New-York tribune., 1886-03-04
VOTES OP DOLLdRSf


ton of inquiry. His reply ON the question ol
silver coinage is a strong statement OIL V"c e"i-
nest but unayailing efforts which have been
made to cause larger use OF silver IN acl",'i
circulation of the principles OF true Oiillel"i-
lism and of the fact that blmetalliSm "oulu Dc
completely abandoned, and silver moholle'a'-
lism established, if the Government Sho'''"
force creditors to accept silver uoilars "hen
they want other kinds OF money. Ihls state
ment by the Secretary Will not be answered. III
Congress, and because it cannot he answered.,
his opponents will not spare abuse or mlsreple-
sentation to defeat its influence. Ii voters gen
erally could read and understand the position
of the Secretary, as stated by himSci' TIC
silver mOnOmetalistS would quickly lose nluch
of their popular support. For that reason the
Democratic aOrity in ihc House VIII not pay
to the official statement OF Democratic Al
ministration the usual courtesy no effort VIII
be made by them, we shall fnd to place THIS
document before Democratic voters as an
effective vindication of the Secretary i'll regard
to the use of silver in payments.
Secretary Manning goes much further, ana
points out steps by which silver CONS can be
broppht into use much more largely without
driving gold out OF use. "By careful manage
meut," he states, $50 as neither to contract the
"currency nor to force a silver basis the silver
"dolars might all, in time, be applied to With
" draw and cancel the United States notes
(which are other dues OF the Government
snow payable' This Is Il keen reply to the
ouestion why silver dollars may not be used III
discbarcng other debts besides the bonds ana
interest thereon. But it also opens a new ana
BROADER view of the monetary policy which the
Administration desires to pursue Staetaly
Manning has already virtually retired seVeraI
millions of the 81 ana - notes, and tnus, as he
states. has made room IN circulation Tor about
II 800 600 more standard dollars, at least Tor
the time. As the small notes are retired, other
notes of large denominations are put out IN
their stead SO that the aggregate of legal ten
ders technically outstanding is not changed,
thourh the larger notes tend to accumulate IN
the Treasury and the banks. BY the same
policy. carried still further, the rest of the
500. 600 600 of 81 and - notes outstanding
last July, and then the $76OUO,OOo OF %
notes, could be gradually withdrawn from use,
and room made for silver dollars. In time the
$4,000, 900 OF $40 notes could also be With
drawn, and thus room would be made Tor
l9l. 900. 900 standard dollars IN addition to
the S3S ,OOO, 900 in actual use July l, 1850
This is the policy and reasoning Of the Sec
retary, and it is important for his critics to OBJ
serve that it needs for its execution no change
of the law The existing statutes provlue lScc
3,57l r. s. United States notes shall be OF
"such denominations, not less than one dollar,
@as the Secretary of the Treasury may pre-
.scribe.n lie is not required when notes have
been received, to reissue the same notes or
notes of the same denomination, but tSec.
3.579) "When United States notes are re-
"turned to the Treasury they may De relssued,
from time to time, as the erigencies Of the pHd-
q lie interest mag require" Nothing III existing
law prevents the full execution OF the Secre-
tarys plans and it will be remen Dcred that
the President might veto any bill restricting
the discretion of the Secretary in that respect.
Legal-tender notes of large denominations
Uould be likely to accumulate in the Treasury.
If S19l 600 900 of such notes should be put
ont. it might come to pass that the Treasury
would have on hand comparatively few silver
dollars. but a vast amount OF unused legal
tenders.
This plan involves the danger that Congress
might at any time, by assent of the President
or by q two-thrds vote, require the issue of
small notes lnSltdu Ol llt ldIEC hOlco III WV
Treasury, and thus might disturb the indus
tries and trade of the country greatly, and there
would be mCr danger of such an enactment
than if the superfl1ous notes were retired and
cancelled AS silver dollars were substituted for
them in use. But for such retirement the
Treasury now has no authority, and this sug-
gests the second difficulty, namely, that the
people have become habltuatcd TO the small
notes, and like them, and infinitely prefer them
to any coin. Hence such policy as the Secre-
tary marks out cannot be carried into effect
| without much popular opposition. b. it is the
| only way In hich silver dollars can be brought
into general use. The Secretary, i'll making
this fact clear, has placed before Congress the
alternative, "siver coins or notes y Both
cannot be kept in use. If Congress insists
upon continued coinage and the use Of dollars
as far as possible. it is plain that the Secretary
means to use the dollars in the only way they
can be used, by Withdrawing notes from use.