Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-02-05
SILVER.

SfLbEK.
A Dissussies Of Esssey ss Csmmodisr-rts
oussten or supply ard Demsnd.
To the Editor Of the Dispatch:
II is said by some that We have too
much silver; but how are we to define
the quantity that is just what is needed,
and what method shall we adopt to set
tie down on that quantitys The pro-
duction Of it will still go on till it be-
comes Improbable. II should indeed
appear plain to thinking minds that
those engaged in the mining of silver
would be the first to discover that they
had produced enough Of this metal, and
would desist from their labors as soon
as the work became Improbable,
Such is surely the rulc-aye, the inn
PEELED as well as the implied policy Of
human enterprises. The continued pro-
duction Of any article Of commerce aud
use may bring down the market price
or value of it compared with other
things; but this Of itself will not arrest
its production. The toilers will 20 on,
with at least some indifference to the
market price until they can no longer
derive compensation for the capital and
labor invested in their work. Can any
thing be palmer? The equilibrium
of value of such production is thus
established as measured by the pending
values of other things necessary to man.
1t would indeed BE difficult to miner
to determine what was the whole guam
tity of silver in the worlds markets, and
further for him to compute public need
of the metal for its various uses. in order
to guide his judgment in reference to
the measure of his production Of it.
Decline in its market will arrest his
attention but il he have the plant
and implements to develop the mine,
and his enterprises have there
tofore been successful, he will
press forward his labors until alb
solutely admonished that the price in
the markets will no longer pay. Now,
this is just the process and determine
tion Of all human productions, and legis-
lation and public opinion exerted in con-
trolling or varying these results will be
futile, and invariably hurtful to trade.
The method, extent, and character of
these productions. that find purchasers
in the markets of consumption, are just
the things that should be severely let
alone. And when legislators and con-
gressmen have nothing better to do than
to undertake to tinker with them, they
had best turn back their seats and re-
turn to the bosom Of their constituents,
to many of whom grace has been given,
to see these things in palmer and more
practical light.
tits often said that the country has pro-
duced too much wheat. or too much of
this or that production, and sort of
grumbling complaint passes over the
markets as if some epidemic scourge
was blghting the happiness of society.
Only the great family of quiet con-
sumers see in superabundance the hand
of Providence extended to them. All,
may il not be while some upbraid Provi-
dcnce and his tilling producers others
are bending the knee of gratitude for
bounteous plenty? The regulators
of prices are. nevertheless, al
ways on hand struggling with
righteous Indignation against the follies
of over-production. The seeding was
even scant from a discouraging fallow,
bat Providence sent ample showers and
the Weld was wonderful, and shortly
the cry is, The markets are glutted
and yet Providence knew how many
were to be fed.
If the seed had not been deposited in
the ground, the rains would not alone
have given us the harvest. The over
production. il indeed such thing is
seriously at any time truth, is due to
the inventions Of civilization that have
aided greatly the labor Of man and ami
mails, but has at best failed to cure all
human infirmities. Just here | was
called to answer the door-bell, where |
found 8 poor colored girl. with her little
brother. begging scraps from the table,
and saving mother has three more little
ones at home with nothing to eat-l
juncture with the subject under con-
sideration, but not a strange one, for
was just thinking how vastly The poor
(whose real wants are food and ralment)
are increasing despite the ayerred super
abundance.
But to our subject, silver. Silver is
evidently necessary to trade, and if ciyili-
zation iavors commerce its utility has
been quite providentially provided in
the creyices of the earth, where its
limited supply secures for it measura-
bly, uniform value that places it in the
position of a standard value of other
products more variable in price. And
now we come to the crucial test Of its
value. II it is let alone the healthful
demand for it will at once be defined
by the public needs of it, and its true
value as coin or bullion will settle
down in the ultimate ratio OF
value with other things in the mar
kets of trade. OF these markets
we do not include the silver
that the Government has concerted into
coin, but stored away in its vast vaults,
and there remaining . useless waste,
Just as if it had wagoned it back to the
Rocky mountains and injected it into
the veins of earth strata for the dig
gers to uncover again. What can be
the market value Of silver at the bot
tom Of mid-ocesn? Gold eagles would
be no better there; and yet vast mil
lions of both of these fruits Of industry
are as effectually buried from the utility
of commerce and the wants Of the peo-
pie as if they were five miles beneath
the salt water. where they could no
longer tempt the possible cupidity of
tiring custodians.
But it is regarded needful that the
Government should have these millions
on hand in its character as banker for
the nation-a character and function 1t
has no more right or business to assume
than we would have to walk into the
C,,nroma Court and uncpremOniOusly