Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-01-17
THE SILVER DOLLAR.
What the Adsorasez cf Els Aes.
soTattoa Seek ;sl accomplish.

Fross 'he Lspxte Jaurnsl.l
The Indianapolis Journal Is in favor Of the
ren,o'etiz.tion Of silver if done oB \ far
ard horest hssis. the silver col2r heiaS ias.i,
q fqr4i value to tee gold doiisr. We caI-
cot brt regard its views on ,his question ~
e-r,z.ntly sound What oniec. can there ne
In making 4l2 2 grains Of silver legal ten
der for dollar when it lie eight per cent less
value In the worlds market than ricils-, an-
less il be TO cain tras ams,int IN sayias OF
the Government Indebtedness. r5;s = ne
ostensible and svowed object Of its adYoc5;es
And yet they will tell ms In the same breath
thar when silver is made full legal tender rs
value will appreciate to that of gold. II sacs
Is the fact their object will be defeated, sad
the only parties benefited will be the holdsrs
Of silver bullion But the evident intent Of
the Government to profit ss the expense Of It's
creditors will be fatal thrust at its credit,
and any further funding Of its bonds at low
er rates Of interest will be effectualiy check
ed. Austria, although . rich and fertile
country, stands In the lowest scale Of credit
snosg nations, simply because when 10 s
strait for nousy she has called IN the coin of
the Empire. and. reccined it, giving kss
weight or more alloy to its several denomina-
lions, yet made them legal tender and paid
them out ct the value stamped upon them.
She dehssed and depreciated her coin, and
compelled her creditors 70 take il ct iss face
value We would stamp our coin with face
valse cents more than iss oolnzaercial value
and compel cur creditors 70 take il. The diff
ference morally and otherwise is not Iery ap-
parcH.. In both cases the mstive ie the sxsns,
azd tie resalt-dess.ucsisn OF Estional cres.it
will be the same, however much we may
delude ourselves with technical Qualifications
for doing 50. By coming and legslixing q
full and honest silver dolls, We save our
credit. We place ourselves in harmony With
the rest Of the commercial world and prevent
our gold from being driven out Of the coun.
try. The universal distress leads men TO catch
at strsws. The specious cry, give Us the dol
lar Of our daddies, is fascinating, and they
ere catching at this straw. Il may be psrtk,
nent to ask which dollar Of our daddies do
they wazt9 Is 1t the dollar OF 1855, which
contained s75 64-1e0 grains2 That of 1879,
when It WAS 4ls grains. or that of 1894. when
when it was AZ IL grains. or that of 1853,
when the Government ceased cninirg for in.
di-idoals, or to coin dollars At all, but only
half'dollars and under, when the hsif.dolisr
was reduced from aos TO ls2 grains, md made
Q legal tender for only &5. Thus silver Was
made Subsidiary TO gold. The dollar Of 4f2S
grains was not included IL this change. brs
being no longer coined ceased 20 enter to any
extent into circulation. Thus the silver prsc.
tically demonetized in 1853. This was the
condition ~ things :iil 1879. The old dollar
Of 4ia4 grains wss still full legal tender,
and nominally standard Jointly With gold,
but there was not enough Of them in circula'
tion 70 make the least difference what Il was.
II 1873 the double standard vas dropped
Practically the situsticn was not changed a.
iota The only dollar coined subsequently
20 1853 was the trade dollar to psst the China
trade The act Of 1853 was under A Demo.
cratic Administrations. The only ohiect to be
attained by remonetisstion now is 70 svail
ourselves of cur vastly increased production
Of silver within few years. bat it should be
fairly snd honestly done. The fluctuations
between the relative values Of gold and silver
may be such as to render frequent adjast.
ments necessary. and even to render sac
double standard unpracticable under the
changed conditions Of the financial world,
hut popular voice demands it, and is viii do
no harm to Try 1t.