The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-02-16
A PLEA FOR SILVER.
The Majority Report on the Bland Free
Coinage Measure.

provisions of the bill reported Free coin
age of silver is provided for, and it is re
| qulred that 1t be of standard tineness II
meet the cost of the alloy used, the alloy
being all the expense now eXacted of de
positors of gold. Coin notes may be IS
sued on the gold or silver deposited, if de-
manded, instead of waiting for the coin
| The committee raised the maximum de
nomination of these notes from 500 Il
$1,000, so as TO accommodate dealers III
large transactions and bank exchanges
These notes are made legal tender, re.
deemable in coin on demand.
The bill provides for the conversion o1
all gold and silver notes into coin notes
redeemable in coin, thus doing away en-
tirely with all legal distinctions. 1t is be
lieVed this will greatly tend to promote
equality in all respects. There will nc
longer be issued gold notes or silver notes,
but bimetallic notes payable in either coin
l'at.the pleasure of the government. The
| report says it is contended that the reason
we exported silver bullion while our mlnts
! were still open to its free coinage was that
| our ratio WAS such that our coin and bull
| lion silver was worth more as compared TO
| gold than here and that the same result
would again follow, our ratio remaining at
1 10 TO ]. with the French mints open TO
! coinage at 1515 80 l. This would prevent
European nations, especially France, from
again returning to the bimetallic system.
To avoid this the committee provided that
| our rate should be changed TO 1515 to l so
! soon as France resumes free silver coinage
at that ratio. The report then under the
head The Dump of Silver proceeds
to discussion of the cry that free coinage
of silver would make the United States
the dumping ground for the silver of the
world
The familiar warning, says the report,
that free coinage would cause Ship-loadS
of silver from other countries to be
brought here and dumped at our mlnts in
exchange for our gold is still urged. How
can this be under the bill or proposed
law? The ship-load of silver brought to
our mints by the foreigner would be coined
into standard dollars and the dollars re-
turned to him, but he could not go to our
treasury and demand gold for them; mol
could he compel one OF our citizens to
swap him gold dollar for silver dollar
That Is a voluntary trade that no law
ought to interfere with. Should the for
eigner take coin notes for his bullion in
stead of coin, the same thing happens. He
can take his coin note TO the treasury and
demand redemption, but that note is re-
deemable in coin, and the secretary of the
treasury could hand him back the coin
struck from his ShiD-load of bullion. The
foreigner then would ascertain that he had
committed the blunder Of bringing silver
to our mints when it was worth cents on
the dollar less than it was at home, and
that he loses this cents and cost of trans
portation besides. What then will he do
with his money? He must either invest
it in property here or 90 home with it. He
could not buy gold with it or gold eX-
change unless gold and silver were at par;
in this case there would be no reason for
preferring the one metal to the other. If
gold went to premium he would have to
no ba IN his axphanna fbrE
entailing on him additional loss on his
enterprise of sending US ship-lOads of
silver.
If he invests his ship-load of silver
money IN our property and business enter
prises he will at once stimulate industries,
awaken enterprises and give us a healthy
business and sound currency. Prosperity
here and stagnation in the old countries
would force ship loads of their people TO
this country in search of their lost ship
loads of money The nations of the old
world are aware of this. They will see to
it that no such thing occurred. They
know the advantage the free coinage of
silver would guarantee US, hence their
uniform predictions that calamity would
be the result instead of prosperity. They
are not in the habit of giving us trust |
worthy advice as to the course we should
pursue in this matter.
The report then quotes from the report
of Mr.. Window, secretary of the treasury
for the year 1889, in which the secretary
took the position that no danger need be |
apprehended OF food of European silver. |
Says the secretary:
There is in fact no known accumula- |
tion of silver bullion anywhere in the |
world. Germany long since disposed of |
her stock of melted silver coins, partly by |
sale, partly by recoinage into her stock Of ,
new subsidiary coins and partly by use in t
coming for Egypt. Only recently it be-
came necessary to purchase silver for the
Egyptian coinage executed at the mint at /
Berlin"
1t is plain then, says the report, that
there is no danger that the silver product
of past Years will be poured into our
minJS unless new steps be taken for de-
and for this improbable con
tingency ample safeguards can be provid-
ed Nor need there be any serious appre-
hension that any considerable part of the
stock of the silver coin of Europe would be
shipped to the United States for deposit
for treasury notes There is much less
reason for shipping coin TO this country
than bullion, for while the leading nations
Of Europe have discontinued the coinage
Of full legal tender silver pieces, they have
provided by law for maintaining their eX-
sting stock of silver coins at par. In
England, Portugal and the states of the
7
silver coin except subsidiary coins re-
Iuired for change purposes, the nominal
value Of which Is far in excess of the
bullion value. Germany has in circulation
about 800, 600, 600 in old silver thalers. but
zen years have passed since the sales of
bullion arising under the anti-silver legis-
ation Of 1873 were discontinued.
The states OF the Latin Union and Spain /
which has a similar monetary system. are
he only countries in Europe which have
any large stock of silver coins, and the
necessities OF these countries
are such that they could not afford with
)ut serious financial distress, to Withdraw
rom circulation silver coins which are at
par with their gold coins to deposit them
It our mints on payment of their bullion
value in notes.
The truth is, the majority report then
continues that the conspiracy formed in
he Old World, planned and successfully
carried through three and here, WAS aimed
o Contine the debt paying mediums of
he nations concerned TO the single metal
gold. For this purpose the par of cen
uries was broken. Gold was decreed 10
apidy rise IN value thus adding ~ per
,ent To the value of credits, enriching
,redltOrS, public and private, at the eN-
)enss of debtors and taxpayers: enor-
nOusly depressing the value Of labor. aud
PRODUCTS OF labor, rs compared TO notes,
DondS and mortgages. The words free
olnage OF silver, send thrill Of terror to |
he promoters of this conspiracy and its
'enehcidrIes. They know that when this
,reat government thus throws its weight
Il the silver balance the world will agsia !
De restored to full faith aud confidence in
he future safety OF silver a. the money
# the world. The conspiracy would be
XpOsed and defeated. IL Is this phase Of {
he Issue they fear. no. the swapping Of /
hip loads of silver dollars IL i the res
in nt he h-I..a- . u. 4. -.