The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-12-04
This paper Is Democratic IN principles
and is Independent IN its VieiOs on @a
local questions.
Mr.. WINDOWS silver Plan.

The New York Herald published
this morning in advance of its pres
enJation to Congress a sketch OF Sec
rotary WINDOWS plan for the issue as
currency of treasury notes secured on
silver deposited in the Treasury in the
form of bullion. The plan is outlined
In the words of Mr.. Window as fol-
lows
The proposition is briefly this: To open the
mints of the United States to the free deposit of
silver, the market value of the same not to ex-
reed 81 for 412.5 grains of standard silver at the
time of deposit to be paid in Treasury notes,
said notes to be redeemable in the guam
tity Of silver which could be purchased
by the number of dollars expressed on the face
of the notes at the time presented for payment,
or in gold, at the option of the government, and
to be receivable for customs, taxes and all public
dues; and 50 received they may be reissued; and
such notes, when held by any national banking
association, shall be counted as part of its lawful
reserve.
The Secretary of the Treasury should have
discretionary power to suspend, temporarily,
the receipt of silver bullion for payment in
notes when necessary TO protect the govern
ment against combinations formed for the pur-
pose of giving an arbitrary and fictitious price to
silver.
If the price of silver should advance between
the date of the issue Of a note and its payment,
the holder of the note would receive a less
quantity of silver than he deposited, but the
exact quantity which could be bought in the
market with the number of gold dollars called
for by his note at the date of payment. If the
price should decline he would receive more sill
yer than he deposited, but the quantity which
could be purchased with the number of gold dol
lars called for by his note at the time presented
for payment.
Now, we do not pretend to grasp off
hand all the bearings of this very
startling proposition. The exact work
ings of the plan can only be figured
out by deep study ON the part of ac-
complished f~inanciers. But at first
sight it appears to us to have the over-
whelming disadvantage of unsettling
the value of a large portion of the cur
rency.
We know we will be told that, on
the contrary, the value of the circu-
lating medium, i. e., the treasury
notes, will remain fixed, the value of
the security being the element OF
fuctuation. There is even some
ground for the claim, that the appli-
cation of the sliding, scale to the Sc
curity insures a more absolute fixity
of value in the currency. But we
doubt if the people, who, after all, are
the users OF money, will see matters in
that light
The stability of paper money is
largely a matter of public confidence,
and we doubt gravely whether the
public will either comprehend or ap
prove the distinction between fiuctu-
alton in basis and fuctuation in
medium, or will place their confidence
in anything which is subject to any
huctuation at all.
Two Massachusetts cities lying side
by side-Somerville and Cambridge
elected Mayors yesterday without OPP
position, and the entire ticket in each
case was called non-partisan. Both
voted no license by a large majority
of a small vote. The unanimity of
political action in these cities is really
remarkable.
Church Fairs Might be Schools,
An astonishing number of church