The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-11-06
SHERMAN ON SILVER.

Secretary Sherman was an original
anti-silver man. AS long ago as 1868 he
proposed in Congress to abolish the sill
yer dollar altogether, and he also propos.
to reduce the quantity ofgold in the gold
coin some to 10 per cent, SO as to re.
duce the gold dollar to 80 or 95 cents on
the dollar of its present value. If we
mistake not, he suggested that creditors
ought to be very glad to get that much
in payment Of what was due them. 1t is
possible that he knew of the demoneli.
zation of silver coin in 1873, because it
contained too much silver, but whether
he did or not, he made himself more
conspicuous to the esquare inch, in oppos-
ing the reconciliation of silver, than
any other man in the country. In his
recent speech, at Steubenville, Mr.. Sher-
man referred to the silver question.
He says that he objects to the free
coinage of a silver dollar worth only 85
cents that when the free coinage of
silver and gold were adopted in 1893,
Hamilton and Jefferson took great care"
that the bullion in both dollars should
"be of precisely the same value" This
is somewhat Of new reading of his
tory, In the first place, prior to that
time silver dollar coined by Spain was
in general use by all countries, and was
the dollar by which all commercial bust.
ness was measured. Hamilton and JEFF
ferson took great care that in establish
ing American coinage, the American
dollar should correspond precisely with
the then existing and standard dollar.
They provided that the American dollar
should consist of 37l4 grains of pure sill
YER, and that it should be the unit of
value. A gold coinage was provided for,
the smallest piece being $3.50. An effort
was made to make the gold coin repre-.
cent an equal value per dollar with the
silver dollar, but it failed, and from that
date to this the bullion value of gold and
silver in American coin has never pre-.
cisely agreed 1t was never expected
that they would agree; certainly no pro.
vision was made or attempted that they
should agree. Hamilton and Jefferson
were too sensible and too practical to at.
tempt to make the bullion values of the
gold and silver coins correspond. The
law simply provided that 3714 grains of
pure silver should be the American dol
lar, and no other coin of that denomina.
ton was provided for. Mr., Sherman
says:
In 1887, fifteen ounces OF silver bull
lion were not equal to one ounce of gold,
and 80 our fathers changed the ratio to
sixteen ounces of silver to one of gold"
The ordinary reader would understand
from this, that in 1887 it was found nec-
essary to increase the bullion in the sill.
yer dollar, in order to make that dollar
equal in value to gold. In point of fact
the reverse was the truth. In 1898 gold
was regarded as the secondary meta, and
the weight of gold to correspond with
silver coin was guessed at. But little
gold was coined, and there being too
much of it in the coin, it was sold as
bullion. In 1887 Congress reduced the
weight Of all the gold coins so as to re.
duce their bullion value to that of the
standard silver dollar. Subsequent gold
discoveries Cheapened the value of that
metal, and down to 1875 the American
silver dollar was worth from 102 to 104
in gold.
The silver dollar has never been chang.
ed It has always contained 37l@ grains
Of silver, no more and no less. The dol
lar of the United States has been 37l4
grains of pure silver, without reference
to how much gold, copper, -four, wheat,
corn, dry goods etc, it would purchase,
The dollar is the same now that it has
ever been. The only guarantee, prom.
Use, or obligation assumed by the Gov
ernment is that the dollar should con-
tain 37l4 grains Of pure silver.
The Secretary's statement that silver
dollars remain in the Treasury applies
equally to gold and to greenbacks; all
surplus money 6ndsits way to the Treas.
ury, owners taking certificates for it. If
the silver dollar was worth 85 cts. only,
everybody would use it in preference to
paper or gold. Both gold and silver be-
ing bulky, they remain on deposit, and
there are fHlly as many silver dollars in
circulation as there are gold dollars.
Mr.. Sherman strangely advocates as a
substitute for the present "85.cent dol
lar" dollar which may be agreed upon
with other nations, in the proportion of
l54 grains of silver to grain of gold; he
does this, knowing that this will reduce
the weight Of silver in our dollar, and
reduce Its value as bullion from 85 TO so
cents ON the dollar. In his own Ian.
guage, Iftbis be device to make mon.
ey for the Government, tisa a very mean