Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-09-27
silver, Gold, Internal Taxes, DC.
To the Editor of the Dispatch:

II the report of an interview with
Senator Butler, OF South Carolina,
printed recently in the New York
Herald, is correct, it would look as II
the Senator had been among the "gold
bugs" and that if he was properly
taught he had forgotten his lesson.
The question now is, Shall Congress
by its action come to the help Of the
gold-men by taking such action as will
further tend to debase currency that
the people of the United States are
more interested in than any other peo-
pie or government? Already the Ell
forts used by the holders Of gold to
debase silver have caused the latter
as a :" commodity seriously to
decline. If the clamor raised
by banks, bankers, &C., against
silver money land it is in fact and
by the Constitution of the United
States real money, what would be the
state of things if Congress were to stop
the coming Of silver? Just as soon as
that was known to be the case, OF
course the effect would be to cause a
further decline of silver in countries
where it is now largely used as cur
rency. Would not such decline in the
value Of silver lessen the power of the
people Of such countries to buy our
COTTON, TOBACCO, WHEAT,
and other products? If a silver dollar
is now, in the eyes Of gold-men, "a
cheat and q swindle," and worth only
IS cents, would not the Government,
by adopting their views, be doing from
the standpoint of such mem exactly the
thing to make the d" cheat and swindle "
still greater? Certainly, if a gold
man now considers silver dol
lar worth only so cents, just
as soon as the Government stops
the coming of silver, will he not at once
declare " that seventy-fve cents is every
cent in gold that such dollar is worth?''
Of course the result from gold-man's
standpoint would be that Congress had
by its own action decreased the value
Of some 100000, 900 Of its own cur
rency between and 6 per cent, and
which would be clear loss to the peo-
pie, or the peoples agent (the Govern
ment), of between nine and ten millions
Of dollars.
IL Congress is wise it will do all il
can to prevent any further debaSemeni
of silver as money, and so it would be
better to coin and hold its own silver
than to see it forced out Of the country
as d" commodity" and which forcing,
of itself, would be the best possible
means to further debase silver as mo-
ney. not only in our own country, but
in Europe and elsewhere. AS a pro,
Queer Of real money land silver is and
has always been money in every civil
lied country, would it not look
passing strange to see our own repre-
sentatives doing all they could to kick
out silver as money, and to have II
ranked as merchandise " or " com.
modify ?" Senator Butler, as | under
stand the matter, would class a silver
certificate as in the category of bad
money!" while judge that he would
call the notes Of national bank, or Q
greenback, or a illegal tender" good
money. Now, my idea is, to certain
extent, both would be sort Of promise
to pay money, but with this marked
difference: The Government, in the
case of the silver certificate, would have
the stuff to redeem such certificate in
real constitutional money, dollar for
dollar, or, to put the case as the gold
men would do it, it would have q
commodity" worth in gold now 80
cents in the dollar, to redeem such sill.
yer certificates, no matter when pre-.
scented. Now, neither the Government
nor any national bank
COULD BEGIN TO PAY
its debts Gf suddenly called upon tC
the same extent in any sort Of real
money. The fact is that, as regards
the silver certificate, the Government
would have on hand to redeem it tina,
which even war itself could not debasc
but, on the contrary, would enhance il
value; and yet a mere promise "tC
pay money!" or a promise to see that
some other party does pay money
is to be regarded as better curren.
cy than a currency backed up by
special deposits Of real money to
redeem it. Worse still, for the party
promising both is the same. How
another mans claim can be better than
mine, when the party in debt owed u:
both and | held legal first mortgage
on his property and he none, is beyond
"old-feld" school logic. The Senator
does not think that, of the two hun
bred millions Of silver dollars that have
been coined, fifty millions could be sue.
cessfully "foated" or utilized in
business" As l do not understand
what he means by fioated,"
will confne my remarks to "ol
utilized in business" The latter may
mean what is held by banks and whai
is circulated as currency among the
people. Now, just here | will mention
one fact in favor Of silver, and that is,
it has always circulated far more among
the people as currency than gold. Sc
that in the estimation of the people
not only has it been good enough money
to be considered as the basis of value
along with gold, but it has always
played five times the part as currency
that gold has, and in doing thai
it has crowded out to the extent
of its circulation shinplasters and bank
notes-a thing not good for party
who issued notes of not less than Is
as every such note that may be burnet
or otherwise destroyed while in thu
hands of the people is just that mucl
clear profit to the party issuing it.
venture the opinion that there is to-day
circulating among the people Of tn,
United States ten dollars in silver TO
every dollar Of gold. / want no bette
money than silver certifcates-say il
sums from 81 to a50-and this, an
sure, would be . sort Of money per
fectly satisfactory to the people, if no
to those who are anxious to see silve
debased.
1t is, know, on easy matter for tn
rich las has been abundantly shown il