The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-11-15
THE SILVER DOLLAR.


The vote in the House of Representa-
tives on the question of resurrecting the
silver dollar shows that the members of
the lower House of Congress, who come
directly from the people Of the various
States, know the sentimentof their con-
stituents, and, without regard to party,
are willing to shape the fnarcial policy of
the nation according to the justice Of the
case and the necessities of the times.
The bill known as Bland's Silver Bill
was, under suspension of the rules,
passed and sent to the Senate by a vote
of one hundred and sixty-three yeas to
only thirty y-four nays. Its provisions are
as follows:
That there shall be coined at the sew
eral mints of the. United States silver
dollars of the weight of 4l24 grains Troy,
of standard silver, as provided in the act
of January Is, 1887, on which there
shall be the devices and superscriptions
provided by said act, which coins, to-
gether with all silver dollars heretofore
coined by the United States of like
weight and fineness, shall be a legal ten
der at their nominal value for all debts
and dues, public and private, except
where otherwise provided by contract,
and any owner of silver bullion may de-
posit the same at any United States COIN
age mint or assay Office to be coined into
such dollars for his benefit upon the
same terms and conditions as gold bull
lion is deposited for coinage under ex-
isting law.
SECTION 2. All acts and parts of acts
inconsistent with the provisions of this
act are hereby repealed.
If the Senate should concur in this bill
and the President approve it, which is
likely, a great stride towards national
prosperity will be taken. The failure to
coin silver dollars has already greatly
oppressed the people Of our nation by
imposing a much beaver tax upon the
Industries of the nation than is necessary
to faithfully carry out the contracts of
the government and discharge its just
debts. The present bonded debt of our
country was contracted at time when
silver and gold dollars were both in cir
culation, and by the terms Of the contract,
under which the bonds representing such
debt were issued, it was to be paid in
specie, or in gold or silver. Since the
war the supply of silver has become
abundant, and the bondholders, together
with the leading capitalists Of the coun-
try, have speculated off of the people by
inducing the passage of an act causing
! the cessation of coming silver dollars,
whereby all specie debts were practically
made payable in gold alone. The differ
ence in the relative value of a gold and a
silver dollar has thus been changed from
par to premium, on an average, of
about nine cents in favor of gold, and
thus these bondholders in receiving their
interest or principal obtain nine per
cent more than their contract legitimate
ly calls for, and the people have to make
up this sum or gratuity, which Republi-
can legislation has given them, by an in
crease in taxation. Such policy has
neither justice nor expediency to sane
tion it. Gold and silver dollars were of
equal value before the legislative dis
elimination against silver was perpetra-
ted. They will again be equal in value
if this discrimination is removed Hun
dreds and thousands of dollars will be
saved to the people of the nation, and an
abundant supply Of specie as medium
of exchange can be obtained. We hope
the time has at last arrived when there
will be a little legislation in favor of the
whole people, and not exclusively of the
bondholder or moneyed corporation. 1t
is about time for this government to re-
sumo paying its debts according to con-
tract, and cease a policy which pays a
certain class Of its creditors an eluiva-
lent of one dollar and nine cents for
| what it only promised to pay one dollar.
The passage of the above bill will secure
this result.