Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-01-29
MIR. Porter for the Farmcrs-4e Quotes Mr.
B. johnson Harbour.
Il =
To The Editor of he Dispatch:


CHARLoTTEsvMLE. Va. January 25. 1890.
That ardent bimetallists are not satisfied
with the plan proposed by Secretary VIM
dom goes without saying, yet the cOnces-
sions which he makes in his report show "A
great advance in the treatment of the
whole subject by the Treasury Depart
ment. $50
opinion is toward bimetalllsm, and that
the continued use of silver rs money in
some form is certain; also. the tact that
there is no known accumulation OF silver
bullion in the world.
He also disposes of the bugbear raised
by the gold monOmetallists evidently for a
purpose bv saving that there need be no
serious apprehensions that any considera-
bic part of the stock of silver coin IN Eu-
rope would be shipped TO the United States
for deposits for Treasury notes" " that
thew have provided by law for maintaining
their existing stock Of silver coins at par,"
aud lit is safe to say that there is no stock
of silver coins in Europe which Is not need
ed for business purposes"
He also presents tables showing that tho
present disposition Of the annual product
of silver would not afford a supply which
would give the American minis enough to
meet demand of "a 100000 purchase per
month
taken in his assumption that the limited
coinage of silver since 1878 has not stayed
its decline. for though silver is lower than
il was in 1878, who knows how much lower
! it would have gone but for that steady de-
mand created bv our lawi Many have
contemplated with horror the wreck and
ruin which would have followed the de-
cline of silver sure to have resulted from
| the entire cessation of demand for the
white metal. The very plan dictated by
| the gold-standard advocates and adopted
was: Stop all coinage until the dire dis
tress of the nations compelled an inter
national agreement. Happily for the
world, that wicked suggestion was not
adopted for il would have confiscated a
large proportion of the worlds wealth to
fill the Golfers of the ayaricious and then
leave the the industrial forces the only
remedy TO create anew their fortunes, per-
haps with broadened standard of money
yet all fully controlled by the class which
secured the wretcbed legislation which
first dishonored silver.
But WHY in the name of Mammon should
Secretary of the United States Treasury
make such a statement as this after all the
light that has been given by the debates in
our CONGRESS? He says: Our bank cur
rency is based upon United States bonds,
the principal aud interest of which Is paya-
BILE IN gold"
The act which authorized them says in
coin. The bonds themselves on their face
are declared TO express that.
Senator Beck, in his great speech In the
Senate in March, 1888, laid great stress
upon the point that the then Secretary of
the Treasury did not utilize the silver by
paying the bonds with them. while assert
ing that they were lying useless In the
Treasury.
II is a pity that the American people
have to longer submit to the Oily -dallying
treatment of this great question by men
who profess to be yersed in finance when
the people are everywhere suffering from
the scarcity of money caused by the con-
tinuous decline in prices. which causes q
congestion of money in the great centres Of
wealth. Ii is now freely admitted that q
great blunder was committed when silver
was demonetized. People are quite gene
rally regarding it as more high-handed
crime than blunder.
BY the table recently given by Hon. E. O.
Leech. Director of the Mint, ii appears
that the total production of the precious
metals for thifty-eight yenrs (185l-ls59) was
as follows for the whole world:
OF gold. sc, 81 oo0
Of silver. 2t55,ss $500
The largest production
OF gold wss 10 1853. .lso0 900
VI silver. IN s,hiW)
1t will be seen that tho addition TO tho
worlds stock of money metal has been
vastly greater in gold than in silver.
1t was upon this showing that the tables
were compiled in 1886 by which il was
shown that the relative stock of the two
metals, which in 1850 WIS computed to be
82t< tunes ~ much silver ~ gold BY sesigki
hsd b. the greater production Of gold been