Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-15

some information about the silver bill which
passed the House in Congress on the 7th insti
L What is the object of the silver bill? 2
What is meant by "bullion redemption s
What is meant by ''free coinager' l. What is
meant by the demonstration of silverP' s
| How, by securing larger volume of currency,
can gold and silver be drawn closer together?
| 6. What evil might come to the people through
silver legislation Yours respectfully,
PIrTsBURa. June IA. 1890 J.R.
1.-The object of the silver bill is to pro-
vide for greater use of silver in our ma
tional currency. Opponents OF the bill say
that it is to make the Government provide a
market for the product of the silver mines.
Supporters of it say that it is to prevent the
contraction of currency and appreciation of
the monetary standard which is claimed by
them to result from the sole reliance upon
gold as basis.
2The measures now under consideration
provide for the deposit of silver bullion in
the Treasury, and, instead of its immediate
coinage, it is proposed to issue silver certifi-
Gates on the value of the bullion, just as GER
tiicates are now issued on the coined dollars.
1t is prov ided in the bill passed by the
House that if these certificates are pre-
sented for redemption they can be redeemed
by handing over the bullion which they
represent. This is bullion redemption" as
distinct from redemption in other legal
tender money.
Stree coinage is the provision BY which
any owner of the precious metals can take
his bullion to the mints and have it coined
into standard dollars. This is the case with
gold, while under the present law limited
amount of silver is coined, and that only
from the bullion purchased by the Treasury.
4-Demonetiz alton was the passage of an
act by which the coinage OF silver was
stopped, and its legal tender quality taken
away. This was done in the United States
in 1873. In 1878 the legal tender quality
was restored. but only limited coinage was
provided. The silver advocates. therefore,
claim that the remonetization Of silver is
not yet fully established.
5-When silver was demonetized, both
in this country and in Europe, of course the
cessation of It's use as money lessened the
demand for it and deprecated the price of
bullion. At the same time the increased
demand for gold, and its lessening produc-
tion, increased its value,so that according to
the views of the silver men the actual value
OF the gold dollar has increased. This
makes a difference between the value of
the gold and silver dollars which is repre-
sented by the assertion that the silver dollar
is only worth IS cents. The claim OF the |
silver men lie that if that metal were fully |
remonetized the increased demand for sill |
yer, and the corresponding relief in the de-
mand for gold, would raise the bullion value |
of the former and relax that of the latter, so |
as to bring them closer together.
6-The danger is that if the coinage |
should proceed to a point which enabled the |
business of the country to be done on a sill |
yer basis, that the above claim would not
be fully vindicated, and that theisilver dol
lar would remain at less bullion value
than the gold dollar. If that were done, of
course, the day that the United States
Treasury found itself forced to make its pay
ments in silver, gold would 60 to q
premium, and everyone would hoard that
metal and pay his debts with the cheaper
dollar. If, on the other hand, the conten-
tion of the silver men that the increased
coinage Of silver will bring it so close to
gold that the country can remain on a BIZ
metallic basis, there would be no danger.
These answers are replies to our corre-
spondent without any attempt to support
either side of the dispute. The fact is that,
as in most monetary controversies, there is
truth on both sides, with in this case a rather
larger proportion of it on the side of the sill
yer men.