The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-03-03
THE SILVER MEN.
Points of Their Answer to the Letter OF
the President Elect.

Points of Their Answer to the Letter of
the President Elect.
WASHINGTON CITY, March The recent
letter of the president-elect on the silver
question has called ont a reply from the
gentlemen who addressed him the letter
which was the occasion of his own. Begin
ming with the statement that they
had 10 intention or desire TO
provoke a discussion and do not
consider one at all necessary, they
answer Mr. Cleveland at considerable length
The principal points of the reply are as fol
lows They object thnt Mr.. Cleveland
makes no distinction between silver coin
and silver bullion, the latter of which they
admit is not the equal i'll value Of
gold in the proportion of 16 to l, but they
declare that as coin the 4l255 grain dollar is
the equal in value of the gold dollar and
will purchase thesgold of which the latter
is coined. They claim that there is
more gold i'll this country than paper
lnd that there is no danger of an outflow of
gold, and remark in this connection that
they cannot see why the secretary Of the
treasury cannot pay out more silver and
thus save his gold. Silver and silver GER
tificates diSp!ace gold, they admit, but
claim that treasury and bank notes
do the same, and ask why it has never
been suggested to withdraw the national
bank notes They declare there is no obll-
cation under the constitution or laws to pay
national obligations in gold, and quote
various acts in support of the state
ment showing that ''coin" is the word used.
The opinions of secretaries Of the treasury,
thoVr nr, M, 1t- ,-aIuoI lilo u,ho, hDr,,o
by facts, and declare that the secretaries
have continually mnde predictions that have
not been verified The friends of silver are
fully convinced of the necessity of main
taing bi-mctallism and refuse TO believe that
the coinage of SIS 00J, 900 of silver per
anHum will drive gold out Of circulation.
The principle of economic science is perfectly
well established that if prices III this country
| fall below the international level gold will
come here. If the $3.50, ,OO0,0O currency
| outside of gold which is in circulation
in this country will not maintain those
prices, then the above result will not take
place But that said sum Is not sufficient
| is evidenced by the fact that $500, ,0O0 900 in
gold is here and stays here They therefore
refuse to believe in the imminence
| of the crisis referred to in Mr.
Clevelands letter and show that gold, in
stead of diminishing in volume in this coun-
| try, is increasing They declare that the
natural increase of the population of
| this country calls for an in
crease i'll the currency volume of $4,000
| 900 instead of SOS, ,005, 900. They hold that a
| more important matter is to take from the
national banks the power to contract the
currency, measure that is more to be
feared than any other thing that can happen
to our fiscal affairs. They continue:
How it is possible for such things to take
| place as are predicted in the last paragraph
Of the letter, it is difficult to see. Gold
| il to be withdrawn to its boarding
places, followed by an unprecedented
contraction in the actual volume of
our currency. Such contraction 1t has
been shown, must be followed by great
fall of prices What then? Would not gold
flow here us tides flow! Surely it would
come as fast as ships could bring it. What
would those who have been boarding gold
do with it thens Labor, the letter says,
already greatly depressed, would suf-
fer stiil further depression by the scaling
down of the purchasing power OF every SO
called dollar paid into the hand OF toll
Prices are to fall, everything be
come cheaper, and money become less val
liable at the same time That Is both sides
Of the balance go down together. Usually
~thar goes down; US