The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-03-24

boring man and woman, and to put up
the prices of the necessaries of life. 1t
| is a measure which can benefit nobody
but the owners of silver mines, and the
debtor class, and the latter class only
temporarily If the bill becomes law
any man with an ounce Of silver may
take it to the mint and get in return for
it a government note for $1.29, which is
about 43 per cent. more than the market
value of the silver deposited. These
notes are to be legal tender in payment
of all debts. They are redeemable in
gold or silver at the option of the govern
ment. Hitherto the government has
been accustomed to redeem all its notes
in gold when gold was demanded, and
gold has almost invariably been de-
manded. Indeed the law of 1890 practi-
cally compels the government to redeem
it's notes in gold, as it declares the policy
of the government to maintain the pa
rity of the two metals at the legal ratio,
and that can be done only by paying gold
WAtA OoludNucu. DuU tlO A'ie'iio VIII
recognizing the impossibility of the
governments being able to redeem an
unlimited issue of silver notes in gold,
repeats this law of 1890, and makes it OPP
tional on the part of the government to
redeem in gold or silver. But this OPP
ton would exist only SO long as the
present supply of gold in the treasury
remains unexhausted, for no more gold
would flow in to take its place. In a
short time, therefore, the government
would be compelled to redeem these
notes in silver. From that time our cur
rency would be on silver basis.
What would be the results? To the
mine owner they would be beneficial for
a time at least. He could send to the
minis his silver and get forty-three per
cent more for it than the market value.
Of course eventually the purchasing
power of the notes he would receive in
payment would diminish, but for
time at least he would make fat
thing. The man who owes debts for
a time would also make good thing out
of it, as he could pay his debts at much
less than their face value. That is to
say he could pay $14o0 with what was
really worth but $1,000. But creditors
will be badly squeezed. Somebody will
say that this will affect the capitalists and
money lenders principally, who are not
in need of sympathy. That is however a
very superficial view. Every man who
deposits money in the savings bank; every
man that has an insurance policy; every
man that is pensioner belongs to the
creditor class and the effect of Mr.. Bland
bill is to compel the payment of all these
people in a currency whose face value is
much in excess of its real value. Under
this bill the man who has deposited in
the savings bank $140o will get for it
what is equivalent to only $1,000, and the
same scaling down will take place in the
insurance policy and in the pension
But the wage Garner will be the one
affected the earliest and the most severely.
Wages are the last thing to go up. Long
after the grocer has sent up the price of
his goods to meet the depreciation in the
value of the dollars he is receiving for
them the wage Garner will be getting only
the same number of the new dollars as he
got of the old. Eventually his wages
may rise, but in the meantime he will
have experienced severe loss which he
can never make up inasmuch as his
wages will never rise in greater ratio
than the rise in the articles which he has
to purchase, if indeed they equal it.