Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-10-03
rnE SorRnE oF ~ kONS.

IHE NOthtE CF hJsNf@ bVNn'
Putting g0cents additional metal in the
silver collar is opposed by the exlre me
binctalist. because, AZ they hold, It will
cost the people OF the country 100000,
OO1 to add 20 per cent to the value OF the
$3.50, 900 silver circulation Of the
country. This argument is, as is well
understood incomplete and false, be-
cause 25O,O0o,000 silver dollars includes
the fractional currency, the volume Of
which Is very large And as the $780,
600 600 is only the face value of the coin,
the government has not paid that sum for
a, but has bought the metal nc IT. mar
ket value OF SO and 80 cents on the dol
lar. TO add enough silver 10 the dollar
to make Il worth what # represents is
only giving back what the government
has made by the coinage OF silver dollars,
and this process can inllct no loss upon
the treasury, unless it be held that the
government is speculative concern, to
make what It can out of the people for
whose good it Is supposed to be insti-
tuted. But granting all that has been
asserted By the friends OF an s0-cent
dollar, aud that II could only be made
worth 100 cents at cost Of $50, 600
TO the people, 10 can easily be shown that
this is cheap price to pay, when com
pared to the amount that will be lost If It
H.. a.. flnt
means TO sustain the issue of a dcprccl-
atcd silver dollar.
|. The legal-tendcr grecnback circu-
lntion OF the country is $4,000, 900.
These bills arc made payable in coin, and
OF course may be redeemed In silver If
the government chooses to do so. They
are now nj par, aud eXchangeablc with
gold, and consequently are worth 20
cents more 10 the dollar than silver.
They have attained this value solely be-
cause OF the accepted belief that they will
be redeemed in gold or its equivalent,
II any action of the government indicates
its Intention of paying these treasury
notes in silver, they will at once fall to
the level Of silvcr-that is, they viii
deprccate 90 per cent. A depreciation
OF 20 per cent. of S8lG,0O0,0OO will cost
the country 500 200, 000-a sum equal to
twice the cost Of increasing the silver
dollars value to 100 cents. That
such win be the inevitable con
sequence of II persistence in the coin
age and circulation OF an S0-ccnt dollar
Is so plain as to allow no contradiction.
Paper-money, itself, has no intrinsic
value; Its value depends upon its re-
demption in money that has an intrinsic
or universal value, and II will never COM
mand higher price than that money
commands. To propose, then, TO pay
S84G,000,000 of treasury notes In silver
worth only so cents on the dollar, is to
scale that S3iG, 1000, 900 down to S27G, $780,
600. If we are to lose money 10y the ad.
dition of 20 cents to the silver dollar, the
loss will be far greater If we do not add
enough to make II an honest coin,
No account is taken of the effect upon
our bonds of action by the government
showing its intention to pay them In
deprecated silver coin OF course they
viii at once fall below par in gold, and
lnhIct a loss of millions on their present
holders, II it is settled that they are to be
paid in sO-ccnt dollars. There Is abun-
dant room Tor the belief that, whatever
may be the apparent loss of adding to
the silver dollar enough metal to make
1t an honest coin, the loss viii be four
fold II we fail to do SO.