The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1891-01-20
The Coinage OF Silver.

yer, which has passed the Senate and
goes to the House, will work radical
change in Cur monetery system, by
allowing every person who has silver
to take it to the mint and demand and
receive one coined dollar in gold or
silver for every unit weight Of 4l2!
grains Of silver nine.tenths fine. At
present the government does not allow
free coinage, but purchases 1900, GOO
| ounces of silver every month and coins
on its own account. The bullion price
Of silver is on an average not more
than IS cents in gold fer 4121 grains,
so that the government makes about a
quarter OF dollar Oh every silver
dollar il coins. The effect Of free
coinage will Of course be to raise the
price of silver bullion at least tempo
rarily, for when any one can sell 4l2t
grains of it 10 the government for a
dollar 1e will not consent to take much
less than this from anybody else. But
the opponents Of free coinage hold that
when this weight Of silver is called q
dollar by the government, people will
buy silver from abroad at cheap rates
and present it 10 the mint, while those
who have gold dollars will simply lock
them up, Or ship thea, over to Europe
to buy silver with, in which case gold
; will cease to be money in circulation
here; and i contraction Of several
hundred millions will result. This is
precisely what the advocates of AL IN
creased volume Of money do not want.
Should the load of silver be toe
great for the United States to carry at
q par with gold, the spectacle will be
presented of the United States bscom-
ing a silver country, just as it was
from 1862 te 1873 a paper country:
and since European business men are
not compelled by law 10 take Amcri-
ca silver dollars, they will receive
them only at their bullion value in eN
change for god, and exchanges be-
tween the two countries will be fixed
at this ratio. Let US assume that by
means of tho free coinage Of silver
that lnetel is increased in value, until
4l2a grains will he worth 50 cents in
gold in England. A New York mer-
chant wishing to buy $1,000 worth CT
goods at English prices from Loadon
must send over about 81, 100 in silver,
or else receive for 1000 silver d0llers.
only
purchanse.
So if cotton brings 10 cents in New
York in L. S. currency it Will sell for
only cents with freight added in
| Liverpool, and when English goods
| are brought back i'll exchange the far-
| mer will discover that he has gotten
| only as much as he got for 9 cents
before the passage of the free coinage
act.
A good deal is heard about the times
when cotton sold for 23 cents pound,
| in greenbacks 1t must be rcmenl-
bered that greenbacks then were at Il
heavy discount, and moreover that
corn sold for dollar and eighty cents
| bushel and crushed sugar for 25 cents
a pound, while all ether things were
high in proportion. Jugglering with
money will not make us rich; for what
we really exchange is commodies for
commodities, and money comes in
only to facilitate the exchange. An
inflated currency makes the payment
of debts more easy, but it makes bor-
rowing somewhat more difficulty; for
capitalists do not care to lend when
they do not know what kind of money
they will be paid back in.
We believe that prices have recently
been too low in proportion to the debts
incurred in past time and some e1pan-
sion will give relief and not be unjust.
But in avoiding Scylla we should steer
clear sf the Charybdis fiat money and
debased coinage.
Silver has been abused and badly
treated. But the absolute free coinage
Of silver is not unlike in principle the
absolute enfrancilismment Of the negro
in 1865. He got "his rights" but the
country came near being lost.
Itwouid be wise to proceed with
expansion regularly and by some de |
finite plan such as is now in operation.