Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-02-08

know which metal, GOLD or silver, can be
most cheaply supported. A careful examln-
alton OF the subject conclusively shows that
the loss Is nearly in proportion to the
length OF time coins have been IN circnla-
ton, and to the amount of surface ex-
posed, although small coins, being handled
with less care, suffer most The we'll
aseertalned result is that 1t costs from
fifteen to twenty-five times more to keep
silver afioat than 1t does to maintain the
same amount in gold. To sustain the
silver standard would annually cost l per
cent for abrasion but that of gold would
not exceed one-.wentieth of l per cent.
This is troublesome charge forever TO
hrlstle up in the pathway of silver stand
ard. 1t must also be borne in mind that
the mint cost of coming silver Is many
times greater than that of the same amount
N gold More than sixteen tons OF silver
is required as the equivalent of one ton OF
gold. As a cold matter of fact, silver is
neither the best nor the cheapest standard.
1t is far dearer to plant and forever dearer
to maintain.
A double standard put forth by US on the
terms now proposed by the commission or
by the House bill would be so only in name.
The perfect dual ideal of theorists, based
upon an exact equilibrium OF values. can
not be realized while the intrinsic value of
either of the component parts is overrated
or remains debatable question aud every
where more or less open to suspicion.
standard of value linked to the changing
fortunes of two metals instead of one, when
combined with an existing disjointed and
all-peryading confusion in the ratio OF value,
must necessarily be linked to the hazard
of double perturbation and become an
alternating standard in perpetual motion.
The bimetallic scheme, with silver pre-
dominant-largely everywhere else suspend
ed, if not repudiated-is pressed upon US
now with a ratio that will leave nothing in
circulation but silver, as a profitable mode
of providing a new and cheaper way oil
pinching and paying the national debt but
q mode which would leave even possible
cloud upon our national credit should ind
neither favor nor tolerance among proud
and independent people.
The proposition is openly and squarely
maGe to pay the public debt at our option
in whichever metal, gold or silver, hap
pens to be cheapest. and chiefly for the rea-
son that silver already happens to be 10 per
cent the cheapest In 1873. to have paid
the debt in silver would have cost , per cent
more than to have paid it in gold. Since
that time it has been and would be now
cheaper nominally to pay in silver if We had
it and therefore We are urged to repudi-
ate our former action and to claim the
power to resume an option already once
supposed to have been probably exercised,
of which the world was called upon to take
notice, and to pay in silver to-day or to let
it alone tomorrow. i know that the de-
testable doctrine of Machiavelli was that "a
prudent prince ought mot to keep his word
except when he can do it without injury to
himself but the Bible teaches different
doctrine, and honoreth him who sweareth
to his own hurt and changeth not" II we
would not multiply examples OF individual
financial turpitude, already painfully nu-
merous, We must not trample out con-
science and sound morality from the none
tary affairs of the nation. The 'Option"
about which we should be most sOlicit0us
was definitely expressed by Washington
when he said There is an option lett TO
the United States whether they will Oe res
pectsblo and prosperous or contemplate
and miserable as a nation Our national
self-respect would not be increased when
Turkey, as dcbt-paying nation,
shall be held as our equal
and Mexico as our superior. The
credit of great nation cannot even be dis
cussed without some loss, it cannot even be
tempted by the devious advantages OF legal
technicalities without bringing some sense
of shame but TO live, it must go. like chas-
tity. unchallenged and unsuspected. IL
cannot take refuge behind the hg- leaves OF
the law, and especially not behind law
yet to be made To meet the case.
Waving the discussion of the morality OF
the proposed equivocal legislation. 1t Is not
difficult to show that the actual results
would be positively detrimental to the great
enduring interests of the Government and
the people. To begin with, it would cost
one and one-fourth of l per cent more to
coin silver than to coin gold; and l per
cent annually, or 10 per cent every ten
years, 10 maintain it would be absolutely
frittered away and lost We are at pres
ent, and must be i)r long time to come,
borrowing nation, not expecting to pay eur
debt speedily and in lump the premature
threat Of payment IN silver Is only desirue-
tive of our own credit: We require lower
rate of interest for debtors and canrot affjrt
to proclaim on the hOuse-rOps. now and for
ever, that we will pay debts when they ma
ture in lust the metal that happens to be of
the least value, and in that which many
other people may have discarded The op-
ton. involving an unreal and pitiful cheese
pairing at most. would cost vastly more than
it would be worth. The uncertainty about
the value of the medium OF payment would
have to be too largely discounted and COM
pepsated by higher rates of interest, and
more days labor will be required to pay
debts in silver. to earn any surplus, than to
pay in gold All borrowers, who have rot
silver now on hand will have abundant rea-
son to deplore the passage Of the silver
bill.
At a time when our receipts from Gus
toms were exclusively in gold, as they have
been for years and a. they are now, the
coin so to be received was sOlemnly pledged
for the interests and the redemption OF the
public debt. To snatch the gold away and
substitute silver might be practieed a
nimble art, but an art in which l should
hope no skill should be shown by leeisla-
tors IN the land Of Washington and Jack
son, of Marshall and Lincoln.
To allow the duties on foreign importa-
tions to be paid IN silver and then 10 use the
silver In the payment of our public debt
whenever that metal in its cnecsered for
tunes should turn out to be cheaper than
gold, would not only violate the true spirit
of our public debt contracts and the origin
al expectation Of all the partlcs-treating
our creditors as they were never treated De-
iore-but would result to the extent
of the difference in such huctuat-
ing reduction OF the tariff as would deci-
mate the receipts OF the Treasury without
discrimination and be a striking boon sud
denly granted to foreign industry without
any advantageous equivalent, unless 1t
should be held advantageous to inilict lett
handed blow upon American industry.
Neither the Treasury nor the people are
prepared to endure such blow.
Ii is true that the foremost among the
l. -. J. a.
preface to reputation last year disclaimed
any purpose of interfering with the past
and present mode and manner Of paying du-
ties or of paying tho public debt in gold;
but, to pay in gold, the Government must
have the gold. and. if the receipts were all
in silver, it would be subject to the ever
recurring losses which must follow the sale
of the one and the purchase of the other.
Our own Constitution provides that the
validity of the public debt shall not bc
questioned" Docs that mean that 10 per
cent may be questioned but not the whole
of it? Our Republic, having unequalled
resources and an untarnished reputation,
cannot afford to offer precedent Tor rcpu-
diation, though vailed in tho mildest form
and urged in the most silyery tones, which
the humblest individual cannot copy with
ont a blush and which the smallest States
cannot follow without worldwide dcgrada-
ton.
The realized capital Of the United States
is limited to the savings of a single century,
while that of Europe is derived from the in
herited accumulatiOns of uncOuDted ages.
So long a. our credit suffers no eclipse our
people may even thrive as borrowers We
have little oyerplus not actually needed as
fixed or circulating capital to equip and
keep our varied industries actively moving:
VIC can practically use more than We pos
sess ard vet even those who might invest
in Government securities are often deferred
by the hali-dccayed epithets which political
slush-monsers ding into their faces. The
holders of French and EnglIsh securities
are looked upon as bulwarks OF S-te. hon
ored by men of all parties as patriots In
1876, the holders of reHfcS registered IN
france numbered I.lOl.7 763 Why should
American bOndholders, among whom sm
unable to be counted, far interior IN mum
bers and means deserve less consideration |
and be mad, to stand in the pIilOry to he |