, can give the
dollar of the fathers its old place In
either the standard gold shall be low
unless the gold coinage shall contain
less pure gold, or the silver dollar more
pure silver. And my principal reason
for this Ia that the relative value of
silver and gold, as compared with each
other, has greatly changed in almost,
II not all, commercial nations since
the coinage of the "dollar of our
fathers" the value Of silver "a COM
pared with that of gold having largely
deprecated in the markets of the
world since that time. And 1t Is the
market value, regulated by the laws
of supply and demand, which will
govern the circulation in spite of all
the legislation In the world. The first
effect, therefore, Of restoring the "dol-
Lar of our fathers to its old place i'm the
currency making 1t q legal tender
for all debts, would be to drive gold
out Of circulation as money, and cause
IL to be boarded or exported; unless we
can suppose that debtors generally
will be willing to pay more, to extin-
guish their debts, when they can just
as readily extinguish them by paying
less. Another effect would be to en-
able every debtor, whose debt was not
specially contracted with reference to
payment in silver at its old valuation,
TO repudiate considerable portion of
his debts, and to rob his creditors to a
like extent. HlEt
While, therefore,. / am in favor of
making silver o legal tender to any
amount, and bringing 1t into general
circulation-withOut which L fear we
shall not be able to reach specie pay
ments at as early day as we Ought-I
am opposed to making the present
subsidiary coin or the old silver dollar
legal tender to any amount above
five dollars at the present standard of
the subsidiary coin or the old standard
Of the dollar, according to which 1t Is
really worth much less than the green
backs, which are still far below par as
compared with gold. But / would
overcome the difficulty in one or two
ways. First (as to all ut least except
the subsidiary coin, il not including
that, by adopting the market value of
silver as compared with gold; and by
making the silver coin in dollars, or
any larger pieces, q legal tender for all
amounts at such market value, and by
providing board for the determine
ton and publication Of this value at
short intervals; substantially accord
ing to the plan which 1 suggested in
theSenate, June 20, 1876; COMPRESSION
al Record, First Session, Forty-fOurth
Congress, Vol. A, Part 5, p. 426 to 428.
/ still think this sliding scale, thus
fexibly adjusted, would meet the diff
culties of the problem with more exact
justice and less friction, and at the
same time better prevent disturbances
in the money market by spectators,
than any other plan which has occur
red to me, or which 1 have seen sug-
gested elsewhere. The idea suggested
by some of overcoming, or, rather,
these fluctuations in the
relative values of gold and silver by
treaties or conventions with all the
other commercial nations, fixing per-
such relative values, seems |
to me much more visionary as no
such common agreement upon COM |
mon relative value could, in my opin-
lon, be brought about during the life |
time Of any man now living; and, II
it could, 1t would still be O very i'm !
liked by thelaw of supply and demand,
In spite Of all such conventions; for
gold and silver are valuable and In de-
mand, not only as money, but for
and ornaments, and in the |
arts of civilized life. The fixing of
such relative value, therefore, by such |
would neither prevent |
in the relative market Tor
real) value, nor disturbances and specu-
ations in the money market, nor the
boarding or expectation Of the one
which for the time should be worth In |
he markets of the world more than
The relative value thus fixed by con-
vention, leaving the one of less value |
10 form the currency in actual use.
1 am, however, by mo means 30 |
welded to the plan I have above sug-
yested as to make me unwilling to ac- |
,ept any plan which will approximate
! Just result; and If this plan cannot |
be adopted, then:
Secondly, as the next best plan. / |
would bring up the standard of the |
silver dollar, and any coin of two or |
more dollars, to near the comparative
value of silver to gold In the market, |
rs it now exists In the great centers Of
trade, say New York, London, and |
ohio eios 10 w soy pun ChOe6h hA~aS L
silver into the dollar to bring 1t very |
nearly up to this comparative market |
value. 1 say nearly to this value, be- |
cause bringing the silver into general
as money, and making 1t
legal tender to any amount In the
United States, would tend slightly to |
raise the relative value. of silver |
though but slightly ,ast the influx from
other countries, as well as our own |
mines, would soon supply enough to
equalize the two).
This raising of the standard of silver |
rs to dollars or any larger 1coins would |
not, as In changing the standard of the |
coin, lead to the necessity |
Of calling in the old coinage, since,
speaking, we have not now |
In circulation, or authorized to be coin |
ed, any silver dollar or larger silver |
coinage; the "trade dollar" 80 called,
being issued only for a special purpose |
nj n, ltsy.tfad avfonf ~ 80