Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-24

that The peopls will not take y. !
think shall be able to snow INV Wy
people return this silver just IS "''
1t is put out. ~ o. hun.
bred and sevsnty.four million dollars ar .s .,
debt are now due. The payment OF tue
debt will take II oil out, and mucn mo,e'
Mr.. UEMpHILL If you restore the
legal.tender function OF the traae'doi,aI
1t will command as good price a. 'no
standard silver dollar. :.
Mr.. WARNER, Of Ohio: There Is
no doubt about that. A.,
Mr.. BROWN, of Pennsylvania And
if YOU demonetizc gold where will It go!
Mr.. HEMPHILL We are talking
about silver. l say, so far as that IS
concerned, you can get 100 cents ior
your gold dollar in Liverpool today.
Mr.. BROWN, OF Pennsylvania Bat
suppose all the commercial nations oil
the world should treat gold as SILVER
has been treated, does the gentleman
presume to say that silver would re-
main down and gold would continue 70
be where it is?
Mr.. WARNER, Of Ohio: The gen.
tleman says that one reason Why the
people do not accept the silver circuia-
ton is because 90 per cent. OF the value
of a silver dollar is the result OF Legal
tender and because the people have
doubts whether it will remain perma-
nently at the present figure. Now L
ask, do the people hesitate to take
greenbacks, the entire value OF when
depends, according to the gentleman s
theory, upon their legal.tender quality!
If they hesitate to take silver because
90 per cent. of its value is dependent
on legal tender, why do they not hesi-
tate still more to take the greenbacks,
the whole value of which rests on that
basis?
MIR. HEMPHILL: The greenback has
I the promise of the Government behind
it. A man can take greenback to the
Treasury and get gold dollars for 1t.
Mr.. WARNER, of Ohio: But the
promise Of the Government is to pay IN
these very silver dollars.
Several MEMBERS Oh, no.
Mr.. WARNER, of Ohio: There is no
promise Of the Government to pay the
greenbacks in gold.
Mr.. HEMPHILL 1t is but fair that
they should know that the silver coin
bearing the Government stamp, and
which they have stored away, is not
really worth what they were compelled
to accept it at.
Mr.. WARNER, Of Ohio But under
{. Gresham's law " silver is the money
that ought to circulate.
Mr.. HEMPHILL: That is the only
law under which it ought to circulate ;
it ought not to circulate under any law
of the United States.
Mr.. WARNER, Of Ohio But the
gentleman says it does not circulate
and still insists that the Gresham
law is in force.
Mr.. WEAVER, of Iowa: The gen.
tleman from Ohio Mr.. Warnerl doe:
not controvert the proposition am
about TO state, and | do not know any
body who does. If the value of the
silver dollar is to be measured by the
gold dollar we concede that it is not a:
valuable as the gold dollar bat We
claim that the gold dollar is not th(
proper measure.
Mr.. WARNER, Of Ohio: | cannot
quite agree to that. Laughter.
Mr.. HEMPHILL The gentleman
from Ohio does not agree with the gen
tleman from Iowa.
Mr.. WEAVER, Of Iowa: Yes, be
does agree with me that gold is not the
proper measure of the value OF the sill
yer dollar.
Mr.. WARNER, Of Ohio Certainly
that is right. l agree with the gentle
man SO far.
Mr.. WEAVER, Of Iowa: That's al
that | said.
Mr.. HEMPHILL: What is the mea'
sure?
Mr.. WEAVER, of Iowa : The mea.
sure is that which the Constitution pro-
vides. The Constitution Of the United
States says that Congress shall have
power "to coin money and regulate the
value thereof" 1t must be regulated
by law, not by the bullion market.
Mr.. LONG: The law says that gold
is the unit Of value.
Mr.. WEAVER, Of Iowa The Law
said that before the Bland dollar wa!
coined. When the Bland act wa
passed it virtually provided that gol(
and silver should be the unit of value
Mr.. WARNER, of Ohio The uni
of value is not the same thing as tn
standard Of value.
Mr.. WEAVER, Of Iowa: No.
Mr.. HEMPHILL: One thing is true
whenever you fix unit that Is mea
sure.
Mr.. WARNER, of Ohio Not neces
sarily a measure.
Mr.. HEMPHILL: Certainly. VIVA
is a half-dollar but hall the unit
What arc two dollars but double tn
unit?
Mr.. WARNER, of Ohio: The uni
might have been made, as Robert MOI
ris suggested, the cent, the one hur
dredth part of dollar. In the founda
, ton Of our mint and our coinage systeT
it was seriously contemplated to max
the unit cent instead Of dollar. i
, unit is the single thing in monetar
system. The value of silver, let IN
, say, is what it will buy.
The reader perceiyes at once thu
Mr.. HEMPHILL and Mr.. WARNE
q both showed themselves to be worth
champions each Of his own side of ii
, money question.