The daily gazette., 1877-06-30
From the New York Sun. ~
THE SHERMAN SILVER SCHEME.

In 1875 Switzerland declined to coin
anv more silver, on the ground that sit
was dishonest TO put deprecated cur
rency in circulation In the early part
OF 1876 the same subject was brought up
in the French Senate, and there it was
maintained in debate that "in the pres
ent state of the silver market, it would be
wrong for Frfhce to coin any silver at
ALL
In our discussions good deal of stress
is laid upon the proposition that we should
adhere to our old double standard. There
is no insurmountable objection to that. =
But if we do this, we must do what we
always have done-rndintdin the inter
chdngeobiHty OF the tpo standards and
their equ;rdtent poiue. Thus, if man
has .e'. siver dolla,s, they must always
contain so much silver that they will
buy ten dollar gold piece. This is
the state in which. we have hithelto
maintained onr double standard. The
silver has been kept equal Co gold. Now
nobody pretends that gold has grown more
valuable than it was of old, But silver
| b9S rapidly increased in volume, and has
| therefore deprecated. We cannot cofig
| tinue to use it honestly as a stands'd
otherwise than by keeping Of equal value
the cL.n Of the two metals. So long as
This is done, nobody win object TO the
double standsrda The only objection is
against two standards which are not
equivalent and interchangeable. This is
is a thing we have never had, and we
| may safely say we hever shall have. 1t
would lead to sfeat confusion and EN-
barrassment in trading circles; and jus
to the extent the ore kind of coin was
below the other in value, it would be a
fraud if forced into circul":ion.
We do not now need to 20 into any de-
tailed elucidation of the relation of silver
to gold. 1t is a plain subject, and we
have often discussed it. Silver is not so
valuable metal as it was, simply because
of It's increased plentifulness, This has
arisen from the great productiveness OF
the Silver mi ,es in the Con stock lode,
which within few years have doubled
the average nual project of that metal
for the VIII world. But beside this,
less silver 7anted, owing to the fact
that 1t isr 1ger used as a standard of
value, II al European countries, ,sucf-
as u 80 sweden, and Germany; and
Other IS, like France and Holland
and ara :, are considering the wisdom
OF 70 - their example. These COM
bine s have produced great fluc-
tuat the market price Of the
meta very serioas and even alarm
ing Va its permanent value.
T1is a condition of things which
render ne future of the metal very un-
certai and makes prudent and Drovi-
dent 'yislators and financiers wary in
the's AslioasA IEthet Nevada mines % on
as they have begun, it seems probable
that the result will ultimately be that all
countries will follow the action of Den
mark and Sweden and Germany. But
whether this happens or not, the situa-
alton Is such as TO excite great solicitude
in regard to the part that silver is here
after to play in the money circulation of
the world. If it should so happen that
silver should become twice as plentiful as
it now is in comparison with gold, it
must inevitably occur that the difference
in the value OF the two metals will be
largely increased, and corresponding
change must be made in the coinage; or
the double standard must be abandoned.
Meantime, the last thing prudent G ov-
ernment should do is to try to force the
cheaper and falling metal circulation at
its old price. This is to initiate
the example Of numerous short
sighted rulers in the past history of the
world, who have thought to improve
their financial condition by debasing the
coinage. 1t is plan that has always
ended in embarrassment and disaster,
and always will.