The daily gazette., 1877-11-24
THE PEOPLE SAY
[For the Delaware Gazette.]

GOLD AND SILVER CURRENCY.
That the House OF Representatives have
passed bill by which silver, wnen coined
at the United States mint, is declared to be
lawful money and that the Senate will
concur in this bill with trifiing alterations
is prtnnd Idcid evidence that the bill is q
good one. Still our legislation, like that
of other nations, has not always been
faultless, and the wisdom Of this particu-
lar bill may be we'll investigated by every
citizen.
To begin with, we must clear our minds
of prejudices and escape from the 1nhu-
ence of phrases such as "repudiation,"
"debased currency" "national swindle,"
&C.. which have been SO freely used by the
advocates of an exclusively gold curren-
CIV. Language of this nature never furth-
ers the search for truth, but it often fills
the mind with error. And as we are en-
gagged in an effort to discern the true rela-
tions of gold and silver to our national
com merce in respect to circulating me-
dium. we need to proceed with candid
minds, free from preconceived notions or
opinions taken mainly upon trust.
1t is universally known that throughout
the world gold and silver are admitted to
be precious metals; and we know it to be
a fact that in nearly every country, in fact
every civilized country, they furnish the
means by which commodities are ex-
changed and the wealth of one man is
loaned TO another. In this respect tney
are different from platinum, or iridium,
or osmium, or aluminium, some OF Whlcn
metals are dearer than silver, and some OF
which metals are dearer than gold the
| reason being that they are both more avail
| able for ornament, which Is the chlef ana
almost final desire of large part OF Inc
human race.
the Oldest coin that we know much
1 about was the shekel, a silver coin USED Dy
the Hebrews. This, we are informed II, ,
Genesis was the money of the merchant
Hence 1t must have been legal tender
and we do not read In any ancient book
that anybody ever complained OF recelv-
ing it, either as principal or interest. On
line contrary, 1t remained in such high es,
Itimation that Judas betrayed Jesus Christ
for 0thirty pieces of silver" No mention
being made of gold, although gold was nol
unknown then, as we see by the expression
used by Horace, who lived before Tiberiut
| Cesar-dllrL Sdcrd James; "the aceurSeC
thirst for gold"-that is, money, so here
| at about the same time, In Palestine. 10
man province, and at Rome ltseii, Wer' ei
| two t'monies" used-one gold, and the 9th
| er silver; both equally respected.
| We need not descend from age TO age
l. and roam from country to country TO es
tablish The truth that gold and silver hav'
. always been precious metals, and Whel
| coined money. 1t is familiar knowledge
AS a matter of custom, and of custom on
kly large sums are generally palo IN goi'
| or its paper equivalent, and small sums II
? silver. But this is matter OF custom an
convenience merely. There Is no morallt;
Involved in the question of large or SINAI
sums. II it is moral to pay creolGor nv
dollars In silver, 1t is equally moral 70 pa.
1 E. ,l,-aA AnII q PC Z
sand or hundred thousand. II ne canno
| carry 1t himself he can readily hire IL u
| be carried by taking from one OF the bags
slight per centage of the entire amount,
. There are those who say that pecaus
| gold and silver do not always retain posi-
tive and unchanging relations OF value .
| each other, therefore one shoula pe uelHol ~
l | etiZed, taken out from coinage anu SEM ~ Il
| to the catalogue of sugar, cotton ana otne .
useful and valuable merchaholse.
= which the answer is, 'If this Is SO, whlc
metal shall 1t be?" And there is no an
swer to this question. For II we throw ou
silver then we have no money tor the pee
ple, for the small exchanges OF lie. An
Ii we throw out gold we deprive banker
and large operators of a most usef1l mol
ey. SO in the best interests oi socie'S
l Those who advocate the use of gold onl
profess a regard for the interests OF fore1gf
ers, which Is unnatural unless we regar
them as acting under some such modlnci
tion oI the New Testament morals as this
IssDo unto others better than you Woui
have them do unto you /; on, Love III
neighbof better than myself" Ii we Dougi
French bonds (Ipehtes) we should not es
| n3ct the French government to place AM
rcan gold or silver dollars IN our name
| every six months as interest; but we shoui
calculate upon collecting our interest
Paris in five franc pieces. England max
| no attempt 10 pay her interest IN America
dollars in America, or in five franc plec'
A in Paris. She pays in souvereigns In Loi
u don. To London you must go OF sehu
=, draw interest on your consuls then as ye
cannot use soyereigns as currency IN AIN
- rica you must sell them as yol Wou
wheat or rice, and somebody Will mai
G some money out OF you ms sa rs sareirne sgF1
= from it; SO you offer them bonds payap
/ IN London and Frankfort, ana the lntere
a too, in their own money; and they laue
~, 1T You and misunderstood you because
- | is mt customary and because 1t is 1ncof
O | patible with the dignity OF great al
a. wealthy nation thus to go the ROUNDS " WI ,
= its hat in hand We injure our credit
offering too much security, In tne eve
II, of n war with England or Germany, WI
ba is going to pay our bonds in London
Frankfort? Then also 1t Is salu that o
bonds will be returned TO us IA case we e. u
hoth gold and silver as lawful money WI
which to pay interest, We nave nea
silly remarks before; we have nelra
satisfied shareholders in bank threate
. ing to sell their stock If The Board ueclln
tn discount for them; we have heard n6
holders threaten to burn their notes 0
we never heard anything quite so silly
Z, the threat to return U. S. bonds to I
\ limited States. Let them come. Foree
ers have either 10 give them to citize
IN here or to sell them to us. We will che
fniiy lake them as gift we will W
ba equal cheerfulness buy them at prices
he isfactory to ourselves. =,
ls .e That is what il amounts to. and all u
ii II am cunts to; and it would greatly enr
~ ~ this couhtry if every foreign holder OF
"a q. bonds would at once send his Wh
'eii ei stock to the United States with orders
.oa sell Immediately.
~ some points remain over until anot