Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-12-08

A5AC dAAA O<ANA0SANO CActnOcAd vi
alue. Indeed, England with her
static possessions may practically
e considered as having had the
ouble standard since the gold cir
ulatiOn of England was supple
nented by the silver currency of
ndia.
CAUSES OF CHANGED RELATION.
If, then, the new silver supplies
we're not the cause of the deprecia-
ion of silver and corresponding APP
of gold, we have now to
enquire what did produce it, and
he answer is given in one word,
Demonstration. We ought to men
ton parenthetically that a dimin-
lshed expectation of silver to India
was assigned in the English report
of 1876 as one of the causes of the
of silver; but this may
be disregarded. 1t was based on
the exports of 1875, which were de-
ficient, but we have now the report
of the exports of 1876, which were
much larger than those of rs, with
prospect of still larger demand
without seriously affecting the mat
ter.
Decentralization, then, is advanced
as the great cause of silver deprecia-
ton. Common sense would seem
to dictate that no more efficient
means could be adopted for running
down the market value of any ar
ticle than that of abolishing the use
of it over a very extensive portion
of the worlds family among whom
it had previously been in abundant
use. If we were talking about any
other commodity, it would be look
ed upon as trifling with the subject
to advance a serious argument to
prove it. Why, when ladies quit
wearing hoops, serious distress re-
suited among the population who
had been engaged in the manufac-
tory of the steel bands used in max
ing those quondam APPENDICES OF
fashion. But what other manufac-
tured article was ever in such uni
versal use among the human family
as silver coin? Take the German
Empire as a special example. Pre-
viously to the decentralization of
silver by that great nation it had,
even in proportion to its vast pOpu-
latiOn, been the largest user of silver
in Europe or in the world, if India
and China are left out; for it will be
remembered that a few years before
ii had abolished the use of gold as a
legal tender. This had driven gold
as a currency out of the empire and
the whole circulating medium was
silver. Silver was in everybOdy's
hands, passing from house to house
and from person to person in all the
transactions of life, and in one day
all the immense mass of silver coin
distributed as it was in all mems
hands lost all legal Value-a mar
could not pay his rent with it OF
any other debt; the only use hi
could make of it was to pay hi:
taxes or buy gold Of the Govern
ment with it.
But the desire of it was not ali
the Government gradually received
the circulating silver as taxes and
melted itintO bars, which from time
to time it was threatening to throw
in indefinite quantities upon the sill
yer market, the constant apprehen
sion of which was shown to exercise
a peculiarly depressing effect upOr
the market. Nor was this all; from
1871 to 1878 all Europe followed suit
demOnetized silver and adopted
gold as the single standard of value
the single medium of exchanges
Nor was this all; the abOlishing sill.
yer as a circulating medium enor
mOusly raised the price OF gold, fOl
which all the Governments of Eu
rope were engaged in a scramble
and at this day every European
power is struggling for life and
death to get more gold and to hold
with an iron grip on to what it has
This rise in the price of gold has
not been seen and understood, be
cause we are in the habit of estimat
| ing the value of all other articles by
comparing them with the colo
which purchases them, but not o
comparing gold itself with what We
give for it. Could we take thi,
view we should see the evidence o
it in the depreciation of real proper
ty, in low wages and scarcity o
work at that; in languishing enter
prise, in frantic efforts to meet en-
gagements, too often made in vain
Yes, if it is found that instead o
Isl ounces of silver purchasing al
ounce of gold it takes 17& ounces tC
do so, the effect is not all nor ever
half of it due to a fall in silver, anC
more than halfOf it to a risein gold
How should it be otherwise whel
all the Governments of Europe anC
America are entering the gOlC
market as bulls; and this leads u
free and prepared to enter on thu
controversy with the President ant
Jay Cooke on the probable effects O
reconciliation as we'll as the mora
view of the matter-the question O
right and wrong.
CONGRESS- IN REGULAR SESSION
a.,