The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-05
The Silver Question

The most interssti1g part OF tns report o.
the Secretary OF the Treasury IS that which
discusses the silver question Ia our dis
patches this mor1ing there are extracts
from this part OF the report. From these
extracts a pretty fair idea can be obtai1sd
Of the various solutions Of the silver gus
ton which have bsen proposed, and. also,
Of the solution which the secretary proposes
There is no doubt that the silver men IL
tend 70 press the silver question upon ii,
attention Of congress a: the earliest possible
moment. They have made preparations %
do 50, AMI they are in a very aggressiv re
mood. What they want is fres coinage Of
silver, and they viii be satisfied with moth
ing less, but they viii accept a comproniss
if they cannot get what they want
While there IS no reasonable d Jubt ths:
the President Is opposed to free coinage Of
silver, or D any increase IN the amount now
authorized by Law TO Be coined, the silver
men pretend 70 sse in his message a disposi-
ton TO make concessions 20 them. II is,
therefore, 20 be regretted that he was not
more emphatic IN the expression Of his
views. He seemed either to Re afraid TO
say 1CLaE El4L Ne O1leFc4 OF 70 UzFe no
clearly defined views o. the subject.
The silver men know that if their views
should be adopted the country would soon
be on q silver basis. The coinage Of gold
would cease aud gold would command a
premium. The price Of silver has been
steadily declining for several years. The
silver in q silver dollar is now worth only
uf1 I'LL &
cents less than a gold dollar with the coir-
age Of silver limited 10 81, 010, 900 a month,
il is apparent that the difference between
the value Of the gold and silver dollar
would be very much greater If thu coinage
OF silver was made free, or even increased
to a, 1000. 600 a month.
When the present compulsory silver coin
age law was passed the silver men predicted
tina. the price Of silver, owing to the pur-
chases by the government, would advance.
Their prediction has not come true, aud the
silver dollar would not now pass for its face
value were it not for the confdence which
the people have in the government, and for
some other reasons which the Secretary Of
the Treasury points out. A dspreciated
SA@fS% "CAAAt a. NaAp C2AA1ut
says, be disastrous TO all business interests
If the coinage Of silver were to be greatly
increased the amount Of money in circula-
ton would not necessarily be increased
Tint this is true is shown by the fact that
there are many millions of silver dollars
now stored in the treasury, which the sec
rotary cannot get into circulation, although
he has tried every means in his power to do
50. What, then, is the advantage of in
crsasing the amount Of idle silver money
in the treasuryl If the amount is increased
how do the silver men propose that it shall
be got into circulationl 1t looks very much
as il all the silver men desire Is TO get a
better market for their silver. OF course,
there are many VINO sympathize with them.
These sympathizers are debtors who would
like to have a Deprecated currency with
which to pay their debts.
The secretaryz recommendation, brief
statement of which is contained in our dis
patches, win doubtless receive a good deal
of attention from congress. Il may not be
a solution Of the silver difficulty, but, if
adopted, it would stop the coinage of silver
until more silver dollars were. needed, aud
would furnish a currency that would be
worth what it pretended on its face to be.