Morning journal and courier., 1886-02-01
The Silver Question.

The following letter is of interest to those who are interested in the silver discussion:
 NEW HAVEN, Conn.,, Jan. 27, 1886. Hon. Joseph Sheldon, President of the Cur
 rency Reform League:
 Dear Sir-l notice in daily paper that my name appears in a list of vice presidents of the Currency Reform League"
 While appreciating the honor intended I must ask to be excused from acting. l am somewhat an invalid rarely go out in the evening and prefer that the place kindly as- signed me shall be filled by some more active worker in behalf of a specie basis broad enough to sustain sufficient amount of cur rency to enable tie business of the country to be carried on without fear of either con traction or undue imitation, and to give workingmen and women a reasonable assu- rance that employment will not be withheld on account of the indisposition or inability of employers to furnish work through legis- lation that might make 1t certain that the price of the products of labor must decline After a somewhat careful examination of the subject I am convinced that the United States cannot, at this critical juncture, cease to coin silver without great risk of precipi- tating such a crisis in both Europe and this country as might bring disaster to millions of fresides. Some, who are perhaps wiser than I, profess to believe that if we stop coining silver now and thus, necessarily in the present condition of affairs, aid to great ly depress the price of silver bullion, we shall bring about an international accord for its coinage.
 Is it not more probable that if we SOW the wind we shall reap the whirlwind?
 The contraction (which might doubtless have been avoided had we coined a liberal amount of silver from 1873 to 1873 during that period bankrupted deprived of re- munerative labor vast numbers of our people. I think we need not now fear practical rep etition of the policy then pursued. We can not forget, however, that eternal vigilance, J which is said to be ''the price of liberty, , seems to be necessary to thwart the schemes of those who mistakenly seek to secure legis- lation that would result in making money less plentiful and business enterprise less confident.
 The desirability of having the bullion of the silver dollar and that of the gold dollar of approximately like value we certainly shall not dispute. It seems evident that if we stop the coinage of silver we shall thus aid to widen rather than narrow the differ ence in the value of the two metals. Recently, owing to combination of cir cumstances, the market value of New York Central stock declined more than twice as much as that of silver bullion. But did MT. Vanderbilt, the largest holder of that stock, sell out in consequence, or discontinue the operation of the road because for time it did not paya Had he thrown his holdings upon the market the price might probably have declined to thirty forty cents on a dollar as might that of our silver bullion should we, having first discredited it, throw 1 it upon the markt of the world.
 With an output of silver bullion equal to | nearly half the product of the world and a | present surplus, which, however, might not exist if the Treasury department should act 1 quite within the letter and in conformity 1 with the spirit of our present law, can we afford to institute new crusade against sil yer?
 l Had the operation of the New York Cen l tral road been discontinued, under the ples of waiting for more favorable times, might | not the interest of it's stockholders have beer wrecked and would not the millions who 1T various ways are benefited by the transporta | tion facilities which it affords have had jus l ground to complain? Might not nillio inns