The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1886-01-16

|. don operates to degrade their silver coin
: more than it does ours, France and other
e countries maintain their silver and paper
3 in all transactions. public and private, at
e par with gold under far greater difficulties
e than we have to contend with, no matter
from what standpoint the comparison is
made
The Comptroller Of the Currency in his
/. last report, page 26. says:
From information communicated to the
: State Department by the Minister OF the
/, United States to France, It appears that
notes of the Bank of France are leg~al-tender.
and are redeemable at sight, either in gold
or silver 5 franc coins. at the option OF the
bank (silver coins of smaller denominations
being legal tender only to the extent OF SO
~francs).
: On October 1. 1885. as shown by the re-
turns of the Bank of France, the notes in
, circulation amounted to 2,7Se. O51, $50
francs, the bank holding at that time cash
amounting to 1926, 636, 1853 francs, OF
which !. 1852, 987 ,434 francs was gold and.
l. 1O2, 649.419 francs silver"
i It will be observed that the Bank OF
France alone holds more silver coin than
the total silver coinage of the United States.
Up to July 1, 1885, we had only coined
Il SOO,OOO, " uOldl0. Ii ollSCl
coin in the tank vi 4 rance, at five francs
to the dollar amounts to 1920, 1854
or over SIT 5OO.OOO more than our total
coinage. How many millions more are in
the hands OF her people l am not advised
more perhaps, than are held by the Bank
of France. yet they are all a full legal-tender
and all as good as gold.
France is little more than t%wo-thirds
as large as the State Of Texas: her inter-
~-l Al, and oon,,,orco is n hoe.
telIe compared with that Of this almost
%boundless continent; her population is not
two-thirds AS large rs ours and far less en-
terprising; her foreign commerce is much
smaller than ours; gold can he trans
ported from the Bank of France in Paris
to the Bank of England in London in a
few hours; they are not SO far apart as
New York and Washington. Why is it not
done? Why is she not brought to the So
called degraded silver standard? Five
more years of coinage of silver at the
present rate will not bring ours up to hers
either in volume or proportion to gold.
Simply because her officials and her public
creditors sustain her silver and do not re-
pudiate it nor seek to degrade it. as ours
have dome for years past and still continue
to do in violation OF the plainest provi.
sions OF law.
As | ha We stated in the preamble to my
resolution, our customs dues are made
payable in coin, and section 1854 Revised
| Statutes provides that
1.-THE coin paid for duties on imported
goods shall be set apart as a special fund, !
and shall be applied as follows: First To
the payment in coin of the interest on the
bonds and notes OF the United States Sec |
ond,t to the purchase or payment of l per
cent. of the entire debt OF the United States,
to be made within each fiscal year, which |
is to be set apart as a sinking fund, etc.;
~ third, the residue to be paid into
the Treasury
No Secretary OF the Treasury can mis-
take his duty under that law; no public
creditor can complain when the interest on
his bond is paid in the coin which is set
apart Is a special fund. first for the pay
ment of the interestdue him. Yet millions, |
hundreds of millions, have been paid for |
duties on imported goods since 1878 in sill |
yer coin n silver certificates, which is
only a convenient form of handling silver,
as the coin they represent is ours when the
certificates are paid to us; yet not one dol
lar, SO far as l am advised, has ever been
paid in silver as interest on the public debt
or in the purchase Of a single bond for the
sinking fund, though it has been
tuted the special fund created by
law for it's acceptance in payment of duties
on imported goods. The public creditors
nave u~njustly demanded gold for the inter-
est on their bonds without any semblance
of right, INT every Secretary of the Treas
ury has disregarded the law and aceeded to
their demands. Our officials have. thus
aided ann abetted the organization OF the
most powerful body OF capitalists in the
United States against silver coin
age; men Who control the currency
of the country and hold the obligations Of
all it's business concerns; men who caninf1ate
or contract the circulating medium upon
which ali ~ourcommercial transactions de-
pend men that hold $737. 742, $50 of bonds
OF the United States maturing in 1907, on
which they 0 demand IL premium of "a
per cent, and seek bv striking down silver
still further to increase their premiums.
They hold also $3.50, OOO,OO of curl
bonds payable in 1892, which they seek tod
enhance the value Of even beyond the II
per cent. premium they now command.
bers of commerce, and the best talent OF
the press; they can crush all who are in
debt il they dare to dissent from or object
to the demands they make; the reports OF
their conventions and speeches are laid be-
fore us with a parade and semblance OF
authority equal to the report of the
OF the Treasury or the message
of the President. Ii
l shall not be surprised if they dominate
this Congress, but it will be after l have en- I
tered my protest against it, and have given {
to the country my reasons for so pro- {
1t
II the managers of the finances of France
had treated her silver coinage as our Off
cials have ours she would lave been pros
trated, financially, at the feet OF England I
and Germany long ago. p,
Why have the holders of the dishonored 6
trade dollar been importuning Congress +
for years to give them in exchange for it {,
a standard dollar containing 412h grains. t
while it contains APO? Simply because one {
is a legal tender and will pay the debts OF t
it's owner, and the other will not. Yet I
tested by the bullion value, the trade dol 9
lar is worth the most. When our Treasury +
officials yielded to the clamor of the bond. 4
holders and violated the law by admitting /
their right to refuse silver received a
at the Custom House in payment of a
the interest or principle of their bonds, c
they degrade onr standard silver dollar by !
it OF it's most Important func g
ton as legal-tender; and now, having CAP v
tured the executive branch of the Govern il
ment. the ~bondholders and their ATTORNEYS
are besieging Congress to enforce their de. Il
for gold alone in the settlement of i
u .ioiinS' OH idw, JuSClce dnO equity TO n
the contrary, notwithstanding, by striking n
down the silver OF the standard value OF i
July. 1870, which they then de- h
and inserted. in the face of {
every bond they hold as one of the \
coins in which the bond should he paid.
1t is hard to do ~justire to their audacity Q
in temperate language; l hardly think | am 4
equal to the task, and will not attempt it. I
can, however, get the facts before the S
b
The last report of the Treasurer (page n
35) shows that the receipts at the New n
York Custom House for the fiscal wear fl
1885. were paid as follows: n
United States legal ten C
Der notes--."""-."S Sc, 161, 900, or 28.9 p ct. a
Tnited STATES gold coin. ~1,544,0O0, or IL p ct. t
= nncates :-":........ 42,779,OOO, or a.1 p ct. 4
United States silver GER i
.1cates 44,6sO,0 0 or 35.S p ct. o
ni'eu o'ates silver coin $4,000, or OIL p ct n
SIPS, $4,000, or 100 p ct. :,
1t is fair to assume that the n.vme,+s =
1t the other custom houses were made in b
substantially the same character of money Il
t will be observed that more of the Gus. h
dues were paid in silver and silver 9,
than were paid in gold and gold
oil of II &c hu H. Q -