Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-04-13

home mined silver Is carried 10 an eXten'
that indicates danger. The facts it mentions
and coming from such quarter they may
be relied upon-we briefly ePitomise- When
Congress met on the Let OF January, the
treasury held S178 525, 303 in gold, and
$97, O24, Ala in silver; the present holding
Is $IG6, 457. 357 gold, Sl09, SO6,926 silver
S12,O0OOOO less in gold, which circulates
everywhere, and $4,000, 900 more in silver,
| which has not free circulating power. Should
this present rate OF change continue, before
| Congress can meet next January, the holding
will be more of silver than of gold-S140,-
900, 900 Of silver to Sl37, 100000 Of gold. 1t
! is true that certificates nominally based on
! silver are out, but the circulation of these
certificates is decreasing, while there il no
corresponding increase in the circulation of
the metal On January 1st there were S62,-
| 3l53 800 silver certificates outstanding, and
the treasury held 81 PA 81 in silver dollars
not professediy represented by certificates
at this time outstanding certificates have de-
creased to SIS, 423, 440, while silver dollars
have increased to 81, 795, 024 outside of GER
tidcates. The certificates come in but the
dollars do not 90 out, not even up to the
rate of each months coinage OF new dollar.
During the last three months custom receipts
at New York alone included SIS, 796, 900
gold, s., 300 900 legal tenders, $50 900 silver
dollars, and $4,000 in silver certificates.
At this point let the reader remem-
Der one thing-if this S8,00O,000 had
not been paid in certificates it would
have been paid in gold, 40 that silver
certificates do not depend upon the eighty
eight-cent silver dollar alone for their cur
rent value, but have gold basis TO supply
the deficiency of their silver value. More,
even with that partial basis, they have no
assured standing in circulation. How far
this returning of silver certificates to the
treasury will proceed yet remains to be
known, and business men will watch the fig
ures with profound interest. Wnen once
there comes little tightness of gold, SO that
it obtains a slight market advantage over
silver, gold will be retained and silver GER
tifcates will be poured into the treasury,
where The continued inflow OF silver and out
flow of gold will aggravate the evil, for the
difference in current value will increase in
proportion. Under such circumstances there
would be a run on the treasury to
get gold on legal-tender notes-for they
are another weak point in our hnan-
cial system. In such a contingency, should
the treasury attempt to pay in gold,
the banks alone could draw from it more
than it has on hand. Should it refuse to
pay except in silver, gold would rise to
material premium; We should be falling
back toward the gold premium troubles of
the war, public credit would collapse, and
onr present prosperity disappear. The mint
returns show that out of So, 100000 silver
produced by the mines, S27 500, 000-sixty-
five per cent.-was coined into dollnrs n--
business readers cannot fail TO see the force
of these facts. We shall not attempt COM
ment on them, but take those of the prohi-
bition-favoring New York Tribune: "The
continuance OF this coinage, after more coin
than can be nsed has been supplied, is OF no
possible use to anybody, except as bounty
to the owners Ct silver mines. But ought
the government TO run so great a risk of
causing disaster to all industry, in order to
help the owners of one kind of property?
Some advocates OF the coinage seek to justify
it az a protection OF the silver-producing
industry. But can it be said with
truth that the government incurs such a
vast risk of disaster to all interests by any
form OF protection that it gives to any other
producer? If one industry is to be favored !
to this extent, others have a right to equal
favor; but what would be thought of the
man who should propose that the United |
States should buy and lock up two-thirds OF
the whole crop of cotton or wheat2 What |
lunatic will advocate the purchase by the |
government OF 1000, 900 bales of cotton, or
900, 900, 900 bushels of wheat, or 5000, 900
tons of iron ore, in order to help those in
dustries? The truth is. that the step which |
the government has taken and is taking have |
no excuse whatever, after the silver coin |
needed for use has been supplied.