New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-02-22
THE SILVER BILL AND THE VETO.

| THE SILVER BILL AND THE VETO.
The House has concurred in the Senate
amendments, and the Silver Bill goes to the
President. The manner of the concurrence
was worthy of House of Representatives
which passed the Bland bill, free coinage and
ALL, without word of debate, and by an
| overwhelming vote. To be consistent. it voted
Yesterday to send the bill to the President,
with the Senate amendments, after just one
hours riot-it cannot be called debate-and
again by an overwhelming vote The spirit
in which it approached the subject could
not have been better illustrated than by
that one disorderly hour, in which members
| danced around the chair of the Vice-Pfesident
of the late COnfederacy, begging for two
minutes one minute, half n minute, in which
| to express their views, and then rushed to
their desks to gable off a paragraph or two
| from their piles of manuscript. thus wedging
the whole mass into The Congressional Record.
But the result is of more Importance than the
! method. The moderate advocates of silver
and the defenders of the public faith joined
| bands to defeat the three-sc0re and ten repudi-
ators, and the Silver Bill goes to the Pres
! ident.
| 1t is not doubted that he will veto it. He will
be right. The bill in its its present form can be
interpreted and executed, as we have shown,
in entire harmony with the Resumption Act.
Nevertheless. it is an essentially dishonest and
dishonorable measure, for:
| |. Its evident purpose was to rob the public
creditor and if any other result follows, it
will be due, not to an honest intent on the
part of the majority OF those who'd vote for it,
but to extraordinary lack of practical sense
on their part, or to especial shrewdness and
frmness on the part of the Administration.
III. After the term of this Administration ex-
pires, another Administration may give the
measure very different construction. 1t Is
possible, under the amended bill, to put into
circulation at least as many legal-tender silver
dollars as the country can possibly use with
out material depreciation, before the term OF
President Hayes expires, and 1t will then he
possible, under this bill, for the next Admin
istration utterly to destroy the public credit
by issuing more silver at the rate of $4,000
900 n month, to cause great depreciation In
the market value of silver coins, and to use
the deprecated coin for payment of interest.
iii. 1t is not even absolutely certain what
course the present Secreta OF the Treasury
NAV think it his duty to take. Conflicting state
ments appear. That he has power to reduce
the new dollar to the position of mere token
coinage, so that it shall not now impair the
public credit or the resources of the Govern
ment, we have shown. But he may possibly
think that after the bill has been passed, 1t is
his duty to execute it according to the knav-
ish intention of its chief movers Strong faith
that Secretary Sherman will not do such a
thing may abide with us, and yet may not al
ways influence public creditors.
w. Thus it is still impossible to say how
far the bill, although so much modified. may
break down the public credit. Though no I'M
favorable results follow for a considerable
time no one can say how soon rumOrs as to
the future course of the Secretary may cause
alarm of creditors. After all, the bill Is es-
sentially dishonest in spirit and purpose, and
nobody can tell how soon or to what extent
the public credit may be undermined by 1t.
Many point to the present price of gold as
! evidence that the bill does not harm the pub
lie credit. But it must be remembered that
the passage of the bill in some form had been
ANTICIPATED ; that practical men quickly saw
that it was very much less dangerous in form
than had been expected and that spectators,
| anticipating a long debate in the House, in
mediately sought to realize. In fact, we can
measure the effect of the silver agitation only
by considering what the premium on gold
would probably have been without this in
fuence In November the exports were
S6GO2S,129, against only $38.523,O75 i'm
ports. In December, exports amounted to $72,-
179,774, against imports of only $50, 124, 500.
Thus in two months the excess of exports
over imports was $67, 560,23O, and this
would undoubtedly have caused sharp
decline in the gold premium, had not
the public credit been so assailed as to
bring back bonds from Europe amounting to
fifty millions or more. In 1876, during the
same two months, the excess of exports over
imports was only $56, $50, 617, but it sufliced,
notwithstanding desperate struggle as to the
Presidency, to push down the price of gold
from ITO in October to lot January 2, and
to 1863. in February, one year ago. A much
larger favorable balance this season in No
vember and December did not prevent a
slight advance in the price OF gold, from
1925 in October to 1929 January 2. In
January and part of February, the excess OF
exports at New-York alone has been about