Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-03-17

Vb<yeiand. while courtesy may blum
the blade IL criticism, they cannot b
( expected to 20 unmolcsted and IN
pfaned. II may reasonably be expect
t< that his chosen Secretary Of tn
Treasury has penped the paper. bu
whoever L may be, the ideas il contains
are public property, and We should ap
prove or disapprcve as honest opinion
suggests.
lfshe Prcsident-elect had said Con
eSess had no business 10 buy bullios
and coin any kind Of money. we would
heartily approve such sentiments; and
farther, that il should not make the
matter worse by storing Il away IN the
vaults Of the Treasury. The President
ehasacterists the suspension Of the sill
yer coinage as grave public necessity,
but he does no, say how il is so. except
that he concludes that il is TO bring
en- commercial crisis. This is
Z strange conclusion since the presence
and abundance Of legal-tender coin
Has always been regarded as q defence
against monetary crisis, and therefore
~ explanation OF what is meant is rem
dcred reasonable. II Is true the col
lestion Of money from the people as
taxes and investment Of it in bullion, TO
be coined and slowed away in the vaults
Of the United States Treasury, tend to
produce scarcity Of silver, and conse-
gutntly 10 influence crisis, but
that portion emitted on silver
certificates does not 80 operate towards
crisis. We claim, coined or not
coined. the abundance Of silver will
never tend TO produce crisis. it
drives out the gold from its quality of
dissssocistion from possessing lesser
vah,e than gold, then in silver taking
the place of gold, il must necessarily be
equal IN aggregate value to the gold
so displaced. In other words, the
value of silver in amount must be
equal 10 fiji the vacuum occasioned by
the absence or displacement of the
gold, and as silver, as the President
states, is Is per cent. below the par Of
gold, as many more Of silver dollars
will be made TO take the place Of the
fold dollars they have expelled from
circulation as will be necessary to
make up the IL per cent. discount. So
that we shall only have less gold but
more silver.
If the President had said the coinage
Of silver dollars Of inadequate weight
was the trouble. We would join him in
saying the suspension should be stop
ped. But the introduction of light
weight silver dollars is fraud, but only
q temporary Inconvenience to trade.
Commerce will soon remedy the difficulty
by eschewing this coin, or make current
obligations payable on their face in gold.
This would still leave silver dollars
with the capacity to buy 50 per cent.
as much Of any commodity as gold
dollar will buy. and if the prices were
gold prices. then the buyer would have
TO sell his silver in order to buy with
gold, or if the prices were in silver,
then the buyer would have TO sell his
gold, if he happened TO have that, for
silver, and buy with the silver. Com-
mercc would still have the inhe-
rent power to control these re-
lations Of values. And dmHsf be horne
~ miadf hot ii IL not the presence orSa-
perabundoHce Of any one OF all Of tie
commodities ofthe worid Mat rW erer
produce crisis. bit he absence Of
Them, from Their consumption on credit,
rhieh prorc oboriice, or their eyporta-
ton 10 meet Indebtedness for goods and
eeJoymenis that hare for a season been
Unfortunately induIged m Jeyond the
public capacity OF sUccess Of prod'c-
ton for repayment.
We cannot recall what we have con-
snmed. and therefore the crash
must come. but it will never be
owing to the presence of commodities,
but rather on account of their non
possession by communities greatly in
debt from over-conSumption not over
trading, as some say, for if you have
the things CT goods you can even return
them il there is no money to be had.
II lisa pity 30 hear a President talk
seriously about a commercial crisis from
the abundance of silver coin, even if it
be Of light weight or will occasion the
expulsion of gold. We can only be re-
quired TO ship gold o. silver to satisfy
the balance of trade when it is against !
us; and as gold or silver one must go,
II matters not to us which. Let the
gold go il that is preferred or if we
have not gold. then the short dollars will |
20 over the waters at their bullion value. !
And what need we care about that. ex- /
cept that ii will show that our Govern /
ment has imposed on MS short measure. !
The shipper need not care. But our
safety is that the gold is not going .,,t /,
Of the country w, It be Is come
!. -sor The basis of trade l. the "a
tIany, ~ consmm"bie ccnimod'ties-
and we will in turn have the balance of
trade in our favor, and that very soon,
when our gold will come back to us.
And. indeed, we should have no regrets
for its absence If what We have received
is more necessary 10 us, and Of equally
substantial utility and value.
The President complains of the de-
cressins few of silver into the Urea
sury; but Of what significance is this:
Surely the Government must expect to
receive back what il puts out, and the
country is no poorer for retaining the
gold and returning the short-weight
dollars to the Government. lie says the
gold in the Treasury may ere long
be inadequate TO pay those classes of
public Indebtedness that from prefer
nent OF law have TO he paid in gold.
Well. what Of that. The Government
will in such event have TO buy gold to
meet these forms OF obligations, which
IL should never have undertaken rs pre-
fcrrcd creditors. for the Government
should never have had preferred ere
litors.
The reconciliation Of silver was in
tended 10 make il the equal Of gold.
and everybody knows that enough sill
yer in silver dollar will make il the
equal Of gold dollar; and while we
are taking note OF an effect, is il not
rational to consider the cause. And