The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1892-02-25
The Bland Bill Dissected.

sected the majority report, and is re
ferred to by the Baltimore Sus as
follows:
The report OF the minority of the
committee on coinage, weights an6
measures upon the bill for the free
coinage of silver, proposed to the House
by the majority of that committee, dis
cussed in an interesting manner the dan
gerous monetary experiment in which
is sought to involve the country. 1t is
clearly demonstrated that the effect OF
the new Bland bill would be to complete
the march to a deprecated silver stand
ard, the first step of which was taken in
the Bland Allison act of 1878 and lon
ger step in the Sherman silver act of 1890.
We have now some 400,OOO,OOO of silver
dollars, worth each, intrinsically, but 70
cents, but circulating at par with the
gold dollar of 100 cents by the govern
ment's offer to receive them in exchange
for gold, which offer the government is
able to make good from the fact that
till 1890 the monthly purchase of silver
and coinage of light dollars amounted to
but 100000. Since the act of 1890,
which much more than doubled the pur-
chase of silver and emission of silver
notes. the difficulty of keeping off the ills
of q lapse to the silver basis has been
vastly increased. That act was supported
by the silver men in Congress on the
ground that it inauguarated progress
sive free coinage" which no doubt it did.
1t can be counted upon, if not repealed.
to land us in the evils OF absolute free
coinage within few years. But its
operation, in Mr.. BANDS view, is not
rapid enough, and he brings in bill
not only to coin all the silver the world
may offer us, but-what is worse-to buy
also all the silver the world may offer us
with an unlimited issue of new kind of
silver notes.
This proposal, says the minority re-
port, is substantially proposal to de-
fraud. 1t means also disaster and loss to
all classes of people. Its first effect will
be to cause people to hoard their gold,
thus suddenly Withdrawing some $780,
600, 900 from circulation. Various coun-
tries of Europe have quantities of de-
preciated silver they wish to exchange
for gold. AS soon as we offer to give
coin notes at rate of 81 80 per ounce
for silver worth to-day but 80 cents an
ounce, Atlantic steamers will swiftly
bring to our treasury thousands of tons
of foreign silver. For time the new
coin note may retain a Bvalue equal to
that of the greenback, and during that
time gold and other commodities will be
bought and carried away. Property
will change hands, with the result that
the sellers will find that they sold 100
cents of value of money that will pass for
but 20 or rs cents. Wage-earners and
other creditors will find the purchasing
power of their money diminished by one
fourth. What gold remains in the country
will be at a premium, to be speculated
in by capitalist who know how to take
care of themselves in monetary crises.
Obligations contracted in money worth
100 cents will be paid off in deprecated
currency--a sinister fact for holders of
securities of various kinds. We have
recently suffered great loss of gold and
business depression by reason of Eu-
ropes selling back to us American stocks
and bonds and refusing to lend us fresh
capital. This sale of securities and
withholding of capital will be greatly
increased when it is seen that we are on
silver basis and are paying our obliga-
tions in the white M atal at the rate of
70 cents on the dollar. We should have
tickle and variable monometallic silver
standard, instead of our present stable
gold standard of values, and nobody
could tell from day to day just what he
was worth, or what profit he should
make on his investments to come out
whole at the end of the business year.
Prices would be higher to meet the de
probation of the currency. Nobody
could be permanently benefited by the
rise, and persons living on fixed incomes
would be seriously hurt.
The project of USING the credit of the
United States to enhance the value of
silver SO that it will sell at $1.2o instead
of 80 cents an ounce is pronounced by
the minority report to be Quixotic and
absurd in the last degree. The worlds
stock of silver amounts to nearly 1000,
~ .nl, hoV hut
seventh. To try the experiment, at
enormous expense, of booming the price
of the six>sevenths which belong to for
eigners, in order to raise the price of our
one seventh is not "business in the
American sense of the word. By i'm in
ternational agreement much possibly
might be done to restore silver to its
former esteem as a money metal, but it
is a fact that all the progressive nations
have for the present abandoned it. We
cannot restore it by ourselves. The
only result of our trying to do 80 must
be that other countries, anxious to get
rid of the silver they still have, will with
amiable unanimity dump it upon us at
the fancy price we put upon it, Under
the proposed law France could in one
transaction get $25O,00O, 900 of our legal
tender coin notes, Germany 500, 100000,
and Austria perhaps as much. Italy
and even England might kindly under
take to aid these powers in crushing us
under shiploads of silver costing them
90 cents an ounce, but useful for paying
debts here at the rate of $1.29 an ounce.
When all was done we should find our
selves in the position Of such silver-using
countries as India and China, but the
worse off for having reached it through
an act of reputation and a series OF de>
pressing panics.
CORRESPONDENT
MEssRs EDIToES:-I do not know to whom L
am indebted for the compliment contained in