The Portland daily press., 1879-07-16
The Argus and the Silver CUES
tiOp

ton.
The Argus is still very indefinite in stat
ing its position on the silver question. 1t
vaguely says it is in favor Of restoring silver to
its old place of honor in the world. 1t says
it does not favor the enriching of the bonan-
"a men, but it has said that it does favor the
free and unlimited coinage of silver. Now
will it come down to the point and tell us
what it understands by ''free and unlimited
coinage?' Does it understand that a mine
owner can take eighty-eight, or eighty-four,
or ninety-two cents of silver to the mint and
have it without cost to him, struck into a
coin that shall be legal-tender for a dollar?
What other meaning can it attach to 'free
and unlimited coinage?" Is not that the
does not the argus proclaim that it it is in
accord with them on that point?
In reply to the questions put by the argus
we say that the PRESS does not favor the
''free and unlimited coinage of silver as
set forth above. 1t does not favor law
which enables a mine-owner to carry $SS or
$3.50 worth of silver to the mint and have it
returned to him in coins that are legal ten
der for 800 or 1000. The balance OF trade
is now in our favor The nations of the
world owe us balances that must be paid in
coin or its equivalent; that are understood to
be due in gold. We desire no coinage that
will enable them to send silver bullion to the
mint, have it coined into "dollars'', and
then pay their debts to our people with it at
the rate of S8 cents on the dollar. We de-
sire to see the wheat and corn and beef and
manufactured articles our merchants and
farmers send abroad paid for by dollars
worth one hundred cents each. And we
dare say Senators Bayard and Herman de-
sire the same. They certainly do not favor
the scheme to enrich the bonanza men.
We would like to see silver ''an equal
yoke-fellow with gold.'' We would like to
see it restored to its old place of honor as
one of the money-metals of the world" We
would like to see silver dollar equal
in value to a gold dollar, exchangeable
for it on equal terms everywhere. But we
do not favor giving the rich bonanza men
chance to make great profit out of the
Government. Does the argus favor their
schemes or does it think the seignorage
ought to go to the Government?
We have answered the questions the
Argus put Now will it answer ours?
Meanwhile we commend to it the following
remarks from the New York IY0rld, good
Democratic authority, and ask its opinion of
them:
In voting population of eight or nine mil
lions it cannot be quite safe to predict what so
many voters will do or say about public ques-
ton, but it does seem reasonably certain that
the time has gone by when the voters of the
United States will tolerate any diminution of
the weight and tineness of their present gold
dollar. The country is not likely to uphold
any party which endeayors to create Govern
ment silver dollar or any other dollar not the
true equivalent in value and not meant to be
kept at a true equivalent in value with our
present gold dollar. Any tinkering of the Gov
ernment money or the Government currency
which does not interfere with that equivalency
may be endured Possibly the Democratic lead
ers in Ohio may bear this prediction in mindl
Ohio is largely governed by New England and
other Eastern influences The ''idea OF Ohio"
has been powerful in the West but, somehow,
even in Ohio that party has always been victo-
rious which kept the furthest away from the
Ohio idea. When the Ohio Republicans have
been q little less insane than the Ohio Demo-
Gratis in their financial platform and little
less devoted to the ''idea of Ohio than the
Democrats, the Republican party has somehow
always won the day in Ohio. Can any party ac-
quire public confidence in this country and
permanent political power which hampers
with debts? Men can contract specially in sill
yer dollars if they like, or in paper dollars of a
specified quality, but when they contract gen.
orally to pay ''dollars," with no descriptive
words, and every kind of dollar at the time of
the contract is in purchasing power equivalent
to a gold dollar, the law must compel the pay
ment of dollar which is equivalent to gold
dollar, and not permit the discharge of the debt
with any other dollar. There are now too
| many existing contracts in this country in the
form of national, State, city and railway bonds
there are too many people living on the income
received from their investments and from
trust estates, to make any more legislative
tampering with the quality of our "dollar"
| American gold dollar is now our standard, and
| its weight and fneneSs must not be either
| diminished or increased by statute. NO party
can safely advocate a modification by such
statute means of the relation OF this gold
| ''dollar'' to any other dollar. No matter how
many silver dollars we may have, we must
| have anu keep gold dollars worth OF silver
| in each silver dollar whatever the ratio of the
! two metals to one another may be. The politi-
| cal party which falls from this standard will in
the end fall from powerl The people who
| have something to lose outnumber i'll this
country the people who have nothing to lose.