Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-11-09
WORK FOR CONGRESS.

Ing Oh the I'VE anu OLA pei SCno' ooAlS.
The second of these questions is undoubt.
eddy the most necessary of all, though the
third also cannot be postponed with safety.
The silver question has been avoided by
the politicians until it can be neglected no
longer. When the silver bill was passed it
was only question of time for it to be.
come pressing danger to the stability Of
the currency, and in the interval which
has elapsed since its passage SO much silver
has been coined that the danger has be-
come imminent. The silver bill provided
for the monthly coinage of at least two
million dollars, worth, at the present price
of the metal, 81 cents to the dollar. The
object of those who forced this law upon
the country was to get these dollars into
circulation for the purpose of paying off
the public debt with them. As they are
intrinsically worth no more than 81 cents,
but are nevertheless full legal tender, the
result of forcing them into circulation in
large amounts must be to drive
the present superior currency out of cir
culation. Gold, and notes based upon
gold cannot circulate side by side with an
inferior currency The latter will in such
a case always be preferred for the discharge
of liabilities, and consequently the gold
will disappear. But when gold disappears
the support of the greenbacks will vanish
too, and as silver will then become the
standard of value, the greenback viii rest
upon silver instead of upon gold. The
purchasing power OF the currency, both
silver and greenbacks, must then sink to
the actual value of the silver dollar; that
is to say, to 81 cents on the dollar. In
stead, therefore, of having, as now, cur
reucy worth 100 cents to the dollar all
over the Union, we should have, under the
operation Of the silver bill, deprecated
currency, worth at the most 81 cents on
the dollar, and liable to sink very much
farther. This is the situation to which
the silver bill is conducting the country,
and if we wish to preserve the sound and
stable and full value currency we
now enjoy, we must repeal that law
promptly. The Republican party can
not afford to temporize with the
question. That party has assumed
the responsibility and taken to itself the
credit of effecting resumption of specie
~ - 4Iok ~
measure of which it is SO justly proud is
threatened with speedy collapse unless the
coinage of silver is stopped. 1t is only
necessary to let things alone, in fact, for
resumption to be defeated by the agencies
now at work. The silver bill contains
within itself all the machinery for the
restoration of the gold premium, and for
the return of depreciation and fuctuation
in the currency. The politicians will have
to master this vital question at once, and
stand prepared to take action upon it when
Congress meets for the winter session. The
bill must be repealed or the whole scheme
of resumption will go by the board, and
silver once established as the standard it
would take generation probably to undo
the mischief.
The refunding of the FIVE and six per
cent. bonds which mature next year will
have TO be accomplished also. The Demo-
Gratis have delayed this necessary measure
despite all representations Of its urgency,
and if we may Judge from their past ac-
tions they would have been very likely,
had they carried the late election, to at
tempt some such absurd policy in regard to
these securities as the Greenbackers pro-
posed. The situation to be dealt with is
simple and clear. Next year $751;, ZOO, 600
of five and six per cent. bonds mature.
The country has not the surplus revenues
at hand to discharge this debt. Therefore
the best thing it can do is to refund the
amount at lower rate OF interest, and
thus save outlay. There can be no doubt
OF the ability of the Government under the
favorable auspices of a Republican admin
istration, to effect the refunding upon ad-
vantageous terms, and thus to save several
millions per annum in interest. There is
no choice of courses, however. Refunding
is the only plan that offers, simply because
outright payment is impossible. 1t is not
necessary to pay any further atten-
ton to the preposterous Greenbacker
scheme for emptying the Treasury of
its coin reserves in discharge of small
portion of these bonds. The people have
too emphatically repudiated all that
nonsense to leave any doubt as to
the general confidence in the statesman
like measures which have been thus far
pursued by the Secretary of the Treasury.
1t is the desire of the people that the debt
should be paid off as quickly as possible,
and that is being done now. The five and
six per cents. will have to be refunded,
and a Republican Congress must see that
this is effected with as little delay as pos
sible. When the danger of silver glut
has been removed by the repeal of the
Bland-Alilson bill, and the entire debt has
been refunded at three or three and half
per cent, the Republican party will have
earned fresh title to the confidence and
esteem of the nation, and will have placed
the public currency and finances on stable
and satisfactory basis. Politicians 5wiil
doubtless be less timid hereafter about do
ing right than they have been, since the
practical extinction of Greenbackism must
convince them that the era of currency
fantasies is at an end, and that the people
have learned to appreciate honest money at
something like its true value.
ARIZONA.
Conductor Killed = Serious Accident =
Railroad Matters.
Tucson, November Sth - Frank Clark.
conductor of the pile-driver car, was killed