Evening journal., 1890-10-29
Mr.. LEACHTO Mr.. FLOWER
His Defense of the Treasury's
Business Methods.
NE SAYS THERE'S NO FAyORITIsM.

His Reasons for the Recent Decline in tho
Price OF fsilver-Representati Flowers
Attack on the Department Resented by
the Director Of the Mint at Washington.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29.--Edward o. Leach,
director of the mint, has made public the
following statement: my attention has
been called TO certain statements attributed
70 Mr.. Roswell p Flower In an interview
on silver which appeared in the sunday
edition Of The New York World. Mr..
Flower criticises the treasury method Of
purchasing silver in these particulars.
"First-That the large purchases by the
department do not include all the silver
bought; that the London price is used as a
basis OF government purchases; that the
bids to the government are on decimal
system and tend to favoritism. In regard
70 the first criticism l may say that the
government purchases silver as it does
bonds-by public competition-the lowest
offers being always accepted, provided they
do not exceed the highest m@.ket price
For the benefit OF small producers, how
ever, the superintendents of the mints are
authorized to purchase small lots at a price
fixed from day to day by the director of the
mint corresponding to the market price of
silver. These purchases average possibly
l a half million ounces a month, and are re-
ported to the treasury weekly.
London Prices Do Not Rule.
"Second-It is nottrue that the London
price has been used as the basis of silver
| purchases under the new law. During the
last administration not only was the Lon
don price the only price used in making
purchases, but the department did not pay
the equivalent of the London price, as the
records of the mint bureau will show, but
made counter offers to bidders on the
theory that silver was worth less in New
York than in London by the cost of trans
portation aud insurance across the water
phe present administration has been gov
erned by the New York price, and at no
time since the passage of the new silver
law has the treasury felt itself limited in
its acceptances to the London price.
Charges of Favoritism Denied.
"Third-In regard to the government
quotations being on a decimal basis Mr..
Flower is made to say: The suspicious and
significant fact in regard to the govern
ment's purchases Of late is that houses
offering large lots have been underbid by
the hundradth part of a cent.
1.-THE governments quotations are on a
decimal basis, which is a great advantage
to those who may have advanced informa
tion in regard to the price the government
is willing TO pay on given date. Now, il
regard to this, it may be said that th'
government has no scale of its own, anC
| Ia rbof Ia e1s
best. If one house happens to bid decima
lower than another, is the government *
decline the lower bid because of the deci
malg The idea of any seller having 'ad
vance information as to the price the
government will pay is ridiculous and i'm
possible. The offers for the sale of silver
are all made by telegraph within a few
minutes of o'clock. and the treasury hai
no idea of what it will pay until all tn,
offers are opened, its acceptances being
governed entirely by the offers. If therl
can be any fairer method devised for pur
chasing silver than by public competition
it would be difficult to conceive of such
method It is the method which has beer
pursued by the treasury under all admins
trations since 1878. F."
The Decline In Price.
Mr. Leach attributes the recent declin
in the price of silver to the immense stool
of silver at New York; to the decline il
silver export, and to sensational storie
from London. He says: Not one ounce q
silver bullion has been shipped to the Or
ent from San Francisco since May / q
this year, while over "a, 100000 worth wa
shipped during the same period of lasty
These facts of themselves are sufficient I
account for the decline which has take
place"
Slurs at the Treasury.
In conclusion he says: "No sensible PEI
son likes to make prophecies, especially o
subject which has proven so Elusive a
silver, but certainly one who has made
close study Of the silver question ought I
find in the facts mentioned sufficient cause
for the recent decline without seeking Il
imaginary reasons and casting slurs upo
the treasury's method Of purchases
1.-THE new silver law has been execute
by the treasury department in the utmol
good faith and in the same friendly spir
toward silver which characterized the pa
sage OF the act, and the manner of its ex
cution has not had the most remote bea
ing upon the recent decline in price"