Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-02-06
The People ana silver.
To Me Editor Of The Dispatch:

Ine feOpIe ubu Sitsefs
To the Editor Of The Dispatch:
There is probably no question before
the present session of Congress Of more
magnitude to the interests of the people
at large than that Of silver coinage.
The classes who would be most vitality
affected by adverse legislation have lit
tie influence in creating or voicmg pub
lie sentiment through the agency of the
press, living as they do chiefly in the
country and small towns where money
is handled in small sums. whilst the
opponents of silver are mostly men of
the large cities, who handle money by
the million, and to whose wants silver is
not suited. For this reason the opinions
of the press of the great cities ought
not to be regarded as sure index Of
the sentiment of the country on this
subject. Where are the indications
that the mass of the people demand the
cessation of silver coinagey Does not
the outcry against it come exclusively
from capitalists or those under their in
fluence! Bear in mind that the evils
about which anti-silyer men make such
an ado are all in the future, evils i'm
pending, which can only be averted by
a suspension OF coinage. To undertake
to convince the people that there is
too much money of any or Of all
kinds in circulation now would
be too thin. You might as well
try to convince hungry man
that he is suffering from eating too
much. So they are forced to confne
their vaccinations of evil to the future.
Now, let us see whether these financial
prophets are worthy of credit by look
Ing into their past history. When the
question Of remonetizing silver was be-
fore Congress a few years ago these
same men predicted the direst results
to the country if that measure became
law. They hired professors Of col
leges to write learned articles for the
press calculated to influence the thought
full. whilst for the unthinking the
penny-a-liners were employed in
Scribbling witticisms about what
they dubbed the "buzzard dollar "
and the dollar Of the daddies.' Well,
the circulation OF this " buzzard alone
made specie payments possible. The
people, however, were not deceived,
but demanded the reconciliation Of sill
yer in terms which Congress dared not
disregard. and the result was that none
Of the disasters followed which were so
confidently predicted. We are forced
to the conclusion, then, that these wise
acres who pretend to know all about
finance are either ignorant. or, having
personal axe to grind, are insincere in
their professions, and consequently I'M
worthy OF confidence.
We hear a great deal about the vast
quantity of silver stored away in the
vaults Of the United States Treasury.
and of the impossibility Of getting it
into circulation. If there is anything
in this argument against silver money,
it applies with still greater force to gold:
for the amount of the latter thus locked
up is far greater than that of the for
mcr. But if this be an evil. the remedy
lies upon the very suriace-reduce
taxes to the wants of the Government
economically administered, particularly
the iniquitOus tax on tobacco, for
which no adequate excuse can be rem
dered except the direst necessity.
But what matters it how much silver
is stored up in the vaults at Washing
ton as long as the more convenient sill
yer certificates are issued instead? Who
is so good and safe a custodian of the
coin which backs them up as the Gov
ernment? Is there man in the land
who would be willing to exchange
silver certificate for the paper promise
to-pay Of any bank of issue upon his
faith in its pledge to keep specie in its
vaults for its redemption or demand:
The best money ever furnished its peo-
pie by any government on earth would
be silver and gold certificates guar
anteed by their equivalent in these
metals kept in the sure custody
of the Government. The world
must and will have paper mo-
ney of some kind as a supplement
to coin. The only question is, What
kind shall we have: Surely no sane
man would desire a return to the Wild
cat banking system of ante-bettum days.
The national banks must cease to exist
when the debt is paid and what kind
of paper money shall we have then?
The people. if left to themselves, would
no doubt demand greenbacks; but the
financial SolomonS would certainly raise
the " rag-baby" cry, as they did few
years ago before they were choked into
silence by specie payments.
The unprecedentedly low prices for
almost every product of the country
shows concluSively that we are not
suffering from a redundancy in the cur
rency. What would be the condition
of things if gold alone constituted the
circulating medium? Why, there is not
gold enough in the whole world TO fur
nish a currency for Europe and America.
Gold and silver together have con-
stituted the money of the world from
the earliest ages. and to attempt to re-
strict it now to the former, when the
business wants Of the world are infinite
IL greater, is the height OF folly.
Without the diffusion Of wealth lib
erty is impossible; and | believe few
things would have stronger tendency
to concentrate wealth in the hands of
the few than the employment of gold
alone as the basis Of circulation. Gold
is the rich mans money. Silver is EN-
phatically the poor mans money. How
much gold has ever been handled by the
real people of the countryside strong
hands that create the wealth of the
land? The direct tendency Of large
silver circulation IS to loosen the finan-
cial grip of the money kings upon the
masses, and wild counterfeit the evil
effects of much Of the legislation of the
Republican party for the past twenty
years; which legislation has created
and fostered monopolies until they have
threatened to engulf the rights of the
.oa.In H. s:ionc,no Thai, ,,O,oa M tka