Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-09-27
CHRONICLE,
ST, CLAIRSyILLE, OHIO.
THURSDAY. SEPT. 27, 1877.
The Demand for silver.

: The Demand for Silver.
: What has become of the cry for more green
: backs? Two years ago it was loud; even on
o year ago il was clearly audible in some quar-
tiers. But now the more paper" men ar
silent; forgotten are the beautiful theories o
, unlimited currency interchangeable for never
to -be-payable 3.65 bonds; hushed are the roa
of Cary, the boom of Kelly, and the fog hon
!, of Allen. Printing presses are no longe
fiercely called upon 80 make US all rich, aut
the debtor no longer shrieks for more papel
with which to pay his debts. What is the
matter? Merely this: paper dollars have be
come toe good, and the silver dollar, being
poorer, is preferred by all those who want tc
swindle creditors. Undoubtedly there...art
other and very honest people who wish to
have silver remonetlzed. But the clamor OF
the inflationisi and repudating debtor is nc
lenger for paper, but for silver. and it chang
ed instantly when silver became the cheaper.
Unhappily for the purposes of those who
want to cheat somebody, the paper dollar has
come to be worth OF cents. This is the
more discouraging to the moral agriculturist
because there is every probability that paper
will still advance in value, until it may be
come worth 98 cents, or even 80 cents. Long
before enough more paper money to affect its
value could be legislated into existence and
put into circulation, the hapless and hopeless
debtor might find himself obliged to pay as
much as 80 cents wherever he owed one dol
lar This, of course, would be intolerable.
Think of the condition of a man who cannot
cheat his peighbor more than one or two
cents on the dollarl The paper money has
become only another tool of the bloated bond
holders and the Shylocks of the Gold Ring.
But the poor farmer and the oppressed son of
toll, and, above all, the bloated dobtor, must
have cheaper dollar. Any dollar not cheap
er than 97 cents is unbeara5le tyranny.
Sweet silver smiles hope upon these vic
tins of paper cruelty. Worth about 81 cents,
the old silver dollar of the ''dolar of our
Fathers" is indeed somewhat too costly for
tle convenience of debtors, but it is by 6
cents the best they can get, and by cents
better than they are bound to pay, and likely
to be compelled to pay, if the paper dollar
continues its ungenerous behavior. More
over, they have hopes. Silver has been worth
a great deal less, and may fall again in price.
Some gain sure, and stroag hope of more, the
silver dollar offers, and every debtor who be-
lieves in repud ating finance suddenly be-
comes clamorous for hard money. The change
is not only amusing, but instructive. Perhaps
it may help to warn some worthy men, who
advocate the reconciliation Of siy r, if they
consider why all these repudiators and bank
rupts also demand it. .
As we approach resumption by the steady
advance of the legal tender toward par, it be.
comes necessary for honorable advocates Of
silver reconciliation, who adopted that view
when silver was worth more than paper, and
seemed at least stepping stone toward gold,
to consider seriously what they are asking
We have debts by the thousand millions pay :
able in legal-tenders, and every debtor ex-
pected to pay, and every creditor. with right,
expected to be paid, the value in the legal
tender dollar at the maturity of such debt
But here are honorable men proposing that
debts now legally and equitably worth 81
cents on the dollar shall be discharged, if any
knavish debtor pleases, by payment in a coin
now worth 81 cents on the dollar. One-six
teenth of the amount due-$1 900 on every
currency debt of $16,000-any debtor may
steal under color of law, if silver dollars are
coined and made full legal tender. The OBJ
vious reply, which many honorable men may
thoughllessly make, is, the silver dollar will
Immediately rise in value. To some extent it
probably would, but can any man say how
much, or say with certainty that it would at
all? If not to the full value of the legal ten
in character, though less in amount Ner has
| any man the right to vote himself the power
to rob creditor of 81, 900 on every $16,0c0
due, merely because he thinks that events
may practically make it impossible fer him to
get away with more than $500.
Germany is waiting with a very large sum
in silver, anxious for a market in which to
sell it. Attempts TO sell elsewhere have push
ed down the price rapidly. Though writers
1
differ as to the amount which Germany has
for sale, no one questions that it is much
more than the entire product of our mines for
ayear, and the product must be sold at any
price. Is it clear that the price of silver
would not decline under such circumstances,
if it were remonetized? Meanwhile, what
shall be said of debts, amounting to several
Thousand millions more, payable in ''coin of
the United States" The market value of such
securities has now been adjusted to the fact
that they are practically payable only in dol
lars of 100 cents. If they are to be paid as
fast as they mature, in dollars of 81 cents,
| will not the decline be instent? What will
become Of insurance companies by the score,
and banks by the hundred, and savings banks
by the thousand, which have their resources
largely invested in such securities, ior the
benefit of families, stockholders, and dcposi-
tors by the million? Until resumption has
succeeded or definitely failed, or the price OF
silver has advanced to degree not now cx-
pected by any one, all talk of coming silver
dollars and making them legal tender equal
| ly with gold, ought to be left to that class of
men who indulge in it, because they desire to
plumber the widows and eryhans for whom
lives are insured, the stockholders of banks,
and the millions who have their savings de-
posted in banks.-TN. Y. Tribune.
The congregation of a London church
have petitioned the Bishop of dio-
cese to remove the Vicar because the
latter gentleman advocates disestab-
lishment, the Real Presence, ,purgatory,
; and prayers for the dead" and also be.
cause he had excommnnicated d parish.