Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-04-29
DAILY poST-|N1Ell|CENCER.
s,LyER CERTIFICATES AND SILVER
COINAGE.


We are in receipt Of a speech deiiv-
cred in the House Of Representatives,
ON the first day Of the present month
by Hon. George W. Cassidy Of Nevada
upon the bill for the retirement and
recoinage of the trade deliar. In SEC
tion four Of the bill 1t was provided
that the trade dollars when redeemed
should be treated As 80 much bullion
and that to the extent Of their s0rren-
der for recoinage the requirements OF
the law OF 1878, compelling the par
chase ard coinage Of silver bullion 10
tbaamount of E.. UO. 90 monthly should
he suspended. Mr.. Cassidy ably and
.Ioouently combatted this proposition
which WAS defeated, by the striking oot
of the obnoxious section.
In the course Of his remarks Mr.. Cas-
sidy took the position, and supported "
by an array Of facts and figures ab9o-
Iutely irrefutable, that no distinction
should be made by government between
the coinage OF gold and silver thatthe
law of 1873, requiring the purchase OF
bullion for coinage, was radically ana
iutrinsically wrong, that the govern
men, should have nothing TO do Win
the ownership of either gold or silver
prior to its Coinage. This IL now true
Az TO gold. The government does not
purchase gold bullion for coinage.
depositor brings his gold to the mint
its value il ascertained, the coinage
charge is deducted and he pets goo
coin for the product Of his bullion. On
the contrary, when silver bullion Is
taken to tho mint 1t Is treated as 80
much pork, or wheat, or cabbiges, luf-
chas.d at the market price-tixed III
London in short, treated IA mere
co,smodity. Mr.. Cassidy claims, and
correctly, that both metals should be
placed on an equal footing, and the en-
tire product of both should DO mihted !;
that the proper fuDo ton OF government
will have been discharged when 1t shall
have established the ratio between the
two: that government should say by
law how many grains should 20 into
dollar, then stop at that and throw open
the mints to the free and unlimited
coinage Of silver and leave the producer
10 do the rest. 1T will BIO his bust
ness" said the speaker, to get 1t into
circulation after yoa have made 1t II
legal tender for all debts. public and
private"
Who does not know except those who
,rW not that the opposition to and dis
crediting Of silver as money IL III the
National Bank system -? There was a
time i'll the history of this Government
when silver WAS in use everywhere as
money. and was esteemed as good
~ gold. There never was time
when it WAS not so considered, until II
WAS dishonesty demonetized at the in
stigation of foreign and domestic syn
dicates Of bondholders and gold gam
blers in 1873. 1t has always been the
money of tho people. throughout the
war the States of the Pacific Coast chung
to their gold and silver As mediums of
trade. and refused to use rag money.
When greenbaoks went down to forty
cents the silver dollar was at par with
gold. When silver waa demonetized
the most disastrous panic ever known
in tho business of this country ensued,
and when it Was partially restored to its
Old-time position as legal tender and
its coinage resumed, resumption of
specie payments followed, credits rose,
business revived, prosperity was re-
pewed and has ever since continued.
OF the l,OO0.0OO,OOO people ON the
habitable globe embraced in the com
meroial world, - per cent. use silver
exclusively for money. Only IL per
cent. employ the single gold standard,
and but Ii per cent. have double
standard. The average relative value
Of the two metals for 200 years prior to
1873 did not huotuate over three pr Z
cent. ltFreply to the claim that the re-
monetiZation Of silver and the coinage
Of certain amount per annum would
food tho country with silver and drive
gold from our treasury tn Europe, Mr..
Cassidy submitted table showing the
value of gold and silver imported into
and exported from the United States
fron 1879 to 1883, which ia absolutely
unanswerable. Ii shows in round num-
bsrs that during that period $54 ,0o0, eco
Of gold and $s7.000.000 in silver were
sent abroad, while ON the other hand
$2S 100000 in gold WAS imported, and
but $40 100000 i'll silver. In other
words, the Government since silver was
remonetized has added to its stock OF
gold $ls4, 0O0. 900 by importations. while
it has sent away $&3,0OO,00o more than
il has imported. No more convincing
answer to the oroakers can be imagined.
To clinch this argument il is shown that
while the ratio of silver to gold in the
old country coins is ~ l5i t. l, in the
United States it is IL to /; that at home
they circulate Oh par with gold. while
il they are sent over here they must be
discounted AZ from three to four per
cent. to compensate for the less guam
tity OF silver they contain. II is mani
fest that they could not be brought
here to compete with our standard coin
and suffer any such discount. together
with the cost of exchange and trans
portation. But if they could the ques-
ton is pertinently asked. Why not i'm
pose duty on silver bullion imports
II would require far less tariff tn N that
now levied on foreign pig iron. Ger
tAinly he who digs silver ore is "a much
entitled to protection rs he who digs
iron ore. The fact is that silver is
worth more today in Europe than in