The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1877-10-24

rope, We reply that, taken on that ground
even, The advocates Of the use Of silver
have greatly the advantage Of their oppo.
Benis. Among the great European Pow.
srs oil the first class are certainly to be
Teckoned FraHce, Russia and AustriR,
each Of which nations has commerce
and industry Of vast extent, and all Of
which find silver money Indispensable ~
legal tcudet,. II to these three great
Powers we ndd Italy, Spain, Belgium,
Switzerland aud the Netherlands, all
maintaining The double standard
Of gold and silver, we have
European populations amounting to
more than 2lG,OOO0OO, all handling a
silver currency as the unit Of value and
I full legal tender. Contrast this with
the $1,000, 900 Of Great Britain, Germany,
Portugal and the three little SCandinA.
vian Nations who are shut up to the use
Of gold, and II will he seen how powerful.
I IL the argument drawn from the usage Of
great commercial peoples pfepOnderates
on the side Of silver. Turkey cannot fair.
ly be counted by the mono uietall.t4, any
more than the United States, since both
are aud have been for years under sus.
pension Of specie payment; and even
Germany, which forms absolutely the
only country OF any weight except Great
Britain which has attempted to enforce
the single standard, hesitateS to continue
on this doubtful and dangerous road.
mall the twenty-six countries named
in The two first tables the monetary unit
il silver coin. In Austria il il the Ill.
yer form, the standard value Of which Is
d5 $40 cents at the Treasury Of the Uni.
ted States. In France, Belgium and switz.
erland the monetary unit is the silver
franc, worth 10 $40 cents by the Treasu.
~ standard. In Italy it's the silver Ira,
and in Greece the silver draChma, each
worth the same as ihelranC. In the Ne
therlands tits the silver ilorin or guldCn,
Of 81 cents gold value. 10 Spain It L.
the pesetn Of 100 centimes, worth 10 $40
cents at the Treasury. In Russia it Is the
silver rouble, valued at 70 4-l0 cents, in
the last proclaimed table Oiforeign coins,
put forth by the Secretary Of the TreaSu.
~. In India it is the silver rupee, Of AZ
G-l0 cents standard coin value. And in
Mexico il Is the silver dollar, worth 30
$40 cents gold valuation on the LIST OF
January, 1877, according 10 the United
States Treasury Of that date.
The question recnrs, why cannot the
United States, too, return to the category
oil nations having a free currency Of
mixed gold and silver, instead Of forced
currency OF gold alone? When more
than fOur'titths OF mankind are still
using silver money; when it Is demon
strated TO be the most convenient, the
most durable, and the most necessary
part Of the circulation; when silver coins
have constituted in all ages by far the
most largely used money Of account;
when the attempt to abolish it as legal.
tender must violently contract the circu.
lation, expand the volume OF indebted
ness, enhance the burdens Of taxation,
and lead inevitably to widespread dis
treas and bankruptcy; when the United
States is OF all nations the most inter.
ested in maintaining the value OF silver
and not in discrediting it as money-is it
Credilable, we ask, that the American
people, now that their eyes are fully
opened to all the facts and specie pay
menls about to be restored, will throw
away the only chance Of making specie
resumption permanent? With a full.
valued silver currency, with the old solid,
honest dollar Of 37lt grains Of pure sill.
Yer, which was legal.tender in this
country cannot only restore solid values
but maintain them. Without this re-
sumption will be failure, which may
end in step backwards and worse in
llation than that from which we are en-
deavoriDg slowly nEd painfully TO re-
cover.