Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-01-20

"a Atoik grains Of them for q uoiar
,vhen fiat li23 pair is really worth only 80
cents. This will give US IN aDuhunnce ol
silyer currency, but II viii be currency
debased az the rate of 20 per cent; anu
this. IL must be rememoereo - Wy Leo
coinage meant BY the discussions going on
~ o'. Tnngress and by tho bill which has
~, ~ a.se5 7b1 9enase. So that free coinage
MI ECONOMICALLY end al difficulty relating
90 ;nsufiieient currency, but 20 VIII make
o,,r currency badly debased one, Don't
IL ~ ba supposed I would favor tree CON-
orc ~ silver even from our o1rn mines unless
s,o,eh silver were put into into the dollar
10 make it equal in real value 10 tne goid
dollar ao-,,4o,d
Colonel Whitehead seems to understan,d
me 10 mean that oil paper currency sn9u 80
not moan This. / think the system OF de-
nos;ting cold coin with the Government
and The Goyernmcnt issuing certificates
arainst Il Is an admirable one, anu tlilnK
NJ woujd be improved b. depositing SILVER
coin and issuing certificates against II.
DrOrided e7lot1h sityiT were pW mo eGcs con- 70
,naIe n north tphdt Il ptupafst0 be 'corih. But
I do believe that all the currency put
ont by the banks should he pasea slsher
upon CON, not dcbased, dollar Tor dollar.
or upon United States interest-peaI ~
bonds. Colonel Whitehead ooJectS 70 TINS
That IL will keep the Government forever
in debt and forever paying interest upon
debt ont Of arfund raised by taxing the
people. TO this / reply that l accept
bis objection with all its consequences.
The NET result would then be that all the
neople of the United States would bear
tax To nav ~ per cent. interest on so
much debt as was necessary to BACK a
sound currency. 10 secure the lnestinaole
blessing OF bank notes which would CIR;
culate at par equally IN Texas; Maine anu
California. With the unriyalied resources
of this country the tax would never De
Known Of whilst The blessings that would
flow from M abundant and safe currency
circulating at par everywhere would be
beyond the fight Of the widest imaglna-
ton. The tax would be exactly the same
thing ia principal as the sum whlch Eng
land paws each year TO the Bank oil EIg-
land to manage her public dobt. q,
am not sure that fully understand
Colonel Whitehead's plan Tor o paper
currency. but If do, 1t Is thaI dhe
banks be allowed to- issue dollar
OF paper money against every dplar OF
gold or silver coin that they NAV glucose m1 10
denosit with the United States Govern
ment The question naturally arises here,
WHY should the banks make the deposit /,
WIN should they not keep their gold and
silver coin and discount with II! sup
pose Colonel Whitehead expects That peo-
ole generally would so much prefer 70
have paper rather than coin that the
banks. in Difference to this popular prefer
enco. would deposit their coin and issue
notes. Surprising am right in what ne
means, have several remarks to make on
the proposition.
!. Ii would make no increase IN the vol;
ume of the currency. The currency would
be exactly the same in amount atter the
bank-notes were issued as it was before.
2. If no notes were issued but such as
were based Oh gold dollars of 70 $40 grams
and silver dollars with silver enough IN
each TO make each as valuable as gol,li
dollar containing % $40 grains, we should
not have enough cUrrency.
g IL the notes were issued against SILVER
dollars TO be produced by coming all the
refuse silver of the world into 4!25s-grainSs
dollars. we should have an abundance, ana
more than an abundance Of currency, but
IL would be q debased currency, and do
not see how it would be any the better by
beiug in the form of bank-note redeema-
BILE i'm a debascd silver coin rather than In
the debased silver coin itself.
WILLIAM l.. RoYALL.