Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1886-04-02
COMMUNICATED.
THE WORLDS PRODUCT OF GOLD AND
- SILVER. ~


To the Editors of the !ShepheydHosn
Register.-H the lsboring farmers, the
mechanics and the Industrial producers
of this country could be brought to a
full and correct understanding as to the
insiduous and mysterious workings of
he currency, how the products of their
labor are measured BY the arbitrary con-
raction and expansion of the money OF
he people by u few legalized banking
Institutions, governed and conducted
by syudicates, incorporated bodies.
boards OF exchange aud boards of trade,
and how the animal product OF the gold
of this country is absorbed by the meth
ods initiated. supported and maintained
by them, We might then hope for some
relief from that oppression that now
pervades the whole country, and threat
ems to engnlf all ia one common ruin
for the benefit aud aggrandizement OF
the few. While the interest upon the
public debt absOrbs the entire annual
product OF gold by more than $37 .OOo,-
600, which deficiency must be raised by
duties upon imports over what is re-
Quired to defray the annual expendi'
lures Of the government, is IL not
strange that the very men whose means
ale absorbing this amount of gold
should be the first TO proclaim to the
people that silver is driving gold out OF
the country? Yet, with all this drain
upon the public Treasury, and all this
clamor against the coinage of the legal
tender dollar, We have in the last three
years, apart from what has been paid
upon the principal and the interest on
the public debt in gold, II balance or an
Increase of gold since 1888 of 81 1893, 4l3.
Let us ask then in all candor, in all
simplicity, in all fairness OF dealing
with this subject, does this look like
silver driving gold from this country?
or does the receipt of gold in the Uni
ted States Treasury from the sale OF sill
YER certificates, from September the
18th, 1880, to July 2, 1888, of $40 400, 800
look like silver was driving gold from
the country? 10 substautate the fore
going argument on this subject, let us
quote in full what the American Regis
ter has to say on this matter in reply to
some of the daily papers and the Bank
er's Journal of the city of New York
who were daily harping upon this false
aud delusive theory. lie says, THAT
odd compound of venality and igno-
rance, the financial writer for metro
politan daily newspaper, has great
deal to say, almost diernally i'll one
form of assertion or all other, in regard
to the alleged drastic effect OF the
monthly coinage of silver by our minis,
upon the gold III the Treasury, but
never has one OF these fellows stumbled
upon the fact thai about us much as IS
per cent. of the gold coin ($l4l ,S24 ,49o)
belonging to tue government, on the
3Oth of June 1883 had absolutely accrued
from the exchange of gold to that eX'
tent for silver certificates" THAT is
to say, persons having gold here in New
York, have paid it into the sub-Treasury
in Wall street, since September 18th,
1880, and taken silver certificates there
fol-" The amounts paiG into the Treas
ury AS above stated were as follows:
Between Sept. Is and Oct. 81. 1880; ss.4S5. eco
Twelve months ending oct. 81, 1881. 23,56O,0O
Twelve months ending Oct. ii u.s.; i'SSo'9o o
Between Oct. 81, 1882, and July 2, 1888 i,i3O,Ooo
s46,40o,5Oo
Now why is it, that the bankers
journals, the daily reports of the Boards
of Trade, the Boards of Exchange and
the commercial records never feel at
liberty to repeat these important facts
to the general public?
Is not the drain upon the silver pro-
ducts of the United States forced upon
the foreign markets at Il heavy discount
from its intrinsic value by the clamor
of the mono metalists, sufficient to re-
lieve their gravest apprehensions of
silver plethora, while England, who
makes only gold legal-tender at home,
is bi-metaic IN her Indian possessions,
and has imported there for coinage
since 1886 as much as 81, 1877 ,OoO, 900,
which, according to general belief, has
been permanently taken out, with but
the slightest possibility OF its ever being
returned to the money service of the
Western commercial world. L. +.