The daily gazette., 1878-02-19
a$5 WILMINGTON. DEL, TUESDAY. FEBRUARY 49, 1873

under the,spprehe epsion tlEt the col mage
ofsilverj might be retarded by the See.
Tetary of the Treasury, who Is known to
be opposed TO the bill. / have no such
fear. 4 Ii the Secretary desired to render
nugat0fy or Intellectual the law after it
shah be passed, he could do so more east
yunder the House bill than Under the
amendment of the committee. By- the
latter he Is required to have coined not
less than 81, ,0O0, 900 month, while under
the bill as II came to us no such require
me mt is made. -------
The most important question inlrefer-
,ence to the details of this bill Is whether
412t grains of standard silver will make
dollar equivalent In value TO dollar in
gold. This il most important question,
aud one that should be considered fairly
by every Senator, no less by the friends
than those opposed to the hill. 1t cannot
be desired by any that there shall be any
material difference IN the value of the
two coins, and AZ close an approximation
ssould therefore be obtained a. possible.
If silver money Is intrinsically worth
much less than gold coin for the same
amount, 1t will, as experience has shown,
superoede IL in business transactions, and
II much more valuable II will retire from
active circulation. The interest of the
people Of the cous,s-v is TO have both
Coins in their service, and therefore to
have as near an approximation in their
relative values ~ p0ssi ble. Even IL both
could be kept in circulation with any
considerable difference in their values, IL
would be misfortune If not q calamity
to the country. Nothing can be more af-
fictng to any people than deprecated
currency. It leads to initiation In prices,
which sooner or later is followed by de-
preston in values, bringing stagnation in
business, and ending too often in bank
ruptcy and financial ruin. Many OF the
friends OF this measure predict with
great confidence chat the dollar Of 4f2t
grains Will become In very short time,
II not at once, fully equal to the gold dol
lar, not only In the payment of debts, but
In its purchasing power. The legaltender
character of money will of conrse enable
1t TO pay debts already contractad. hut its
inherent value Is an essential element in
Its power to purchase property. eu
Those who oppose the bill differ widely
from its friends in their estimate Of the
relative values Of the two moneys and
place their opposition mainly upon the
ground that in their opinion the dollar
proposed in the bill is not and will not
be equivalent to the gold dollar. Mr..
President, confess that 1 have not been
able to arriveat any very rysatisfactorycon-
clusion in my own mind upon the ques-
ton in dispute, and believe 1t can only
be determined definitely by experiment.
All opinions upon the subject are but
speculations; all reasoning may be at
fault and result very different from what
we anticipate may be realized. shall
give my support to the bill, but am not
certain that the dollar which it proposes
win prove equal in value TO The gold
dollar. If, upon q fair test, this shall be
found TO be the case the remedy can be
applied and an additional quantity of sill
ver added, and none will be found more
willing than myself TO assist in correcting
the error. In expressing this doubt, Mr..
President, do wish TO be understood as
saving that / believe the quantity of
standard silver named in the bill will not
prove sufficient. On the contrary, if L
were to express any opinion upon the
subject, upon which all opinions at best
are but conjectnres, IL would be that the
number of grains proposed in the bill
for the dollar will approximate its value
to that Of the gold coin. The Secretary
| of the Treasury in his annua, report says
| that the silver dollar from 1892 until 1874
was worth more in the market than the
gold dollar and the Director of the Mint
| attributes the decline in silver bullion
since that time chiefly to the increased
production of our mines and demoneti-
zation inGermanyandint the eUnitedStates.
L am satisfied that decentralization in
this country has had a more depressing
effect upon the bullion market than any
and perhaps all other causes. The yield
| of the mines in Nevada has increased, 1t
is true, in the last few years, and per
haps the precentage of silver produced
as compared with gold has also increased
| Still the production of silver is less than
| that of gold in this country and far less
| in the world. / am not aware that there
has been any diminution in the uses to
which silver is applied, except for coin,
either in this country or in Europe, and
cannot, therefore, attribute the decline
in bullion to a falling off in the demand
for the purposes of the arts. The unwise
act of characterization in this country
must be regarded as the principal cause
of the depression in silver bullion.
Germany had established the gold
standard before we dropped silver from
our coins, and yet up to 1874 our silver
dollar of 412t grains was worth more
than our gold dollar This fact it seems
to me .justifies the conclusion that but for
our act of demonetization and the de-
struction of its legal-tender character the
silver dollar would to-day be the equiva-
lent of the gold dollar or very nearly its
equivalent. If this conclusion is true it
warrants the belief that the restoration
of silver to Its former character as le-
gal-tender coin will at least approximate
its value to gold. Still / repeat that this
is matter which no reasoning can de-
termiue and must be brought to the test
of experiment for solution. / would be
willing to make the experiment with
some increase in the number of grains in
| the dollar, but can see no serious objec-
ton to commencing the recoinage of sill
yer dollars with 4l2l grains, where we
left off in 1873. Should we commence
with too many grains in the dollar it
would be worth more for bullion than
| coin and would not be used as such.
The Senator from Georgia Mr.. Hill
suggests and believe that idea is con-
Cured in by others opposed to this bill,
that silver coin should be restricted in
its legal tender character so that it could
not be used to pay debts over a certain
amount. To my mind such a proposition
would be very Objectionable. In the
first place it would lessen the value OF
the silver dollar by limiting its use and
in the second place would discriminate
between different classes of creditors.
The small creditor would receive his debt
in silver and the large creditor in gold.
L favor no such determinations. The
most serious objection to the plan sug-