The Brookhaven leader., 1885-12-17

peal OF tu5 Up i1OA
issues AMI reissues of tas legal ten Ter notes
'Gold is 60 psr cent. Of the metallic rcu-
lltio1 o: the UIite1 States at the present
moment; althodgh 1t may nerd exploiting
that with fres coinlre for evsrybo - s.l-
yer into full l,gal tender silver do'l1rs, the
poop 9 IF the Umtei Sta es esfei lor Ouly
s, IS, S:}3 in eighty years, hut that congress
required tao mage Cf 5,01O,0JO in aoou:
eight years.
&c I'D il the standard of value in Da'iJns
from which W. in the United States toox 81
pr cent last year OF ell our imports and to
which we sent more than 92 per cent of all
cur exports And with most of the coun-
tries having silver as q standard, or in
nearly exclusive U.s., where we do the small
rsmlinder OF our foreign trade, settlements
are effected by tbs golI standard through
sterling hi Is on Lon Ion.
"Gold f;Jm all the N nes OF the world has
doubled in quantity wltnin thirty five years;
silver aoOuG doubling il the last one hun
ired arg Gold, Ike silver, is a princi
pal pro :uct Of mines in, the United States,
which have yelled OF the two precious
metals:
For the last ~ years 77p pr csnt 2 rer cent.
For tn, last IL yea per cent 5J-prc mt.
Lately as years agJ OK pes cen. 5a-per cent.
Last year ......... 81 er cent. Ok yer cent.
"Wno, then, woui prOp0ss the disuse OF
gold or usx the enacsmen: or tie continuance
Of laws likely to promote the expulsion or
its us. at premium ins 5ead of as t he stand
ard of valu, to which, By stopping The coin
age OF 81 v r now, the iegal tender value of
tae 215, ,OoJ, ,0)) silver dollars airea iy coinei
may te hel up and made 10 Conform, until
these troubls BE- ove-pa5t
''But our 215, ,0J0 silver dollars are here,
and cannot be expected ssas.tly to decrease,
as our gold may Nobody will export or
melt them. The reasons ore PLAN. They
will not fow abroad, TOR the legal ten Ter
GU llity given them ny act Of congress can
not procure their reception lev here; not
IN Germ any, Just as her l'gal tender laws,
ppliei to her deprecated four or five hum
Ire mill on silver mars in thalers OF un-
mitei legal tsnder, san n 1t pr, cure their
reception here or in France; not IN France,
Just Cs her Legal tender laws,
arglied 10 her six hunlred mil ion
dive franc pee, of uIimitei leStl ten Ter,
cannot promote their rec ;ption here or III
GarmaDy. Ceasng to coin more, our 2.5,-
UJO, 900 silver dollars Will remain. Moody
will melt than, since the silver melted is
worth 90 CT 10 per cent. less than the silver
mlnted, while they remain legal tender for
all sums Therefore no silver to be usSd In
the arts OF industries OF for expectation will
lie drawn from this STOCK 1t is not TO be ex-
pscted that congress will withdraw from
81 csc 25, ,0OO, ,O,0 their full tender quality; II
S not to be expected tnat congress will re-
deem and melt them and sell the metal. Tha
TACT, then, is that We cannot be two-mst-
allists.
''The choice before congress is not between
silver mOnometallism and gold monometal-
ism Both are inadmissible. The choice
before congress is not between bitmetallism N
and either gold or silver monomstallism. Ths
latter are not admissible, and bimetalism il
only possible with the cooperation of other
nations which is not now to re bad. For,
although France holds the same frian1ly at
titude and would be followed by some of her
associates of the Latin Union, England now,
as in 1878 and 1851, is unwilling to
depart from her mirtaga of gold
alone into coins of unlimited legal
tender, aud Germany now, as in 1891,
regarls the concurrence of England in an
international timetable union, as a sine qua
non. Such being the facts esta blished upon
abundant testimony, official and unofficial,
gathered by the department o, state, it t~.
comes plain that the choice OF congress Is
only in fact between stopping the coinage OF
silver dollars, or risGing by further coinage
the equivalence of thoss dollars with our
monetary unit, rlsking the fall OF the value
of 2l5, 900, 900 silver dollars from their legal
domestic rating to their commercial interna-
tional value which is 20 per cent less, and
involving such disuse in our domestis trade
of $50 OOO, 900 dollars of gold con, as when
goli was ejsctad by pa2r during the war.
"The only cho.ce before congress, there
fore, is the choice between one-metallism
and two metallism. Tne silver dollar can
not be kept in equivalence with the gold dol
lar il the coinage of silver continues. Tho
goll dollar can not be kept in full domestic
circulation if the silver dollar is suffered to
fall. Coming more necessitates its fall.
Doubtless some will hope that more silver
doll.rs can be coine1, and yet their equiv
alence with the monetary unit not be lost.
1t is respectfully submitted that there is no
compensation for that risk, and judgment
SO accCrdant of the great business classes
who carry on the exchanges of the country
must be accepted as a final estimate of that
risk.
"An adequate sense of the magnitude of
the actual coin money stocks OF the world,
which Join with the potential money exist
ing in uncoined gold ami silver, and with all
their numberless equivalents, substitutes
AMI reorss ents5iv3S to m saSure prccs not
to mention growing economies If the use of
money by c2ec IS, til1s OF exchange, tcok
cre4iits, clearing houses, postal Orlsrs, ,ele-
phic transfers, etc, which cp rate in the
same direction, enfcrces tie LESSONS Of ex-
perience as to the impoGen;e of any nat ou's
legislation to affect price,, ii prices ere
measured by staple monetary unit. Chan :
ing the msasurr changes nothing except III.
ownershi OF the property OF ths losing on;s
1t does not change pr.ces mee u.eu Goutslly.
But the lessons of experience cannot be COM
pIeteiy learned IN d nom.nE Fer The gon-
eral range of pr:c,s OF tie hundred chief
commod.t ties of civilizs1 maG's uss has hean
more than third OF centu' y in c. mIleting
the last lnisurzlg cycle of lis rise and fall
"A large proportion OF our worSingmen
of mature years have had an instructive ex-
perience that lowering the valus of any So
called dollar, legal tender of payment for
their wages, is a lowering that is compen-
sation to everybody else before compensation
reaches them. 1t is lowering that lifts the
prices of ell commodities before it Lifts the
rate OF his wages A cheaper dollar for
work;ngmen Of the United States means a
poorer dollar. The daily wages of our
workingmen a I'd workingwomen are by far
the largest, the most important, aggregate
of wealth is to be affected by the degrada-
tion of the dollar or any legal tender equiv
alent Of the dollar. All other aggregates of
wealth, the accumulstions of capitalists,
which can only be obtain profitable use by
being turned over daily in the wages Of
workmen and the employment Of the caF-
tains OF their industry, ell other asgrega'e 'es