The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-09-30
TIE SILVER PROBLEM.
A Review of the Question by Hon,
I. ]. Semmes.

" ARRENT0N, A.. sept. ~, 1859.
To the Editor of The TimeS-Denoerat:
/ have read with great interest the
interview of your correspondent with
Judge Reagan, of Texas, on the silver
coinage question which is now being
agitated in the East, and which is of t
vital Importance to the whole country |
but especially to the people of the debt
burdened South.
It is believed by many well-informed |
persons that the pressure of the panic of |
1878 was increased by the suspension |
of the silver dollar coinage in that year
and the practical demonstration of sill
yer dollars by the act of Congress passed
in 1874.
Great relief was afforded TO the eoun-
try by the Bland silver act passed in
1878 over the veto of President Hayes;
and it is the impression of many that
the existing agitation of the silver ques-
ton in the East, having for its object
the repeal of that act, is in the interest
of those who think money is becoming
too cheap, and who fear that the pur-
chasing power of their fixed incomes
from government bonds and other SINH
lar contracts, will Be diminished. There
is no doubt that the suspension of the
coinage of silver dollars and their de-
monetization will increase the present
pressure, because a gradual decline in
prices will follow the appreciation of
gold, resulting from the excessive de-
mand for it for coinage.
Gold and silver, like other commodi-
ties, are affected by the law of supply
and demand The decentralization of
silver will withdraw the present legisla-
tive demand for it, and the effect will be
4 FURTHER DECLINE
in the bullion value of silver as com
pared to gold, and this appreciation of
gold, which means an increase of its
purchasing power, will decrease the
prices of all other commodities, and,
consequently, the farmer must produce
more cotton. more grain, more sugar,
more meat, than is now rec CURED to pay
his debts. he can pay his debts now in
gold or silver at his option, because sill
yer dollars are full legal tender, and
if silver be cheaper than gold, as it now
happens to be, to compel him to pay a
debt in gold only, is to change the obli-
CATION and to increase the burden of it.
1t is impossible to prevent bylegislation
changes in the value of gold and silver
compared to one another, because neither
is conveying measure of intrinsic
value Prof Jevors, in his work on
"Mouey," tells U.s. that from 1909 to
1S49, a period of only forty years, gold
raised in intrinsic value 145 per cent,
and that prices fell in England during
that period about so per cent. measured
by gold. This was also true of silver,
for until 1874, when silver was demone-
tie! in this country, gold and silver
when compared to each other varied but
little.
In 1S49 the influx of gold from Cali
fornia and Australia raised prices, but
the relative value of gold and silver
remained the same; coined money be-
| came cheaper; the prices of labor and of
products rose; debts remained the same
when measured in dollars, but they
| were reduced when measured in labor
or in the quantity of products required
| to pay them, anc hence their burden
was diminished. A dollar, whether gold
or silver, had the debt paying value of a
dollar, from 1909 to 1S49, but its pur-
chasing power or exchangeable values
during that period was increased i'm
mensely.
From 1884 to 1873, the bullion value
of the silver dollar exceeded the bullion
value of the gold dollar from one to G
per cent One of the reasons assigned
in Congress in 1873 for stopping the
coinage of the silver dollar was, that the
government could get gold to make q
dollar cheaper.
From 1856 to 1867, no full legal tender
silver was coined in France, but the
cheaper metal, gold, was coined in large
quantities.
During the late civil war, but littl,
silver was coined, because the bullion
value of silver was 80 per cent higher thai
the bullion value of gold; the United
States exercised the option of coming
the cheaper metal, gold, to pay it
debts. During the same period Ou
merchants paid duties on imports il
gold, because it was cheaper.
. OUR MuCH-ABUsED SILVER DOLLAR
has never been debased from its frs
coinage in 1894 to this day. 1t is, there
fore, not dishonest or clipped dollar
| do not allude to the trade dollar
which never was legal tender for debt
exceeding So, and was expressly coinet
1OI tAPOi IdtiOH- III LOO IL ID JIuc, GU
legal tender silver dollar was reduced il
weight from 416 grains to 4124 grains
: but this reduction consisted in takin
from its weight b grains of copper, no
silver. Our silver dollar had in
3714 grains of pure silver in 1894, an,
it has that now. We debased our gol,
: coin in 1884 by taking from each dolla
|, 81 grains of pure gold; the old weigh
of gold dollar was p grains, of whicl
2.25 grains was alloy; the weight no,
is 55.S grains, OF which 2.58 grains ar
; alloy. This debasement was resorted +
for the purpose of keeping our gold a
!, home, and to maintain a concurren
|, circulation of the two metals, gold an,
! silver. AT that time, also, we raised GU
ratio between silver and gold to sixteel
| pounds of silver to one pound of gold
before that we put in our silver coli
fifteen pounds of silver as an equiyalen
to one pound of gold, while in Europ
the ratio was fifteen and half pound
of silver to one pound of gold.
The silver money in France is pc
cent. less in values compared to French
gold than is the value of our si,ve
money compared to our gold. Ye
France has had the bi-metallic system
of coinage for a century; she has nov
$537 100000 worth of full legal tende
silver in circulation, and $S4S, 000,00'
worth of gold. Her paper money il
S54S, 900, 900. Great Britain has $3.50,
100000 worth of gold, and German
has only 1925, 100000. France, a bi
metallist nation, has almost as mucl
gold as the monometallist gold nations
England and Germany, have together.
The official statement furnished tc
Judge Reagan by the director of the
Mint on June 20 last, shows that
THE AMOUNT OF GOLD
in the United States on Jan. /, 1878
was, in round figures, SE2S, 900, 900, anc
it has gradually and regularly increased
year by year, until it reached the sun
of $500, 600, 900 on Jan. l, 1885. Thi:
increase of $685., 000, 900 of gold in the
country during the first six years of oul
silver dollar coinage, is a sufficient
answer to the argument of those who
urge that the silver dollar coinage will
drive out gold. 1t is evident that such
has not been the effect in France, whose
silver currency as compared to her gold
is inferior to ours IS compared to oul
gold.
The truth is that our government, in
1853, finding that we could not keep our
small silver coins called them in. and
issued new ones with 6 per cent less
silver in them, and these half dollars
quarters, dimes and half dimes were
thereafter called subsidiary coins,
because they were not a legal tender for
debts exceeding SO.
II fo vraaf aEn fo xf1nrrco fho
gold is the money of the world. In