Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1885-03-28
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Clcyelands letter on silver coinage
points out a financial and commercial
fact which the people should never lose
sight Of and that is that If silver
d,prcciates, even in affactlonaI amount
it causes the withdrawal Of gold from,
circulation The bankers understand
this and profit by ii the people Of a
county. and especially the wage
earners, do not generally appreciate
this simple problem The spectators
and large dcpositors through then
superior knowledge take advantage oi
the middle classes, or the people
proper and become custodians of the
gold. Their object is that the people
should lose on silver while they gain
by boarding gold.
The leaders of politics in the United
States, with their interests and ultimate
successes identified as they are with
the welfare of the country at large,
have awakened to this fact that the
questions arising from the condition OF
the American money market and from
the effects OF the continual coinage of
nearly quarter OF million of silver
monthly, demand immediate attention
II the standard dollar is worth only IS
cents in gold, owing to this over coin
age, and deficit OF iincness, then it
becomes difficult to see wherein the
conclusion of the silver men is sus-
tanned, that a yearly coinage Of
$,S, 900 Of silver, will in no way,
tend to drive gold out Of circulation
The financial history of governments,
the statistics Of banking corporations
the deals of spectators and the sad
experiences Of the people of different
nations are all against the assumptions
OF the silver men and their fatally illog-
ical conclusions.
The facts applying to the American
silver question and the effects resulting
are typical of the condition OF Hawaiian
monetary affairs. The only differ
ences are that here the amounts in
volved are smaller, the people who will
suffer are fewer, but without doubt
larger in proportion to population, and
that we are forced to ask redress from
the high contracting parties who have
precipitated our financial ruin.
The policy Of the silver men Of
America, who represent the silver pro
ducing states, is to retire gold and
establish silver standard of value; in
Hawaii the silver standard succeeded
in sending gold out of the country, and
with the advent of the kalakaua silver
so threatens that our merchants must
use up 30 per cent. of their profits in
exchangeto pay for theirgoods bought in
San Francisco or London. The silver
men and their supporters in the United
States have caused total silver coin
age up to the present time of nearly
$aoo, ,ooo, 900, while the country does
not need half OF that amount the gov
ernment and "slver man" of Hawaii
have flooded these small islands with
$1,000, 900 OF deprecated silver coin
when in fact half Of that amount would
serve all our commercial purposes.
When the gold in Governments
treasury is insufficient to pay its obliga-
tions and the standard of value is
ruined by debased currency, crisis
is inevitably precipitated, which, in
cases Of impaired credit and limited
resources, is often followed by over.
whelming bankruptcy, engulhng not
only the government but wage.earner
and property owner, sealing the pros
perity OF the present and blotting out
the possibility Of a revival Of industries
until they are again builded upon a
surer financial and commercial basis.
A dcbased currency in the hands of
unscrupulous speculatcrs has crippled
many wealthy nation, notably France;
and il the people OF these islands do
not speedily check the enoroachments
OF this monstrous monetary heresy
Hawaii will soon be ruined ty he