The daily gazette., 1878-01-31
WHAT THE rEoPLE sAY.
The Silver llucstion.

Ing the numerous articles on the subject,
which from time TO time have APP
perred In your columns, and from study
Of the speeches Of Messrs. Bayard, vor-
que stion, my patriotism or egotism lit Is
sometimes difficult matter TO decide
whether we are governed in our political
views by the one or the other OF these
p passions prompt me to desire to make
known my conclusions to the readers of
your valuable journal. 4pp = -lH
The history Of q ivilization pretty clearly
demonstrates the necessity of medium
Of exchange. was tempted TO say that
II conclnsively demonstrates its necessity !;
but / fear that some Huxlerian who might
read 1t woulddeclare that there is nothing
All, howevsr,in civilized governments,
excepting the fools and phenomenaliy
wise men, believe that medium of ex-
change Is q Necessity, and consequently
they demand that the governments pro-
vide them with stcl medium or mediums.
And as such demands are imperative IL
becomes the study of the statesman TO
provide the most expeditions and most
satisfactory substance from which to coin
money.
silver and gold are presented to the
statesman by the history Of civilization,
"A the only practicable metals. As gold
Is the most valuable metal, we would
naturally conclude that gold should be
adopted because Of its adaptability to
easy transportation. III the matter Of
then Iron, copper or brass might be used
for coinage. But the fact that none of
the baser metals are Of suffi ficient value TO
be used ~ c0in--except as tokens, to-
gether with the fact tilatthey are nowhere
nsed, excepting In that manner, proves
that the matter Of convenient carriage
In an allimportant matter in reaching
conclusion of what shall Constitute q
medium of exchange.
II conveniency then Is a matter of so
lgreat Importance, will gold answer for a
/, medium OF exchange ? To this question
trade answers most emphatically, no -
Gold cannot be used as acoin TO represent
u less value than one dollar and secure to
the public safe and convenient coin. In
fact the one dollar piece is too small to
be convenient.
OF the many millions OF business trans
actions which take place throughout the
| world on each day transactions which re-
lqiiire the use of a medium of exchange,
ii Is within bounds 10 say that 20 per
| cent of them require the use of some coin
or token, representing value Of less
| than one dollar. If such is the case, and
believe no sane man will deny that the
| figures / present are, 70 say the least,
sornewhere near correct, 1t Is evident that
II we do not use silver we must use a to-
ken of some kind to supply the place of
fractional currency which we cannot
think It Is evident 70 all minds that q
token OF the size Of the one cent coin,
made from piece Of iron, worth ut most
not more than ten cents a pound, upon
which the government has fixed It's seal
| and stamped upon IL lone dime." would
not only be a very unsatisfactory coin,
but would prove q subject for ridicule in
all other countries, at least, but the one
| In which II might be issued rDr.5
II IL not necessary TO pursue this
thought further. The commercial world
says that the fractional coin shall be of
isilver. If silver u not available for that
purpose, then the only practical snbsti-
| tpte Is not coin at all, but paper, q printed
due-bill of the government. The COM
mfrcial community, to show It's utter
Contempt for such mediums, has most uIi-
elegantly denominated them as stinpias-
i have thus far, to my own satisfaction
at least, proved that both silver and gold
must be used rs q medium Of exchange |;
that there must be in all countries which
make any pretensions to commerce coins
Of silver and of gold. 5..s.g.u-t nil. .is5f,
Now, If silver is 10 be used as coinit
should be made equal In value with gold
This, think, will be admitted by almost
every one. II IL Is not, then endless con-
fusion Is engendered among the busi ness
community. The banks accept the one
and refuse the other. The trader who
sells his goods to the purchaser before he
can positively name to him his lowest
price for selling, MUST ascertain from the
purchaser with which coin he intents to
pay; consequently nothing but "confu-
SION worse confounded" can result from
such course. fiNarD aIl.i.l wa |N
The fraction paper currency had Its
fixed value, for while 1t was not legal
tender for sums Of sufficient amount to
warrant the banks in receiving IL in
all cases on deposit, yet the govern
ment redeemed II at par In currency
which was legal tender. But such
viii not be the case with silver II it should
be made the currency Of the country,
secondary In value to gold. The gooern-
n,eid ctua make no proUision toTtie retienlp-
ton of siioer IN a legal tender currency
uitess Il makes siloer legal tender cairre,i-
cy. The confusion and Inconvenience
arising from the introduction of the gov
ernment fractional currency during the
war was slight indeed in comparison to
what must follow the coinage of silver
fractional currency unredeemable with
sSHRi hcuNti ctiitltNs lNS tiitCto art
being most seriously felt even now, and
one event which transpiyed only few
days ago demonstrates this fact much
Fstrpnger tliantheorzing can possibly do
IL. = san.mof II.
A man desiring to purchase morning
paper, the price of which was three cents,
went to the newsstand and laid down d
silver dollar and picked up the desired
paper. An old woman, the keeper of the
stand, Is somewhat of b financfer. She
took the coin and commenced to make
upthe necessary change, saying, swell,
suppose must do il, but itis hard,
Here yen give me a coin, which is called
p dollar, but can only sell II for ninety
SIX cents. For IL give you q newspaper
AMI one. cent, besides returning you in
money all that can sell Il for" Practi-
caily the old woman was in error, Ii her
dealings are exclusively with silver, but
II she deposits her money In bank and
draws againstit to pay for her purchases,
her logic was correct. And this only IL
llistrates what must be encountered in
upwards of ninety per cent. of the money
transactions of our people If the frac-
tional currency of the country is not
made redeemable in legal tender cur
rency, or be not made legal tender for
amounts sufficiently large to maintain its
AntaItfu In, paltfa IN,