National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1878-02-09

1t Is fashionable to mistify so plainly in his
little speech the other day that We can do no
better than reproduce the following hero:
Mr.. President, silver and gold have been the
metallic money Of the world for thousands of
years. They are also the money Of our Con-
stitution. They were the metallic money Of
the colonies and sfterward Of the United States
from the Declaration of Independence until
silver was demonctized, by mistake and with
out the knowledge Of the people or Congress,
by the enactment Of the Revised Statutes in
1874. Both metak are suited to perform tho
function Of money, aud silver does perform
that function among n large majority Of tho
human race. Silver Is especially suited for
small transactions, and may, therefore, be
properly called the money Of people in humble
circumstances.
1t follows from these premises that the bur
den of proof rests on those who insist that sill
yer should be demonetizcd. | therefore pro-
coed to consider the prominent points that have
been made by the dcmonctizors, and to an
swer them as well as am able to do:
!. In the first place 1t Is said that to rehabil-
itate the dollar Of Il2i grains would defraud
the public creditor. But. Mr.. President, this
cannot 10 true, for the contract is to pay in
either gold or silver of the standard value Of
the United States on July Il, 1870; when the
silver dollar OF Il2i grains was full legal ten
der, with the right Of unlimited coinage, and
II is simply impossible that party performing
his contract, tcntcrcd into by both parties to it
with full knowledge of its terms and effect)
can thereby be guilty Of fraud or dishonor.
In the second place, reply that both Houses
| of Congress have, by overwhelming majoritics,
| decided that no such fraud would be perpe-
tated by raging the public creditors in silver
dollars of 4l2l grains, and therefore feel au-
| thorizcd to assume that for all the purposes of
this debate that question has been definitely
| aI In, ha ri ati ztn AZ
silver will bring 1t to par with gold the pub.
lie creditor cannot lose. Whether 1t will have
that effect l. will consider further along.
H. 1t Is said that to coin the silver dollar of
il2l grains and make 1t full legal tender
would dcfraud individual creditors who have
loaned money or sold property to other indi-
viduals since silver was domonetized that is,
since June ~, 1874.
| /. Mr.. President, this Is great mistak o.
Every creditor Of the foregoing description is
| cOmpellablc by law to receive greenbacks in
payment unless his contract expressly pro-
| vides for payment In metallic money, and
these exceptional cases are not affected by the
bill under consideration. Now, no one, think
doubts that If the coinage of the dollar of Il2l
grains be restored and it be made full legal
tender, its value will be at least equal to that
of the greenback. Hence no possible injury
to the individual creditor such as that above
supposed can occur. lie Is compellable now
10 receive payment III BrccnDackA, anu nc
| cannot lose by receiving payment in silver
dollars equal in value to grecnbacks.
| 2. II, as has been asserted, the average dura.
ton of individual debts in the United States
Is about two years. think it Is less-theu il
Is easy to see that the passage Of this bill can.
not iujuro any considerable number OF crcdi'
tors, II indeed it should injurc any for it Il
certain that in the next two years not oveI
fifty millions of silver dollars could be coined
aud nearly every such dollar would be alb
sOrbGd by the payment of customs duties and
would he used for nothing else
III. 1t is argued that If this bill pass silver
will be less valupblc currency than gold ant
will cXpcl gold from the county, in accord
anCe with what is called Gresham's law, namely
that the less valuable currency drives out tn,
more valuable. And hence several amend
mcuts have been offered To increase the mum
Der of grains in the silver dollar so as to max,
= it an equivalent Us II is said, OF the gold dol
lar
/. This objection to the bill rests upon tn,
assumption that the silver dollar Of 4l2i grains
if made full legal tender, will be Of less valut
than the gold dollar.
But is this assumption true? Tho relativ,
; value OF silver aud gold, il the silver dollar o
III! grains b. coined and the gold dollar re
I main at BIS grains, will be 15.9S parts o
: standard silver for | part of standard gold
Z But In France and the other States of tn,
Latius Union the relative value Is l5l of slve
, to Of gold. so that, us compared to thos
| States, we undervaluo silver; and yet TIN
= silver Rvc-lranc piece is equal in value to TIN
gold iivC-lranc piece and there is more gold il
p France than in England and Germany to
gether, though England has long since demon
' cited silver except rs r subsidiary coin, ant
Germany. has deCrced its decentralization
though she has not fully executed her decree
| know that it is said that the reason VIII,
. silver coins and gold coins are at par in Franc
and the other States Of the Latin Union
Is because they have ceased to coin silver. Blu
V they have a stock OF silver coins that we can
, not ior years acquire; that is, it will tax
= years for lis to acquire an amount equal t.
theirs, and If they can now maintain pa
d between silver aud gold at the ratio Of ljl Il
Il !, why cannot we maintain such par at tn
Il ratio OF IDS to ~ Nothing is more certain
than that the depreciation in the marke
i value Of silver bullion is the result Of the dc
: monet1ation OF silver by Germany and tn
# United States, and the efforts being made +
!. demonetile it in the Latin Union States.
r. RemOnetize 1t in the United States, and
. seems TO me that the probable effect will be /
). put Il stop to its demonstration elsew ",
n even il it does not bring about the readopton @
the bimetallic standard in those countries tina
# have adopted, imprUvidently as | think tn
~ single gold standard. 1t is not correct reason
# ing TO treat silver simply as marketable con
D. modify, simply rs bullion. Such reasonin
loses sight Of the value that results frou
b. the function of money and the full legal
" tender quality. Ii the greenback, which hl
= no intrinsic value, no circulation outside
n the United States, and is but limited lega
tender even here, is yet within less than
per cent Of par with gold, why should M
II silver money, which has intrinsic value, an
u which circulatcs over the greater part of III
ST globe If endowed with tho full lega-tend,
N faculty rise 10 a par with gold, especial
If we rate the metals at l5.0s to |, while mo,
to other nations using both give but 10! for
ne One reason why greenbacks have been arl
n, are deprecated is the fact that they have n,
I'd been receivable in payment of custom duti
or Of interest on the public debt. But max
the silver dollar Of 4l2i grains full legal tend,
10 and it will be receivable for both these pu
~ poses aud it must closely approximate, II
"a does not reach, par with gold. | belieN
v that 1t will reach that par.
v DIR. SCHESK, Of Frankfort.on-t the Main, HI
Of written pamphlet, proving to the satisfactiC
IN Of all good Germans that the only genuine an
ty original inventor of the telephone was PhiliI
l.. ~