Sword and shield. (Clinton, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1885-12-12
Stability Of The Currency.

There is no dispute upon the i'm
portance of stability in our currency,
but there is difference Of opinion
upon what is the best way Of secur-
ing it. Monouletalists urge that one
metal is better than two, provided
the metal adopted is one least liable
to change in the essential attributes
Of money. Russia uses silver, Eng
land uses gold. Bin ettallists argue
that two metals, provided they are
gold and silver, are equally good, in
respect to stability Of currency, as
ametal; because, they say, that both
rarely, if ever, change in the same
way at the same time, and therefore
they serve as checks on each other,
thus preserving greater uniformity
in the face value, which is what is
meant in this case by stolidity Ia
currency.
Tho people Of these United States,
much more generally than appears
and especially in the Western States
and Territories, are bimetallists,
and they have no thought Of aban-
doning the use Of silver as money.
The National Republican express
the idea well in breakfast talk to
the president. It says: ''Mr. Pres
ident: This silver question, out
West, is bigger and harder to handle
than first class cyclone"
There is little danger that our
currency viii be unstable if it is
composed of or based. upon our
money metals coined. Real money
has the element OF stability, and
that is the reason why it is urged
that we ought to have as much of 1t
as we can get. The best security
for stability in currency is the real
money on hand.
There may be, and the Capital be-
lleves there are, good many reasons
for amending our currency laws so
as to secure a more easy and ready
circulation of silver money. 1t IS
said that silver dollars do not circu-
late as readily among the people as
smallev coins do, and that is true.
Another fact has been demonstrated
as to currency, viz; That for small
sums of 81 up to S5, the average
man is as well satisfied with good
paper, if, indeed, he does not pre-
fer it. But it must be good. 1t
must be based on something that has
his confidence. He knows of no
better money than silver money, and
he 4ssuld salEags be -cantept to res
ceive and hold paper that represent
silver dollars. Give him what sill
yer coins lie needs, whether dollars,
or halves or quarters or dimes, and
also give him paper certificates Of 81,
50 and So, representing silver dol
lars actually on deposit in the public
treasury. The law now authorizes
no silver certificates of denomina-
tions lower THAI SO. Let the law
be amended so as to authorize the
issuance OF the smaller denomina-
tions, and there is no reason why
they would not circulate as readily
as treasury notes Of like denom-
ination.
It has been suggested by a gentle
man Of this city who has given
good deal of thought to the subject
that national banks might be au-
thorized to issue certificates on de-
posit Of silver coins in amounts
equal to So. This might work well
enough provided either that the
banks would be willing to do the
work without remuneration and
keep the coin safely, or that the
government would assume response
bility for the amount Of the deposit.
If the bank should receive the sill
yer as it does any other deposit and
use it in the ordinary business Of
the bank, the Certificate holder would
have no security beyond the good
faith Of the bank +; and, besides that,
the bank would have the benefit Of
that much money not included in
regular bank funds. The bank
would use the deposit and the man
on the outside would use the certif-
Gates. But the suggestion is worth
thinking about as basis for a new
line Of operation. Capital. CTopeka.)