New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-03-23

SITTER nd, PER OUNCE.

The silver debate which began yesterday in
the House WAS most appropriately hcraided by
the lowest price for bar silver ever made M
London. only 1 pence per ounce. Never before
h:r, silver sold for less than 90 cents per ounce
AZ Ncw-YOrk, but on Monday the quotation was
s9l-2 cents Thus the beginning Of a three
DAYS debate which i expected 20 end IN the
un,,aec If a Frcc-CoinIgc bill by the House. ap-
pe1r> n dealers on both sides Of the ocean \
h,fing occasion for the lowest prices ever paid
for silver bullion
Nor i, th, mere freak Of the market for
procs have been glayi'aing downward ever
.inc,, 1hi, coinage Congress began its session.
For three day, early in December the price OF
lar silver "a. London was - Ii pence, and
when the flcc-slyer men c,ected speaker Crisp
the price a. Newly Ork was % IS cents. Inc
fall ha, been 63-s cents per ounce AZ New
York, and 3 Ia pence per ounce at London
and II has been remarkably continuous ever since
the agitation in Congress began. Thus the Lon
don price fell 70 43.75 pence before the end OF
December. j., fell a shade below - pence in the
m nth Of Janwry. declined To il.l2 for three
dlys i'm February. and ha, fallen - { in March.
/ The average # duly quotations IN London WAS
1850 pence in December, ESQ in January,
1.5o IN February and thus iar in March has
been Il.35 pence per ounce. The lowest month
ly picc ever recorded prior t. February was
i20I pence in August. 1850. hu, under the
influence Of the silver Act passed by the last
Cmgrr,, the monthly average rose to 13.Ol
pence in September 1880. and was 1850 IN
October. the month before this iIcc-cJnlgc Con-
eros, was elected Thus the fall has been 500
hence Der ounce n tho result Of clcctng a Con
erc,, to repeal The act authorizing the purchase
II the who.c American product, and to substitute
unlimited conlgc.
1t j. not in the leaS, paadoXica that free
coinage agitation should depr,S> the price Of
silver. For Mr. Bland, pending bill would en-
able the holders Of silver bullion 10 get for II
nothing except notes which would be certain
10 doprcciatc in gold value, no one could SIy
how much. The present act enables the holders
f silver bullion 10 get fOr it notes rcdccmablc
in gold. The difference is that now the amount
in notes 70 be paid for given quantity OF silver
il not fixed, but varies each day with the price
AT which holders may be willing to sell - the
Treasury, while the value or purchasing power
of the notaS is fixed by making them rcdccmabc
in gold Under free coinage. on the contrary.
the amount t. be paid in notes for the given
quantity of silver WGuld be fixed > 29.29 per
ounce But there would be nOhng 70 IX tho
value or purchasing value Of the notes, and their
dcprctiltion would be governed entirely by The
premium On gold-thc cost of getting gold for
them. at a time when free coinage would drive
gold ont of the country. The holder OF bullion
now knows that he can get geld notes for IT, at
the rate of about ~ 10 per ounce in October
before the frec-c0inagc Congress was elected.
But if he were obliged to turn in the bullion
fer coinage, taking notes which might DO worth
80, 20 or oven 60 cents on the dollar in gold,
he could have no idea what actual value his
bullion would realize
These facts will hayo no influence with this
Congress. The House is largely composed OF
men who are either too ignorant to know that
paper note may become worth less than 80 cents
on the dollar, or too destitute Of integrity to care
whether thc money of the people dCpcciatcs or
not, if only they can get seats in Congress. To
argue with the men who seem to compose the
majority in the House is IA waste of time. But
there is all tho more need that the people should
be educated, 50 that the election Of another such
Congress shall be an impO>sibility.