Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-03-03

Il
| for an addition 10 our circulation OF ~
least ez0,Q00,o00 year. II, WINE
these conditions continue. silver Is
| coined at the rate Of only $4,000, 600 =
wear. there Is left still considerable
! void 10 be filed with gold. This
is the reason why gold has
| increased IN the country steadily since
| the act Of 1878 was passed, and why
gold has increased by nearly $4,000
| 900 during the last year, and is now m
creasing at the rate Of nearly one mil
| lion dollars month, Notwithstanding
the depression OF business IN The coun-
try. And. as q matter of fact. there is
to-day more gold in the country than
there ever was before in its whole his
tory. Another fact is that $50, o00, 900
Of the gold in the Treasury was put
there in exchange for silver certificates.
The immediate effect of stopping the
coinage of silver must necessarily be to
lower the price Of silver bullion and
gradually to appreciate the value OF
gold the world over. Difficulties in the
way Of establishing an international
ratio so much desired, or Of readjust-
ment Of relative value to gold here,
would thereby be increased.
How il is possible for such things
TO take place as are predicted in the last
paragraph of the letter it is difficult TO
see. Gold is 10 be withdrawn TO its
boarding places followed by an 'un-
p-ecedented contraction in the actual
volume of our currency Such con-
| traction. il has been shown, must be
followed by great fall ofprices. What
then: Would not gold flow here as
| the tides flow? Surely IT would come
rs fast as. ships could bring it. What
would those who have been hoard
ing gold do with il theny Labor,
| the letter says. already greatly de-
| pressed. would suffer still further de-
preston by the scaling down Of the pur-
chasing power ofevery so-called dollar
paid into the hand of TOLL Here, in
one sentence, we have gold boarded,
unprecedented contraction fall of
prices. and the scaling down of the pur-
chasing power Of the dollar That is,
when these impending calamitics
come, prices are to fall--everything be-
come cheaper and money become less
valuable at the same time. That is, both
sides of the balance go down together
Usually one side goes up as the
other goes down; usually as com
moditics become cheaper, money
becomes relatively dearer, and
rice cerS0 Usually contraction of
the money volume results in rise in
the value Of money, and not in a fall.
The contradictions involved in this
paragraph of the letter are hardly cal
culated to carry conviction to those
who have ever studied money questions
at all, or to awaken in them any sense
of alarm at our approaching calamities
from such cases.
"ln one thing all will agree. and that
is in the importance to the whole coun-
try, and especially to the laborlng
classes now struggling with want, of
revival of business and return OF
prosperity. The one condition essential
TO this is TO stop the contraction of the
currency. No country ever did thrive,
and never can, while its money is under
going contraction. What is the none
tary condition of the world to-day
Are we not brought face TO face with
the startling fact that the gold produc-
ton of the world has fallen below its
consumption in the arts, and that there
is no probability of any new geld for
money supply for the centuries to come?
With this condition of things as to gold.
shut off silver, as is now proposed, and
where is the money supply, even for
keeping up the stock OF coin now in the
hands Of the world, to come from?
AS aggravating this state of affairs
in this country, the paper currency is
undergoing contraction by the surren-
der of bank-notes. If this state of
things is TO last. upon what is there to
build hope of returning prosperity:
With the appreciation Of money all
debts appreciate. 1t can be shown that
il will take more labor, or more of the
produce of labor, to pay what remains
of our own national debt now than it
would have taken to pay it at the close
Of the war. Eighteen million bales of
cotton were equivalent in value to the
entire Understanding debt in 1865,
but il will take thirty-iive mil lion bales
at the price Of cotton now TO pay the
remainder of the debt. Twenty-Five
million tons of bar-ron would have
paid the whole debt in 1865; it will
take thrty-iive million tons to pay
what remains after all that has been
paid as principal and interest.
I'm view of the vast interest in
volyed, the friends of silver did not
think it too much to ask that the ques-
ton OF stopping the coinage of silver
should not be separated from It's rela-
ton to the whole currency question and
acted upon by itself. The currency
question, it is believed, at the present
time overshadows all other questions,
and all the friends of silver have asked
is that the President-elect should give
il full consideration, and hear both
sides before committing his Admins
tration TO any particular view respect
ing it,"