Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1880-12-11
SILVER DOLLAR QUESTION.

President Hayes in his message, n
Secretary Sherman in his report, say
that we must put more silver in our dol
lars. The single standard men and the
single standard press say the same thing.
That this question is to occupy a very
large share Of the attention of Congress
and the public. is quite certain. We
6nd in the San Francisco Bulletin a we'll
timed article on the subject. We cannot
devote our space to a better purpose than
giving the Bulletins article a place. That
journal says;
The dollar which is now being coined
contains 4l2I grains of 900 fine silver. 1t
ia coined in the ratio OF 10. 9SS grains OF
silver to one grain of gold. The average
bullion value, according to the President,
of this dollar, during the past year, has
been Ssh cents. The year before the
coinage of the dollar. the average value
ran from 90 cents to go cents. Two NIL
lions Of dollars, or ~thereabouts. are now
being coined of these pieces. each month";
under the present laws Of Congress. But
they do not go into circulation as last as
thew are turned out, by any means,
though, of late. a very considerable I'M
provement in this particular is observable.
The idea of the Secretary and OF the
President is that il more silver were put
in the dollar SO as to make it the equiv
alent of gold, all obstacles to the circnla-
ton Of this coin would be removed. The
exact amount of the additional silver to
be put in to make it of equal value with
gold involves a nice circulation. A $50
or. 900 fine dollar would be par at sod.
for 925 tthe English alloy fine silver.
But silver has huctuated very consider
ably. As the result Of German demon.
~etization, it went from 603d. the ounce
to 46d. The par of the 4l2l gr. dollar
is sod. the ounce. Previous to German
demonstration if we had any 4l2a gr.
dollars in circulation they would have
been at once shipped out of the country,
for they were then worth Sl.03. But
since the violent %auctuation to which
reference has been made silver has be.
come more steady. The average for the
year last past has been SID, which made
the average value of the 4l2l or. dollar
as stated by the President, S85c.
The difficulty which has to be encoun-
tered in putting more silver in the dollar
is this: If we take 524d, the average
bullion value Of 1880, as the basis, and
put silver enough into the dollar to make
it the equivalent Of the gold dollar, and
if silver should rise above the rate stated
I'D, all our dollars would at once bt
shipped out Of the country as fast as the,
could be gathered. An increase of lat
about three cents-would be sufficient
to bear the expense. of freight and max,
o per centage on the transaction. Their
has been more variation than that in tn,
value of silver during the past year
This is a possibility which should not b,
left out of the calculation. 1t may b.
stated concisely as follows: If we in
crease the silver in the silver dollar OIL
the basis of 524d to the ounce, so as t
make the silver dollar equal to the gol.
dollar, an increase in the value of silve
from sgd to 53ad per ounce would de
prive US Of the silver dollar as a c~irculat
ing medium. This was what happene,
the dollars Of the fathers when they wer
first put in circulation. When they wer
worth s1.03 they disappeared as if b,
magic.
Persons who have made finance a clos,
study hold that we should take no step
in this matter until an understanding ha
been reached with France. This countr,
and France now occupy the same fnan
cial position. Both are prepared to Sc
up the double standard the moment tn,
opportunity presents itself. Both at tli
moment are using silver as token money
The two nations acting together can re
store silver pretty much to its old place
France for a long time was enabled to d.
this alone. 1t was only when German,
d~emonetized silver that she abandoned
the function Of maintaining the equipoise
Of the metals. France and the United
States can do the same to-day without
muchregard to what course either England
or Germany may pursue. The President
shows very clearly that constitutionally
we must have gold and silver in the
United States as the circulating medium.
England. being a creditor nation, will
stick as long as she can to the single
standard of gold. But she will not make
anything by 1t if France and the United
States should unite to keep silver in its
place. In that event it might be neces-
sary to put some more silver in the dol.
lar, but not much. A grain or two in
the ratio might be all that would be re-
quired to secure the desired equilibrium.
But we should NOT on our W respon-
sibility indulge in any more financial
escapades. We have already overvalued
and sent all the gold out of the
country--overvalued gold and sent the
out. The trouble about the circu.
lation Of the silver dollar is not that its
average value for the year has been only
SsA cents. The average value of the
half-dollars, quarters and dimes was still
less. for they contain only 1856. so grains
to the dollar. But they circulate quite
frt ely. The trouble with the silver dol