Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-06-28
A Shorter Silver Cafechism.

Hndl is lne silver question
To issue silver dollars without limit, to b.
unlimited legal tender.
What would the silver dollar cost2
AT. the present rate of silver in Londor
about 90 cents
If the government should coin silver free Oh
at cost for holders of bullion, who would gel
the profit of this issue?
The bonanza mine owners at the expense OF
the people.
How would the issue of these silver dollars
affect gold goin?
Being cheaper, they would demonetize
gold, make it merchandise, and drive it
abroad
How would the issue of silver dollars affect
greenbacks?
1. If the promise of the greenback were
construed to be the promise to pay in silver
only, the greenback, while irredeemable,
would fall to the same relation to silver that
it. now bears to gold.
2. If silver were issued, and the green.
backs continued unconverSble, the silver
would disappear as fast as issued, by the sim
pie rule that specie is better than an unre-
deemed promise to pay specie.
8. If the greenbacks, construed, were made
redeemable on demand in silver, the demand
for conversion, under the pressure of over $40
millions of paper money, would violently
contract the greenback, and force the banks
to violent contraction.
What is the amount of paper money that
would be made convertible to specie on de-
mand, if the greenbacks were so convertible?
The bank notes being convertible to green
backs on demand, the eonvertibility of green
backs to specie on demand would make $40
millions of paper-not counting fractional
notes-convertible to specie on demand.
How much specie would be required to float
this volume of paper money with specie pay
ment on demand?
There is not enough in the world to do it.
If we could draw specie from all the world by
selling bonds, we should merely send it back
again by paying it out to float such volume
os paper.
Would the issue of silver dollars make re-
sumption of specie payment easier7
No; the cheaper silver coin would demone-
tie gold, and leave us only silver. We can
not have gold with silver, except by keeping
silver down to subsidiary relation, by limit
ing its legal tender and coinage, as was the
established system before the day of green
backs.
What was the status of silver and gold dur |
ing the time of ''the dollar of the fathers r
/. We tried to work the so called double
standard. The working was that till 1884 we
had silver and no gold.
9. In 1884, still trying to work the double |
the relation of silver to gold was
changed little, and from that time till 1858 |
we had gold and no silver, not even enough |
for change. a..H
8. In 1858 we demonetized silver by re-
ducing the weight and legal tender of the
change coins From that time till the green
back era we gathered both gold and silver,
namely $4S, 100000 of silver change coins,
and as much as $225, COO, 900 of gold. The
dollar had disappeared from the circulation,
and was no longer coined, save for some
special foreign uses of the government. In
1861 the issue of legal tender notes demone-
tized both gold and silver, and sent them
abroad.
What would the so-called reconciliation
of silver do? ..I.4..
Repeat the former blunders, and reduce the
country to but one of these money metals.
What would be the effect Of declaring the
bonds payable in silver? "
To give the public credit shock, stop the
of the debt at lower interest, and
make resumption more difficult.
Then what is the silver question?
Flapdoodle-the stuff they feed to fools,
and device by which political demagogues,
who think the people ignorant gulls, expect
TO fool them to advance their own selfish am
Gaz. sl -.r- tz |