The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-02-07
SILVER DOLLARS.


Secretary MCCULLOUGH advises retir-
bills in order to get into circulation the
millions Of silver dollars, now locked up
in Washington. The people much prefer
the paper
The above paragraph is clipped from
All agricultural paper Of recent date. As
the days are fast passing away when it is
considered only legitimate subject OF
| inquiry for the farmer TO ascertain how
best to hoe corn and plant potatoes, and
his field Of thought and investigation is
extending into the more speculative
realms of politics and economies, the
very important subject of money might
be taken up and studied with much
profit. The paragraph above quoted
touches the very root of the subject. AS
the volume of the worlds trade has long
since made it impossible for metal to
serve 10 I. medium of exchange, or a bal
ance in commercial transaction, it barely
figuring at the present day in the worlds
commerce as small change. Why should
the government not accommodate its none
| tarysystem to the custom of times i'll place
of attempting what every thinker must
see is impossible; VIZ: insist on making
412I grains of coin silver equal in value
about p grains of gold. The true units
are growing wider apart every day i'll the
commercial world and no edicts of the
sovereign can equalize them in value.
The inexorabie laws of trade oversteps
all edicts Of governments ii establishing
values. 1t is the rcigM of the metal
above, as of almost everything else which
measures its value. In place of the ex-
peusive and dificalt task of adding a
tenth of baser metal as an alloy, aud
stamping it into discs bearing hypothe
teal values Why should not govern
ment become the custodian of the pre-
cous metals-which, it has in fact, to a
very larger extent-and issue bills re-
deemable on demand in--grains, ounces
! OF ptuHuS Vi SClIi oI SILVER. he PFC
cious metals have well defined CONNER
cial values, which ebb and flow in unison
with the ever restless tide of trade. The
efforts of government to Jir barriers that
will resist this inherent force by stamp.
ing its coins as dimes, dollars and eagles,
will continue to be disturbing element
in business, which the heavy trader aud
| L but n, al,
tail dealer and small trader will have to
submit to and often at sacrifice.
Why should not government utilize
| all the output of our mines of the pre-
cious metals by becoming their custodian
| if the producers desired, and issue bills
payable on demand in those metals in the
| 1reights named on the face of the bills?
Metal money asserts its power, aud main
tans it's influence in the world solely by
virtue of its Intrinsic value. Paper
money on the other hand is governed en-
tirely by the credit of the issuer, and
when public confidence fails or flags, the
issuer must restore it, by paying down
| the necessary sum, great or small as the
exigencies of the case demand in metal.
Under the Anticipated system in vogue
government uses but small portion of
the precious metals as tho basis of its
money, and much Of the good effect OF
that portion is marred by its insisting on
fixing an arbitrary value on what it
chooses to designate as money. The alb
surdity of this mischevioUs system is ap-
parent in the different value of its coins
The trade dollars, though intrinsically
worth more than the standard dollar"
will not pay as much Indebtedness as the
latter, except in foreign country. or to
a larger shipper, who will accept neithor
above the bullion value of the metal as
quoted in the daily commercial record.
Hence the standard dollars" are pied
up i'll the treasury vaults by tons that are
every month increasing. And why? Be
cause humble citizens have no use for
the increasing mass of metal, and the
"big fish" which government has no
power to control, will pot accept them at
the fictitious value which is placed upon
them. If all those tons of silver, in ace
of beng cut up into small bits were piled
in the treasury vaults, and small bills
issued promising to pay stipulated
uetqht on demand. 1t would every pen
ny's worth be doing duty as money in
the channels of trade. and the pockets OF
the people. The millions of credit bills
of the government now all Dat, would De
sensibly curtailed; sharp contractions
could never occur by overtrading with
with foreign nations; when trade ran
against us, for every demand for metal
to settle balances, would commence to
contract the currency, by sending the
bills in for cancellation, and restore the
equilibrium of trade gradually, and not
permit the evil DAY to be- postponed till
the tension of credit brought crash and
business to a stand still.
The rich and heavy traders transact
the bulk of their business by transfers
on their ledgers by bills of exchange,
checks, drafts, etc, and are in great
measure independent of the antiquated
and arbitrary custom of governments,
which attempts to fix other than com
mercial values to the metals they choose
to designate as money, while the small
traders, the great mass of humble citi
Zens are compelled to submit to the
government valuation, and pocket the
loss of taking a thing for more than it's
value in the market. The shipper and
foreign trader will not accept the govern
ment coin at its face price; the govern
ment will not purchase it from the peo-
pie for recoinage or other use at more
than it's commercial or bullion value it
buys its metal from the producer at
market price. Somebody must lose the
difference in price between the coined
and the uncoined. or bullion and the
money. 1t must come off of the wage
Garner and the vast army who make up
what is known as the industrial class.