St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-10-27
A FALSE POSITION.

A Republican club in Massachusetts
wrote to Secretary FOSTER few weeks
ago, making some inquiries about the
present silver law. Two of its queS-
tons were as follows:
Upon what are the present treasury notes
based? Are they secured by a coined silver
dollar. or upon 100 cents worth of silver bull
ion purchased at its market value In gold?
How does the basis of the present notes
differ from the silver certificates formerly
issued?
The correspondence was instituted
with the purpose of giving the admins
tration an opportuni ty to defend its
party's indefensible currency legisla
ton, and Mr.. FOSTER took advantage
of it for this purpose. The GLOBE and
the Eastern press in general commented
on the diSingenuouSnesS of his answers
as soon as they were given to the public.
AT this late hour they have reached the
Minneapolis Tribune, which, in its
wonted agrarian method. does violence
both to what he has said and to the act
which he undertook to interpret.
Secretary FOSTER attempted to draw
distinction between the old silver GER
tificates and the treasury notes provided
for by the SHERMAN law. The purport
of his argument was that the old silver
certificates were redeemable only in
silver dollars of the standard weight,
while the treasury notes were based on
bullion in the treasury to the amount of
one gold dollars worth for every dollar
of treasury notes outstanding. The
trick of this will be apparent when it is
noticed that he uses the expression
''redeemable" in the one case and s'based
on'' in the other. He does not claim
that the treasury notes were redeemable
in bullion to the amount of one gold
dollars worth for every dollar printed
on their face. His point was that the
silver certificates were redeemable in
one thing, and that the treasury notes
were based on another thing, not that
they were redeemable IN another thing.
In point of fact, in as far as the treas
ury notes are redeemable in silver at all,
they are redeemable in precisely the
same sort of coin as the silver certiti-
Gates are. If man should present
silver certificate for S. at the treasury
and ask for coin in exchange, he would
receive five standard silver dollars.
And if he should present treasury
note for S. at the same place and ask
for coin III exchange, he would receive
five standard silver dollars for It also.
He would not get five standard silver
dollars in tine one case and IS worth of
bullion in the other. Under the SHER-
MAN law, as under the act OF Feb. 2S,
1878, whatever profit there is in pur-
chasing silver bullion at its gold value
and coming it into dollars OF a less
weight accrues to the government 1t
derived revenue from this source
under the old law, and it derives a still
larger revenue from the same source
under the new one, because the monthly
purchases of silver are greater.
Anybody who can read, and, being able
to, does read over the two acts, can see
this; and Secretary FOSTER himself had
the hardihood to perpetrate his fallacy
on the public only because he dared at
the same time to misquote the law
which he was eXpounding. He calcu-
lated that the partisanS who would
publish abroad his comments would fol-
low him in the deceit either through ig-
| nOrance or knavery. And this is what
| they have done. He insisted that the
two laws were different because the
| new one alone contained a statement to
the effect that it was the established
| policy of the United States to maintain
| the dollar therein provided for at a par
ity with the gold dollar: or to, put it in
the language of the Tribune, which
claims to be quoting in what it says, be-
cause the new law provides ''that the
| gold and silver dollar shall be main
tanned upon a parity"
But there is no such provision in the
SHERMAN law. What it says is that it
is ''the established policy of the United
States to maintain the two metals mot
dollars) on parity with each other
upon the present legal ratio. or such
ratio as may be provided by law" This
policy applies as we'll to all dollars al
ready coined as to those to be coined
under the new law, and the basis of this
achievement is not bullion in the treas
ury in the one case any more than in the
other. In every case its basis is the
governments fiat. good enough in time
OF peace and security, bat dangerous in
the hour of doubt and confusion.