National Republican., 1885-09-29
The silver Question.

EDITOR NATIONAL REPUBLICAN On the l3th
Of July lastthe representatives of the associated
banks Of New York city passed by unanimous
vote the following
whereas, after careful inquiry into the cur
rent operations of the United States treasury,
II Is nsccrtained that with the continued pur-
chase of two million OF silver bullion per
month the probable receipts of gold currency
will be insufficient to meet the demand upon Il
until the me, meeting me- l. oi oon@gresSs @ $ In December
make his payments In silver dollars, which
will become most disturbing element in the
daily business Of the country; therefore
"RCsolved, That toavert this threatened dan
ger, and In The confident belief that Congress
will take early steps TO prevent the dctcriora.
tion of the present commercial standard of
value, the banks hereby tender TO the govern
ment from their gold reserves the sum OF ten
million dollars In exchange for that amount in
fractional silver coin. or for such other cur
rency as the Clearing House committee may
approve, the snme TO be npportloned among the
banks IN the Clearing House respectively, pro
rata of their deposits and gold reserve.
Resolved, That should this amount prove
insufficient further sum, not, exceeding ten
millions, be offered, and that the banks
of Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, and other
cities be invited by the Clearing House com.
mii,ee TO parIieinate IN carrying out the object
suppose, Mr.. Editor the Secretary should be
COMPELLED 10 make. payments In silver dol
| hciall the country? These silver dollars that
these patriotic bankers nrc 50 fearful viii be a
| disturbing element contain il2,2 grains OF
power as great as y gold dollar or any
otherkind of n dollar. The gold dol.
lar Is 25S grains coined gold and the sill.
| yer dollar is dl2l1 grains of coined silver,
both made so as to quantity and nneness by
law, and are 10th legal tender for all debts,
| both public and private. What the bullion
| value of either of these metals may be Is an.
other and very different question, Gold, If /
mistake not Is coined free while silver Is
| charged with the cost OF coinage. suppose war
should be made on gold las was done in Ger.
| tiZcd and silver made the only money ofaccount
| IN that nation) what would uncoincd gold be
worth? Who can tell? 1t would then be n
commodity. and not currency--not money OF
account The naked fact Is that 25.8 grains OF
gold and sl2l% grains OF silver when coined and
stamped by the government are each of them
one dollar, one as good as the other and nc
better and both standing upon the same basi'
and resting npon the same authority, to wit, the
government Of the United States through her
legislative aud executive departments, sane
and indorscd by the highest judicial tribunal
| of the country. / have in former communi
cation referred to the fact that these New York
| bankers, who appear tobe so fearful of the
di2lz.grain silver dollar voluntarily offer tC
take the 3sigrain dollar OF the same kind o
silver in an even exchange for gold. This ont
fact alone ought TO prove conclusiyely that tht
war OH the 4l21l.grain silver dollar must b.
prompted by some motive not creditable to tn,
men who make 1t, or for any good to tn,
country.
II reaches into the regions of the marvclou
that the shrewd Yankee nation never discov
cred that silver was unfit 10 be used for money
until some virtuons pilgrims from Wall stree
| that Mecca of seli.sacrlilclng patriots), leavin
home and kindred friends and firesdes, an'
braving the perils and danger of journey III
palace carl to thecnpital of the nution. be
sought with streaming eyes aud upliited hands
the lawmakers 10 save the people Of this lam
from the pestilence that walketh nt noonda
out Of the silver mines of the country.
notice that n steamer has lust arrived q
New York, from Europe with a half million Q
| gold coin. IL is TO be hoped that the aioresa
bankers will see to II that these 412lI-grain s
yer dollars do not chase this gold away. Re
| spectiully. ii. PRICE
| WASHINGTON Sept. 2s, 1885.