Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1886-01-09
THE SILVER DOLLAR

metal. AMONG INC "il'CAo Vii 'i''''
subject is Mr. VIM. NJ. Stewart, OF
San Francisco. Cal, whose pam
phlet on the silver question has
been received by the TIMES. It's
"a very able paper, and from It
much OF the information contained
in this article is derived.
One of the war cries of the gold
bugs is: Have a silver dollar, but
increase its value TO the value OF
the gold dollar. This sounds like
fair proposition at first blush,
but like all the gold arguments,
won't hold water. What makes
the value of the gold dollar? Eng
land when she established the gold
standard, passed law fixing the
price of gold, and compelling the
Bank of England to accept all the
gold offered, at the price fixed by
law, to be paid for, in Bank OF
England notes, Germany follow
ed suit, passing law in 1878, fix
ing the price of gold, and compelling
the Imperial Reichs Bank to pur-
chase all the gold offered, at the
price fixed by law, payable in Bank
Notes Denmark, Sweden and Nor
way, also passed similar laws.
Such action on the part of great
financial centres like England and
Germany, would almost make cop
per or even pewter more valuable
than silver, especially when, as in
the cases mentioned, silver was
demonetizcd. On the part Of Eng
land it was a clear case of plumber,
for she established by law the sill
yer standard for India, and the
trupee the standard coin. England
by this sharp practice purchased
silver bullion at thirty-eight to
forty cents per rupee, and passed
it as full legal tender, at forty eight
cents Of our money per lupee.
No argument IS necessary, 10 shcw
the Job" in that arrangement
! Gold is held up by law, and silver
either left to shift for itself, or
actually forced down by law, as in
India.
l The silver dollar of Hamilton
contained 4l6 grains of silver. Act
of April 2, 1892. This dollar was
too valuable for circulation being
worth more than the gold dollar,
and by Act of Jan. Is, 1887, the
dollar was reduced to 412l grains
standard silver which was of great
er value than the geld dollar of p
$40 grains standard gold. In 1879
the silver dollar was worth three
cents more than the gold doll. r
In 1874 the standard dollar was
; demonetized by some sharp prac
tice. The sharp practice was this
: The statutes of the United States
; were being revised, in 1873, by {
, commission, acting under law
, which did not authorize new legis
lation, but simply a Qualification o
existing laws. BY some means i:
, provision was inserted as follows
"The silver coins of the Unite6
States, shall be legal tender a
their nominal value, for any
amount not exceeding SIS in an,
one payment. In 1874, this vol
0 ume. Revised Statutes) was adopt
t ed by Congress, and the realm
: dispensed with, on the assuranc
n of the commissioners that they ha
S inserted no new legislation, an
the fact that the section abov
quoted was in the statutes, was no
publicly known until long tim
/ after.
:, 1t is such sharp games as these
and not the intrinsic merits of tn
two metals that makes the differ
ence of the values of the two do,
s. lars and not satisfied with the fol
J. eign, and Wall street opposition [
n silver. the Secretary of the Treal
l. ury takes it upon himself TO DEF
n the law, which authorizes the pa,
0 lnent of bonds, both principal an
N interest in coin, not gold. A.
l. July II, 1870. The Secretary how
ever pays only in gold, thereby a
eunfulstiag silver, instead of pu
y ting it out. Everything is III
friendly to silver. IL has had