New-York tribune., 1884-12-08
THE SILTER QUESTION.

A sl;oh, change i'm the mere form OF reporting
a mart oC thc assets held in The Treasury. and
change which for truths sake mlgat Wcu nave
been made long ago. gives great emphasis 10 'hc
Recommendation by Secretary McCu'loch t'f''
the coinage of standard silver sh"ni" oc
stoppcd. Hitherto it has been the habit 10 III
Glade among the kinds of money avallaDic LOT
payment of any obligations of the Treasury the
unused fractional silver coin on hand. Inc
amount of such coin held at the end OF Novcm-
Der was $40, ll3,2S3 ~.
Among men of sense there can hc no dispute
as 10 the propricty of including this base coin,
never legal tender, which has accumulated
in the Treasury only because it has been fonnd
of no use to the public. in the sums rcckoncd
MS available in the payment of public debts.
If any Secretary of the Treasury should under
take to use such coin, either by forcing 1t upon
employees or creditors of the Government III
payment of current obligations, or in any other
way, he would be subjected at once to the
severest ccnsuIc In point OF fact. to compel
any creditor of the Government to receive such
coin in place OF legal tender would be an act OF
bankruptcy.
TO some this might seem an unimpOrtant
matter but the reserve available. including
bullion fund. according to the statement OF
November 20, is only Sll1 ,0l5,325 80.
Dcductng from this the fractional silver which
is manifestly unavailable, there remains less
than S1I2, 2,OO0,O 900 available for the redemp-
ton of cgal-tcndcr notes. But tins statement,
also, must unhappily be modified. Included
still is the silver bullion in the Treasury,
amounting to $1,77S,Sl 90. Dcducting this
as well as the fractional silver, it is found that
the actual available reserve i'll the Treasury Is
only SlO7.123.1S7 When we consider
that not only the credit of the. Government,
but the s0lvency of all institutions which have
their funds largely invested in Government
bonds, depends upon the ability of the Govern
ment to redeem its promises to pay in gold it
must be realized that the reserve held for that
purpose is by no means so large as it should be.
But the case becomes still worse when 1t Is
remembered that in the @IO7, 100000 held
there is still included a great pile of useless
standard silver which the Government has for
years been trying in vain to force into circua-
ton Legally illegal tender this coin could
not be used in payment of any obligation
against the will of the creditor without fatal
injury to the public credit. The immediate
effect of any such use would be TO cause hoard
of gold to the utmost from the Treasury by
presentation of certificates and lcga-tender
notes There can be no doubt that if the Gov
ernment should force upon any class of cred
itors this mass of standard silver in place of other
legal-tender money in any large amount the
demand for gold would in Il short time
compel the Treasury to rcpudiatc its obliga-
lions, or else to declare that for the redemption
of legal tender notes and for the payment of
current obligations the silver dollar must be
used as the standard Of value. There arc few
people who do not realize that this step wOuld
cause n terrible disaster. The prostration of bust
ness interests in every part of the country would
medately follow. But this can be avoided
only by such steps as shall prevent further cx
haustion of the supply of gold available through
suspension Of silver coinage and the issue of
silver certificates.
The amount of unused aud practically una
vailable standard silver now in the Treasury is
$144, ,715,O75, but of this $50 1,9oS,531 is
held for the redemption of outstanding silver
certificates, and might in any event be reserved
to meet that class of obligations only. There
remains, however, $39, 9,756,54 in standard
silver which can be used for no such purpose
and, without quick destruction to the public
credit, can be used for no purpose whatever
Every dollar of this sum is included i'll the
amount reck0ncd as available and after de-
Quoting it from the $l07, 900, 600 previously
found in reserve, it appears that the Govern
mcnt has actually available IN excess Of current
demand blgations only $G7,3cG, G93 in gold
1t would take very few days to exhaust that
sum- if there should arise any serious question
as to the ability of the Govcrnment to pay gold
upon demand, or us TO its intention TO force a
deprecated silver coin upon its creditors.
TIE CITYS COSTLY GOVERNHENT