Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-12-17
of our circulating medium may be largely


rate of more than two million dollars every
month. BY this process up to the presen
date S215, ,759, ,431 of silver dollars have beer
coined.
A reasonable appreciation of the "elega
ton of power, to the general Cove lmen
would limit its exercise, without express
restrictive words, to the peoples needs ant
the requirements of the public welfare. Up
on this theory the authority to ''coin money
given to Congress by the Constitution, if i
permits the purchase by the government o
bullion for coinage in any event, does no
Justify such purchase and coinage to an eX
tent beyond the amount needed for suffi
cient circulating medium. The desire tt
utilize the silver product of the country
should not lead to the misuse or the per
version of this power. -,
Necessity for such an addition to the sill
yer currency of the nation as it is compell
ed by the silver coinage act, is negativec
by the fact that up to the present time only
about fifty millions of silver dollars so coin
ed have actually found their way into cir
culation, leaving more than one hundred
and siXty-five million in possession of the
government, the custody of which has en-
tailed considerable expense for the construc
ton of vaults for its deposit. Against thi!
latter amount there are outstanding silver
certificates amounting to about ninety
three millions Of dollars.
Every month two millions Of gold in the
public treasury are paid out for two million:
or more of silver dollars, to be added to the
idle mass already accumulated.
If continued long enough this operation
will result in the substitution of silver fol
all the gold the government owns applica
BILE to it's general purposes. 1t will not &c
to rely upon the custom receipts of the Gov
ernment to make good this drain of gold
because of the silver thus coined having
been made legal tender for all debts
and dues, public and private. At times
during the last six months IS per cent
of the receipts for duties have been in silver
or silver certificates, while the average
within that period has been 90 per cent
The proportion of silver and its certificate:
received by the Government will probably
increase as time goes on, for the reason tina
the nearer the period approaches when i
will be obliged to offer silver in payment O
its obligations the greater the inducemen
will be to hoard gold against the deprecia
tion in the value of silver or for the purpose
of speculating. This boarding of gold ha:
already begun.
When the time comes that gold has beer
withdrawn from circulation then will be ap
parent the difference between the real value
of the silver dollar and the dollar in gold
and the two coins will part company. Gold
the standard of value, and necessary in oul
dealings with other countries, will be at
premium over silver. The banks which
have substituted gold for the deposits o.
their customers, may pay. them with silver
bought with such gold, thus making hand.
some profits. Rich speculators will sell
their boarded gold to their neighbors who
need it to liquidate their foreign debts, at g
ruinous premium over silver, and the labor
ing men and women of the land, the most
defenceless of all, will find that the dollar
received for the wage of their toll has sadly
shrunk in its purchasing power. 1t may be
said that the latter result will be but tempo.
rary and ultimately the price Of labor will
be adjusted to the change. But even if this
takes place the wage worker cannot posi-.
bly, gain, but must Inevitably lose, since the
price he is compelled to pay for his living
will not only be measured in coin heavily
deprecated and fiuctuating and uncertain
in it's value, but this uncertainty in the val
ue of the purchasing medium will be made
the preteXt for an advance in prices beyond
that justified by the actual depreciation.
1t will not he disputed that any attempt
circulation of silver dollars worth eighty
cents, side by side with gold dollars worth
one hundred cents, even within the limit
that legislation does not run counter tt
laws of trade, to be successful must be sec
oned by the confidence of the people, thai
both coins will retain the same purchasing
power and he interchangeable at will. 4
special effort has been made by the Secre
tary of the Treasury to increase the amount
of our silver coin in circulation, but the
fact that a large share of the limited
amount thus put out has soon returned tt
the public treasury in payment of duties
leads to the belief that the people do not now
desire to keep it in hand. And this, witt
the evident disposition to hoard gold, gives
rise to the suspicion that there already eX
lists lack of confidence among the people
touching our financial processes. There i:
certainly not enough silver now in circua
tion to cause uneasiness, and the whole
amount coined and now on hand might
after time, be absorbed by the people
without apprehension; but it is the cease
less stream that threatens to overflow the
land which causes fear and uncertainty.
What has thus far been submitted upor
this subject relates almost entirely to con
sideratiOns of home nature-unconI ecteC
III
nations have upon the question. But it il
perfectly apparent that the line of action ir
regard to our currency cannot wisely be
settled upon or persisted in, without con
sidering the attitude on that subject o.
other countries with whom we maintain
intercourse through commerce, trade ant
travel.
Referring to the failure of the Monetary
Conference, and the fact that since the ad
journment of the last Congress he has made
careful and earnest endeavors to give full
effect to the desire of Congress on this sub
iect, the President continues: We have
now on hand all the silver dollars necessary
tc supply the present needs of the people
and to satisfy those who, from sentiment
wish to see them in circulation, and if thei
coinage is suspended they can readily bt
obtained by all who desire them, and ifneet
of more is at any time apparent their coin
age may be renewed.
That disaster has not already overtaker
us furnishes no proof that danger does no
wait upon continuation OF the present Sill
yer coinage. We have been saved by mos
careful management and unusual expedi
ents by a combination of fortunate condl
tions and by the confident expectation
that the course Of the Government in re
gard to silver coinage would be speedil.
changed by the action Of Congress.
Prosperity hesitates upon our theshol(
because of the dangers and uncertaintie
surrounding this question. Capitalists tim
idly shrink from trade and investors arr
unwilling to take the chance of the ques
tionable Shape in which their money will b.
returned to them, while enterprise halts a
the risk against which care and sagaciou
management do not protect.
AS a necessary consequence labor lack
employment and suffering and distress arr
visited upon portion of our fellow citi
zens especially entitled to the careful con
sideration of those charged with the dutie