Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-01-21
WILlI4M DEAN ON sIrrER.
Why Should she GOvernmcnt SWIM
die the I.aboriB1 Wan

l The silver question seems to be til,
great question of the day, on which col
umn att,r column is written. | do no
propose 10 nifer anything new on the sub
| ject. Int simply to give the matter littl,
thought as il presents itself TO NV mind
| Gold aud silver are useful nS II medium o
| exchange between countries nud in
diyidnals, it is true, and they have an in
| trinsic value for the uses to which the,
| ARE put in the different arts in which theN
| have found place; but that value ha,
been established by the value put upon il
| by the several nations as an article to be-
coined into money for the purpose of ex.
| changes. In other words, il is a reser.
voir of wealth or labor, it occupying but
small space in comparison to its repre-.
sentation of labor or wealth. A laborine
man who has accumulated say $500 can
keep it concealed from public view, and
knowing that, under all circumstances, il
will represent the same $500, and there
fore 1t is important ON the part uf the
government which has the regulation Of
the value of the coins of the COGntty that
that they truthfully represent wlnt then
fnce calls for, and under no conditions
should the government he the means of
deceiving its people no matter low intel
ligent or how ignorant they mag he Of
the matter of finance. If 25S grains OF
gold is the true bullion value OF II dollar,
and our present silver dollar contains
412.5 grains, and the bullion in il is only
worth 80 cents, what hos caused this diff
ference? Which is the unit vi vulue of
our government ?
If two working men living next door to
aaah nfl,ar nra haosdfrrx that. ao..ui,,c,e
and one stores his savings in gold dollars,
the other stores the silver dollar; and
supposing fire breaks ont in the night
and the two families have barely time to
escape with their lives while their savings
are left to the flames but after they have
done their work of destruction, and then
when the debris has cooled of each of
the man hunts for the remains of his coin
and RECEIVERS it, and then they proceed to
sell it for its value. Let us suppose they
had each accumulated LOCO. When
they find purchaser for the remains the
one who had gold gets his full 81 900,
while the man who boarded the
silver dollars gets but $500. These
men both put faith, in what che
government had done, supposing the
government knew the true value Of the
coin which it put into circulation and
thus relying on the governments stamp
for what it called, dollar, one finds at
lenst that he has been deceived. Silver
dollars, it seems to me, can be made so
that if they are melted and taken out of
the debris of fire they will give bull
lion value of dollar for each dollar
melted. But here we find the man who
put his savings in silver dollars, and lost
by the fire $3.50, and does not every pei
son using them run the same risk? If
they truly represented each piece OF coin
a dollar in bullion there could be no pos
sible loss.
Why does not the government pay the
interest of its bonds in silver? For the
simple fact that the holder, and particu-
larly the foreign holders, of them would
soon sell them out rather than take their
interest in o deprecated currency. Yet
the working man is obliged to take just
such pay as his employer gives him, as
has been shown by the foregoing example
that the silver dollar has but 80 cents of
bullion in it while the gold dollar has
what it represents on its face. Should
the government, for the purpose of find
ing a market for the products of the
silver mines of this county, do a wrong
act? Let the supply and demand for
actual use be the regulator of the price
of silver bullion as we'll as of wheat, corn
or any other product of the country.
The government can establish theamount
of pure silver bullion that shall be con-
tanned in a dollar, but let it be Of
equal value with the gold dollar.
Supposing l have an old sill
yer teapot or old spoons, or
any article of silver which is worn out,
that can send such articles to the mint
and for just sufficient compensation to
cover actual outlay to the government
have them coined into silver dollars.
When we have hundreds of millions of
silver dollars boarded up in government
vaults, why not pay off some of our gov
ernment bonds with them and save the
interest? think this is what any sensible
individual, looking to his financial well
fare, would do. 1t is not likely that any
individual would keep on deposit
5000, 900, 900 lying idle in bank aud not
getting any interest for it, at the same
time owing in bonds, &C., many hundreds
of millions bearing interest. What would
benefit individuals would in similar
cases benefit the government. By giving
my views may have shown my ignorance
of the subject, but as citizen, feeling an
interest in our welfare as nation, want,
if in ignorance, to be enlightened.
Respectfully, WILLIAM DEAN.
NEWARK, DEL, Jan. 1886.