The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-12-17

ti0n of abuses. a system of consular in
spection should be instituted. The ap
pointment of a limited number of secre
taries Of legation at large, to be assigned
to duty wherever necessary, and in par
ticular for temporary service at missions
which for any cause may be without {
head, should also be authorized. | favor
also, authorization for the detail of officer:
Of the regular service as military or naya
attaches Of legations.
THE TARIFF.
Afterasummary statement of the revenues
and expenditures of the government and
of some Of the principal sources of reve
nue.. the message continues
The fact that our revenues are III excess
of the actual needs of an economical ad
ministra,ion of the government justlfies
a reduction in the amount exacted from
the people for its support. Our govern
ment is but the means established by the
will of free people, by which certain
principles are applied which they have
adopted for their benefit and protection
it is never better administered and its
true spirit is never better observed thar
when the peoples taxation for its support
is scrupnlously limited to the actual
necessity OF expenditures and distributed
according to a just and equitable plan.
The proposition with which we have to
deal is the reduction of the revenue re-
ceived by the government and indirectly
paid by the people from customs. duties.
The question of free trade is not involved,
nor is there now any occasion for The gen
eral discussion of the wisdom or expedi-
ency of protective system.
Justice and fairness dictate that in any
modification of our present laws relating
to revenue the industries and interests
which have been encouraged by such laws
and in which our citizens have large In
vestments should not be ruthlessly injured
or destroyed. We should also deal with
the subject in such manner as to protect
the interests of American labor, which
is the capital of our workingmen its
stability and proper remuneration furnish
the most Justitiable pretext for a protec-
tive policy.
Within these limitations certain re-
duction should be made in our customs
revenue. The amount of such reduction
having been determined, the inquiry fol-
what articles can best be released from
I think the reduction should be made in
the revenue derived from a tax upon the
imported necessarieS of life. We thus
directly lessen the cost of living in every
family IN the land. and release to the peo-
pie in every humble home larger meas
ure of the rewards of frugal industry.
COIN AND CURRENCY.
Nothing more important than the pres
IS nv,0xr n anrr
can claim your attention. Since Febru-
provisions of law, purchased silver bullion
and coined the same at the rate of more
than two millions of dollars every month.
By this process up to the present date
215,759, 43I silver dollars have been coined.
A reasonable appreciation of deIega-
tion of power to the General Government
would limit it's exercise without express
restrictive words to the peoples needs and
the requirements of the public welfare.
Upon this theory the authority to ''coin
money! given to Congress by the consti-
tuition, if it permits the purchase by the
government of bullion for coinage in any
event, does not justify such purchase and
coinage to an extent beyond the amount
needed for a sufficient circulating medium.
The desire to utilize the silver product of
the country should not lead to misuse or
the perversion of this power.
The necessity for such an addition to
the silver currency of the nation as is COM
PEELED by the silver coinage act IS mega
lived by the fact that up to the present
time only about fifty millions of the silver
dollars so coined have actually found their
way into circulation, leaving more than
one hundred and sixty-fiye millions in the
81 ont tho a11cfodu
of which has entailed a considerable ex-
pense for the construction of vaults for its
deposit. Against this latter amount there
are outstanding silver certificates amount
ing to about ninety-three millions of dol
lars.
THE ACCUMULATION.
Every month two millions of gold in the
public Treasury are paid out for two mil
lions or more of silver dollars, to be added
to the idle mass already accumulated Ii
continued long enough this operation will
result in the substitution of silver for all
the gold the government owns applicable
to its general purposes. 1t will not do to
rely upon the customs receipts of the gov
eminent to make good this drain of gold,
because the silver thus coined having been
made legal tender for all debts and dues,
public and private, at times during the
last six months fifty eight per cent. OF the
receipts for duties have been in silver or
silver certificates. while the average within
that period has been twenty per cent.
The proportion of silver and its certificates
received by the government will probably
increase as time goes on. for the reason
that the nearer the period approaches
when it will be obliged to offer silver in
payment of its obligations the greater in
will 70 m hoard OnlH
against depreciation in the value Of silver
or for the purpose of specializing.
SILVER AND GOLD.
This boarding of gold has already begun.
When the time comes that gold has been
withdrawn from circulation, then will be
the difference between the real
value of the silver dollar and dollar in
gold, and the two coins will part company.
Gold, still the standard of value and nee
essary in our dealings with other coun-
tries, will be at a premium over silver !;
banks which have substituted gold for the
deposits of their customers may pay them
with silver bought with such gold, thus
making handsome profit; rich specula-
tors will sell their boarded gold to their
neighbors, who need it to liquidate their
foreign debts, at ruinous premium over
silver, and the laboring men and women of
the land, most defenseless of all, will find
that the dollar received for the wage of
their toll has already sadly shrunk in its
purchasing power. 1t may be said that
the latter result will be but temporary,
and that ultimately the price of labor will
be adjusted to the change, but even if this
takes place the wage worker cannot pos
sibly 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 fuctuating and
uncertain in its value, but this uncertainty
in the value of the purchasing medium
will be made the pretext for an advance
in prices beyond that justified by actual
depreciation.
THE POOR SUFFER.
The words uttered in 1884 by Daniel
Webster in the Senate of the United
States are true to-day: 1.-The very man of
all others who has the deepest interest in a
sound currency, and who suffers most by
mischievous legislation in money matters,
is the man that earns his daily bread by
his daily TOLL The most distinguished
advocate of bi-metalism, discussing our
silver coinage, has lately written: mo
American citizens Land has yet felt the
sensation of cheapness, either in receiving
or expanding the silver act dollars And
those who live by labor OF legitimate trade
never will feel that sensation of cheapness.