New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-11-15
sJLYER AND RESUMPTION.

War upon the banks is now threatened by
the silver maniacs and the silver jobbers.
The immediate pretext is the action of the
Clearing House in respect to silver, but every
clear-headed banker has foreseen the at
tack for months. That was an excellent rule
which was once given: Avoid fighting if you
lean, but if a fight must come, be sure to strike
" the first blow and make it as hard blow as
"yOu cam FOrewarned that fight was to
be forced upon them as soon as Congress
should meet, the banks have dealt the first
blow. It's force is shown by the rage of their
opponents.
There are some sound advocates OF honest
money who are still apprehensiye that mis-
chief will come from the Silver bill, no mat
ter what action the banks may take. Sooner
or later, they reason, the silver dollar must
become 50 abundant as to drive honest
"money ont of the currency and en-
"throne itself as the one sovereign stand
Gard" We propose to show, first. that
this cannot happen under existing legislation /;
and, second, that the banks have ample power
to protect the business community against
such other legislation as is threatened.
As matters now stand, no one can get a
SILVER UOklnT OUT VI hiluOuI pay
ing the equivalent of a gold dollar for 1T.
But the banks, which treat q gold
dollar as good for all purposes, will
refuse to receive a silver dollar as
money, excepting when they are Obliged to
receive it in payment of debts. What person
then will prefer to take q silver instead of q
gold dollar from the Treasury For seven
months although the banks have been taking
the silver dollar as money, the people
have utterly refused to take it from
the Treasury. Whyf Because it cost
them as much as the more convenient
and intrinsically more valuable metal. Being
able to take either at the same cost, men took
gold of course When the banks add an i'm
pediment to the use of silver as money. who
will then prefer the silverY But if no one
takes silver out of the Treasury, being able
at the same cost to get gold, no silver can
get into circulation. 1t matters not, in that
case, whether the Treasury has piled up
twenty or two hundred millions of the debased
coins they will not so into circulation, will
not be used in debt payments, and will merely
accumulate.
But "'sOoner OF later" it IS said, the store
(which the Treasury can accumulate will be-
"come all silver, and then it will be forced
Ito refuse any other metal" Not at all.
Even now, the surplus revenue nearly equals
the amount of silver required to be coined
yearly, and with any Improvement of
business the revenue will increase with
out change of law. BY applying the
surplus revenue to the coinage of silver, in
stead of the payment Of debt, since the Sill
yer Act SO requires, the Administration can
go on indefinitely piling ND silver. without
diminishing it's receipts or its store Of gold.
Moreover, it has unlimited power to sell bonds
for gold, in the maintenance OF gold resump-
ton. Before many years the people will get
tired Of wasting $1,000, 900 each month so
foolishly, when the sum might be employed
in paying debts.
Hence there Is no reason to fear that silver
can get into circulation, or can be used to
any appreciable extent in debt paying or any
other process, until one of two things hap
pens viz: ~ The Treasury forces people to
take silver instead of gold or notes-which
will not happen Until the repudiators have
elected a President; OF GU There is a
change in legislation. By legislation the
situation may be changed in two ways.
Inc surplus tcN0hue may De cut OH Dy
reduction of taxes or larger appropria-
tons, and the power to sell bonds in order to
maintain resumption may be taken away. Or,
the coinage Of silver may be made unlimited.
Were the surplus revenue and the power to
sell bonds removed, it would still require, at
the rate of $2,000,O00 per month, eight or
ten years to exhaust the present store of gold
and accumulate an equal store of silver. Long
before that time, the people would get sick of
fooling. Enemies of the public credit, if