Smyrna times., 1891-01-21
Unlimited Silver Coinage.

.
Unlimited Silver Coinage.
The unlimited silver coinage amend
ment proposed by Mr.. Stewart of Ne
vada, passed the Senate Wednesday
by vote of AZ to 80. Mr.. Higgins of
course, voted against the amendment.
as did also Mr.. Gray, thereby going
out of his party. 1t is a credit to little
Delaware, that in this financial emer-
gency, her representatives in the SEN
ate, although divided by party lines,
stood solid for an honest dollar. Mr..
Mcpherson of New Jersey, and Mr..
Wilson, of Maryland, were the only
other Democrats who joined Mr.. Gray
in voting against the amendment.
The New York EUening Post spoke
the other day about the political ef-
fects which would follow from the
identification of the Democratic party
with the free coinage of silver. After
pointing out what had been accom-
plished for the Democrats by the cam
paign in respect to the tariff, it went
on to say:
ITO neutralize this working force it
is only necessary TO bring into the field
something which will make stronger
impression on the public mind than
the Mckinley bill has made and is
making. 1t happens that an issue ofthat
kind is handy. That is the standard of
UGLNe. If the standard of value could
be changed as a mere matter of senti-
ment, if it could be transposed from
gold to silver by talking and voting
merely, and without any unsettling of
other values, and any overturn OF bus
iness, all might go well. A dispute on
abstract questions would not affect
many votes. Certainly it would not
neutralize the very effective work now
going on under the Mckinley auspices.
But we have had bit of experience
lately which shows that the standard
of value cannot be changed quietly.
1t involves tremendous consequences
to all the business interests of the
country. Compared with these conse-
quences the price of carpets, tin-ware
anc pearl buttons is bagatelle. In
the presence of a financial crisis such
as a change to the silver standard
would bring in the Mckinley bill and
all tariff questions would be submerged
and forgotten as political issues for
years to come. If the responsibility
for the cataclysm would be fixed upon
the Democratic party, that party
would In the next succeeding election,
whenever the election might come,
lose every northern state. The Repub-
lican party would recover all the
ground it has lost through Mckinley
ism and much more.
Mr.. Jonn Sherman, in his powerful |
speech in the Senate, on this subject |
said
THE law could not fix the price and |
value of silver bullion. When it is
proposed to pay $1.29 an ounce for sill
Yer worth only $1O5, it would un.
dOubtedly advance the value of silver.
Silver might even reach parity with
gold. How long would it remain there.
Only so long as the government paid
that price. Market value was the
judgment of the world, not of any ma
tiOn, 1t was the want of the people
that regulated the market, not the
laws of man. The problem to be solv-
ed Was: How could two articles of un-
equal value be maintained at equality
with each other? How could silver
and gold, which varied in the markets
of the world, be maintained at ratio
proposed by lawP
There were two theories on the sub
ject, both entertained honestly by in
telligent men. One of them was first,
a limit of coinage to the cheaper metal
and its maintenance by redemption at
par with the dearer metal. This was
bimetallism as we understood it. The
other theory was the free coinage of
the cheaper metal without limitation.
That meant monometallism. Nothing
else could name it. If one metal was
allowed to be coined which was chea-
per than the other metal, the cheaper
metal would take up the whole volume
of circulation, and the dearer metal
would be either boarded or exported to
other countries where it was in de-
mand. Both of these theories have
been tried in the United States and in
other countries. In every country in
the world, where there has been free
coinage of silver, gold was demetalized
or quoted at premium. .1d ,,,;ot;1GsS &. "s5, d,
"There is no country in tIu.0.
where there is now free coinage of sill +
yer, neither in France nor In the Latin
nations, which have often been quoted
as having a silver standard. Indeed,
they have entered into stipulations
with each other that the only coin
which had ever been legal tender in
France for all purposes, should not be
issued by any of them except with the
consent of all. Under these circum-
stances, he asked, what sane man,
what intelligent man, would pay any
debt or obligation in gold, when he
could take to the mint silver bullion,
costing less in the markets of the
world, and receive treasury notes, le-
gal tender for all debts.
WILL SUE THE GIRARD HoUsE-Ed-
ward McCauley,of Dover, was arrest
ed in Philadelphia last week, at the
instigation of the proprietor of the Gil
rard House, who claimed that he was