Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-11-25
THE DOUBLE STANDARD.

THE DOUBLE STANDARD.
Osinage of tho silver Dollar and
Increase Of National Bank Circu-
latfon.
The letter given below was written by
John Thompson, Vice-President of the
Chase National Bank of New York City,
and appeared in recent number of the
American Banker. In view of the
National Silver Convention which assem-
bles in st. Louis tomorrow, and of the
intrinsic importance of the subject as
well as the special interest this section
has in the double standard the letter has
much significance:
Mr.. PRESIDENT AND DELEGATES OF THE
AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATION - l
present for the action of the convention
tie following resolution. which I will
ask to have read by the Secretary:
Resolved, That it is the sense OF the
American Bankers Association that
Congress should make it obligatory upon
the Secretary of the Treasury to coin
standard silver dollars to the maximum
amount now authorized by the act of
February IA, 1873, viz: $4,000, 900 worth
of silver dollars per month.
Resolved, That Congress be requested
to authorize the issue of national bank
notes, redeemable in standard silver
dollars or silver certificates, making them
q preferred claim on the general assets
of the bank-to an amount not to exceed
fifty per cent. of the paid in capital of
the bank issuing them, and making such
certificates legal tender.
Resolved, That Congress authorize the
President of the United States to enter
into diplomatic relations with the nations
of Europe, and with Mexico and the
nations of South America, and call q
conference to consider plan for the
free coinage of full legal tender silver
and full value subsidiary coin, at the
mints of the several nations at fixed
and uniform relation of value OF silver to
gold.
In speaking of these resolutions, hes
itate somewhat to 60 over ground that
has 80 frequently been travelled, and to
have to reiterate arguments repeated so
often heretofore as to seem wearisome.
/ deem the resolutions of so much i'm
portance, that must task your patience.
have for many years sesn the intimate
relation that exists between the currency
of country and it's business prosperity
have known the evils both of redun-
dant and a too contracted circulating
medium. The resources of the United
States have been developed as its popu-
lation has advanced. We are accus-
toned to point with pride to the enor-
nous increase of the aggregate wealth of
the country within the last twenty five
years; but this increase in aggregate
wealth does not necessarily indicate q
proportionate increase in individual pros
perity. In fact, individual wealth has
not increased in the proportion indicated
by the aggregate wealth, and therefore,
trouble arises. There are contests be-
tween labor and capital. There is out
cry at corporations and trusts. There is
danger in concentrated wealth. Money
is the instrument by which the business
of the country is carried on. 1t is q
measure of value. A great proportion of
the difficulty in finding the solution of
the social problems of the present day is
due to the demonstration of silver as a
money standard. Commodities are said
to vary in value or price, according to the
supply or demand of those commodities.
But there is a still more important cause
OF variations in price, and that is the
fuctuation in the value Of money itself.
The financial world and its machinery is
today so easily controlled by quick meth
DDS of communicating information, that
money can be made scarce by
artificial methods, thus dominating
the prices of all other commodities. This
ability to control money gives it an un-
due influence over prices that measure
of values and means of exchange should
not have. OF the artificial methods of
increasing the value of money and de-
preciating the prices of all other COM
modities, the worst ever used has been
tho demonetization of silver in 1873 by
the mints of the United States and the
Latin Union. In the United States, at
that time, no metallic money was in
circulation, az specie payments had not
been resumed. Silver throughout the
world then, and for centuries previously,
stood to gold in the relation of 1515 to l..
The silver dollar of the United States
being coined at relation OF 16 to l was
worth about three cents more than the
gold dollar, and was then consequently
out of circulation. There is nothing in
the production of silver since 1873, al
though it has somewhat increased, to
prove that silver would not have main
tanned its old relation to gold if its coin
age had not been discontinued. In fact,
it is generally admitted that the discon-
tinuance of it's use as money has been
the important factor in putting down the
price of silver and consequently causing
the depreciation in value of all other
commodities. 1t has become a COM
modify, and like other commodities has
felt the squeezing influence of gold, the
only remaining money, growing more
and more precious.
This effect of taking the worlds stock
Of money, and dividing it into halves,
throwing one.half, and that the most
useful, into the general sea of commodi-
ties, has been to almost double the value
OF the half still retained. Like the books
of the Sibyl the half that is left doubles
in value. The half that remains lends
itself to the purposes of those who con-
troll it more readily than the whole stock
that previously existed. The disastrous
curtailing of the currency of the world
was not felt so seriously in the United
States as it would have been if our paper
currency had not been somewhat ex-
cessive. Congress, moreover, was wise,
aud in 1873 authorized limited coinage
of the standard silver dollar and the is
sue of silver certificates. With the re-
sumption of specie payments, began an
era of contraction, not perhaps shown by
the aggregate figures of the outstanding