Ellsworth American., 1877-06-28
The Silver Question.
HORACE WHITE ON SECRETARY sHERMAN's
LETTER.

Auo CuScL xuoct1on'
HORACE WHITE ON SECRETARY sHERMAN's
LETTER.
The following communication from Mr.
Horace White appears in the New York
Post:
Secretary Sherman says that silver re-
monetization "would utterly destroy our
public credit, stop our funding operations,
by which we are now reducing the burden
OF our public debt thirty-three per centum,
drive out from the country all gold no
longer necessary for any purpose, and
leave us with what our silver friends so
much denounce, a single standard of sill
ver." In all this he is perfectly right, and
1t Is to be hoped he will adhere TO the views
so forcibly put The reason why it would
stop our funding operations is that silver
Is no longer legal tender in the countries
which have money to lend. The fact of its
not being legal tender In those countries
Is the principal reason why its value is
uncertain, and this uncertainty of value
will deter American investors from buying
the four per centum bonds, il the Interest
of them Is to be paid in silver. The United
States cannot be separated from the rest OF
the commercial world in dealing with this
question. We can go on in the old fashion
with an irredeemable currency. but when
we resume the use of q value currency-a
currency which is payment itself, and not
promise 10 pay-we must take notice OF
what is going on in other countries, and
square our actions accordingly.
An act OF Congress making the old silver
dollar legal tender, and authorizing its IN
limited recolnage, would make the exist
ing paper dollais redeemable in silver. and
since the thing TO be redeemed could not he
higher in value than the thing In which 1t
is redeemable, greenbacks would fall to
the value of silver and perhaps below it.
NJ. Cernuschi, the bimetallic champion
par emineHce of western Europe, upon .
lull survey Of our condition, told Senator
Jones's Silver Commission that 1t would
be far better for Us to adhere to our green
back currency than to attempt silver re-
monetiZation by separate action; that is,
without the concurrence of some consider
able part of the commercial world. This
opinion. think, Is shared by all bi-metal-
lists and gold mono metalists OF repute In
this country.
II demonetization Is to continue in other
parts of the world, no assignable limits can
be fixed to the decline in the exchange
value Of silver. Undoubtedly large de-
mand for it by the United States would
temporarily raise its price in the same way
that the demand for our new token coin
age checked the decline last year, but the
probability is that reconciliation by sepa-
rate action here would be accompanied |
and accelerated by further decentralization
elsewhere, so that when we should have
taken all the silver we could carry, the de-
cline In its purchasing power would re-
commence Immediately, and end no one
knows where
The countries efeWaasopn, taking into !
accuuTtehc countries that Az using IRE |
deemable paper) have demonetiZed silver
either by statute or by mint regulations
producing much commercial disturbance
and suffering among themselves, and send
ing down the price of silver as compared
with gold ten or fifteen per centum since
1870, Decentralization in the United States
in 1873 had nothing to do with this be
cause We had no silver coins, either fnll
weight or token coins. 10 ucmonetiEt.
Ours had all been sold off or sent 10 the
melting not many years before Such be-
ing TIE acts-silyer haying been sent on
the down grade by no action OF ours, and
the sin thereof. if it be one (and am in
clined TO consider il such, weighing heav-
lily on those who committed il, and Gil the
sinners eagerly looking for some one else
TO take the punishment and burden OIL their
backs by buying their demOnetized silver
and giving them gold in exchange tor It
the question Is whether we shall CRAFTY
them and At the same time saddle our
selves with more fluctuating and less
convenient currency than we now have.
Silver demonstration on the scale we
have witnessed since 1870, is unfortunate
and injurious and ought TO be arrested, IN
the only way ii can be arrested, by concert
of action among nations. Before remone-
tzatiOn l. attempted in the United States,
an International conference should be IN
vited, with a view OF securing tixity OF
value 10 silver, or, To speak more exactly.
ixity Of relative value between silver aud
gold. Secretary Sherman says such pro-
ceeding is now inpractIcabe. NJ. Ger
nuschi, on the other hand, thinks it is en-
tirely practicable or at all events that the
impracticable part of it is not on the other
side of the water.
OF all plans for silver reconciliation, the
Bland bill is emphatically the worst, be-
cause 1t proposes 10 re-enact the old basis
OF sixteen to onc-a basis so widely uiverg-
ent from that of the Latin Union and of
other silver-using countries that future CO.
operation with them would be impossible.
II we are debarred from concert OF action
now, We can ct least leave the door open
for coGcer, of action hereafter by ado!
the French basis OF 10 IL to l. The ;u-
vantage of adopting the French basis, If
we adopt any is that 1t puts US where we
can pull with the countries of the Latin
Union. instead OF pulling against them, at
some future time. Any number OF horses
pulling At different times or In contrary d.
rections at common load will not start
it. ANY number of countries striving after
a bimetalllc currency and adopting differ
ent legal ratios will, to the extent OF the
difference. neutralize and Illustrate each
others efforts. Hence the necessity OF
putting ourselves in IN attitude to coop
crate with other countries at some future
time if not now. The reason why double
standard has always been delusion and
a misnomer IN this country. IS that we and
other nations have neglected this rule.
am of the opinion that it is worth while
TO make the effort in an intelligent man
neI to retain the use of silver as interna-
tional money. Nothing short of an inter-
national experiment can determine the
question how far legislation can go toward
holding the two metals on party Of eX-
change. NJ Cernuschi believes that inter
national legislation can forever fix this
party, and DIR. Soetbeer admits that ii
would fix and hold 1t for very long pc
Rod. But for the United States alone to
attempt such task would be as futile as
Dame Partington's contest with the tide on
Yarmouth sands.
The Suez Canal.
1t stated in an official communication
to the Department OF the State at Wsshine-