Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-12-07
For the Bulletin.
The Dollar Of the Daddies.

For the Bulletin
The Dollar Of the Daddies.
From the general jubilation over the
passage Of the Bland silver bill by the
House OF Representatives, any one not
fully up in our style of politics might
pc led to suppose that in the days Of our
forefathers, somewhere, there was in
general use an American silver dollar,
which We were deprived of by trick, in
1873, but which the Bland bill restores
to us in all its glory. Now, the dollar is
| just as good whether our daddies used
it in their general transactions or did
not use it, and the point is of no conse
quence, only as it illustrates the way
some people do things. The Inter- Ocean
comes out with fac smile of an Amer
lean dollar, and apostrophizes it in some
very sweet verses, the chorus of which
is the Dollar of the Daddies," and less
er papers, that can quite get the sacred
old picture, nevertheless 60 their length
on the poetry, until the air is full of the
impression that we have only to shout
Justify and blow our horns and beat our
drums, to scare away the demons of
Wall street until Congress can rush
through this precious bill, in order that
we may have showered upon us the in
spiration of the daddies, the silver dol
lar and a foretaste of the millennium.
The statement, or assumption, that
the American silver dollar was ever in
general use in this country is an error.
1t has no better foundation than the
statement with the same paternity. so
strenuOusly put forth during the last
two years: that there was a scarcity of
the circulating medium in the country.
when it was known there was hundred
millions lying idle, and rates Of interest
declining every day.
The daddies had dollar, there is no
doubt about that. They had several
kinds Of dollars. They had the Mexican
dollar, with cap Of liberty considerably
raised, on one side, and rays radiating
toward the circumference of the coin.
They had the Spanish mllled dollar, with
pillars which same device was on the
smaller coin, down to the Yankee nine
pence and four pence ha penny-and
both OF those dollars circulated many
times more than the American dollar.
that is, the dollar with American device
authorized by our Congress, and which
is revised with such flourish by the
Bland bill. But the real dollar of the
daddies for forty years-and [ don't
know how much longer which nine
tenths OF the business requiring dollar
was transacted was paper dollar upon
some bank chartered by State law.
Half-dollar and quarters were abund-
ant, but we scarcely ever met with an
American silver dollar.
The question Of remonctizing silver
Is very grave question. think it has
two pretty strong sides, and it should
not be befogged by twisting history.
10 me 1t seems as though the result
will be evil. The theory is that silver
and gold are to circulate tremendously
together, and both are to have absolute
power, both equally the standard, and
each floating upon its own intrinsic val
ne, notwithstanding the fact that silver
is found in monstrously great quantities,
in untold billions, in the mountains of
Nevada, which fact must in the near fu-
ture force ruinous depreciation of it's
intrinsic value and it's purchasing pow
er. Under such circumstances the two
standards will inevitably drift asundor,
and the finances of the country be
thrown into dire confusion, to the great
injury OF the poor and middle classes,
and to the benefit of spectators and
gold gamblers, The idea of two stand
ards in the present state of things is an
ahaurdity. 1t is like trying to serve two
masters, or running military company
with two captains. each with his own
system of tactics,
1t IL urged that with our silver dollars
we can very soon resume specie pay
ments-buying in our greenbacks with
the silver, This, indeed, would be
grand contamination. The greenback
dollar is worth 81 cents, the new silver
dollar is worth 90 cents, and for the
government to shave its own paper five
cents on the dollar would be quite an
achievement, and when we remember
that the hard-hearted creditors in the
land are all to have cents on the dollar
wiped out Of their bills receivable at
one stroke, the thing becomes quite in
teresting. But the great silver king,
Senator Jones, when he first preached
the silver question, and before he had
learned how large dose the average
Congressman would swallow, accompa-
MED the suggestion by the proposition
that the silver should be adjusted to the
standard then in use, and as it declined
in value the size of the coin should be
periodically enlarged so as to maintain
the proper relations between the two
metals in use. This plan seemed to be
in the direction Of honesty, but was
shockingly impracticable, for it would
have enlarged the dollar of the daddies"
to the size of tea-saucer, and eventu-
ally to the size of stove riddle, which |
would not have been an unmixed evil. |
after all, for it could be used on occa-
sion for dinner-plate and obviate the
breakage of china. And these dinner
plates are legal tender for taxes, and |
everything else, and ! imagine Jim Poor
will smile when he has filled his safe,
and all the safes in the Court House,
with them, and has to send the balance |
around for safe keeping as over-crowded |
hotels send their surplus guests out to
lodge
Anyhow, they say, we can pay off our
bonds in silver, and that will be great
saving. That would certainly be desira-
BILE if there was an end of it, but it is
not the end of it. Would it be credita-
BILE for a great nation, because it had
the power, to make the bonds not col
lectable for thirty years and then pay
them in dollars, worth in grain Of work |
or land only fourth part as much as
the dollar the government received for
them? Wouldn't that be rather small
business for great government? One
man says he goes for anything that will !
humble the Wall St. miilionaires, and so
he goes for silver. The impulse is
doubtless laudable, but let us try and be
as merciful as we can toward those