The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-16
THE FRIENDS Of GOLD.
Their Side Of the Silver Question
Is Set Forth by a Con.
gresham.
Free Coinage, They Say, Would
Be an Experiment Fraught
With Danger.
No Advantage in Sight for Anybody bu,
Owpors Of Silver Mines-stability
of Silver.

WARRINGTON, rep. lO.--WllllamS MASS. J,
from the committee on coinage. has sub
mitted tho views of tho minority ON tho
Bland free coinage bill. The character and
purpose of the bill is outlined and the re.
port says in part: 1.-The peril is now great
OF depreciation by our government of the
value of its own promises. We shall never
openly rspudiate our debts or corrupt the
medium OF payment. The danger lies in
legislation such as this bill proposes, which
shall make the governments unable to main
tain its promises and tokens on. the basis
on which they have been accepted. That
basis is the dollar which is exchangeable
everywhere. which does not give up 30
cents at our border, nor yield anything to
fire or water, the dollar of gold. Substan-
TALLY all the obligations now existing in
this country are expressly payable in gold,
or have been incurred since this nation
resumed specie payment. The gold dollar
is, therefore, not only the best, but the
only honest dollar in which obligations can
now be discharged, but under plausible
theory or confident prophesy, citizens may
be misled into repudiation which they
would not consciously approve. To
make this bill understood as a
measure of repudiati6n, is to secure
it's defeat. 1t is perfectly clear that
at the very moment tho treasury of the
United States shall refuse to pay gold coin
upon demand, no one else will receive six
teen silver dollars in lieu of one gold dollar.
Because a single customer of the world for
silver at that price has refused to purchase
il does not follow that the price of silver,
fixed by ratio in this bill, can be main
tained, even it our government is willing to
receive payment of its due in silver coin,
and to pay its debts in gold.
he exchange value Of silver will be de-
pendent alone, not on the willingness Of
the governments to keep up the exchange, !,
but on its ability to do 80. Even specula-
tion on the ultimate ability of our treas
uty to maintain its policy might we'll suf-
flce 10 drive gold to d premium. precipitate
scramble for the gold in the treasury and
suspend gold payments by the government,
regardless of the will of the secretary of
the treasury" The minority submit
that the only possible result Of
the legislation proposed in this
ments by this government and the imme-
diate adoption of the cheaper monetary
standard of silver. The history of monetary
changes in the past is reoted; an inter
national agreement is urged as necessary;
the statement is made that the bill cannot
raise the price of silver'to the ratio value,
and will bring silver from foreign coun-
tries. Silver coming from abroad would
destroy the gold standard, the savings bank
deposits of artisans and pensioners would
suffer.
Summarizing, finally. the minority urges
that not even the advocates of free silver
coinage deny that this law is an expert
ment, new in the history of mankind, and
based upon conditions which have never
existed. For such experiment nothing can
be a justification which has not the GER
tainty of great reward to the people under
taking the task. That reward is not in
who desire to receive at the hands OF the
law $l.29l an ounce for a commodity
which is sold i'll eager competition for two
thirds that sum, though diligently pro-
duced at an average cost of 81 cents an
ounce.
"When we attempt to raise the price of
the annual produce of our mines more
than 40 per cent we undertake to lift, also,
the value of foreign silver, i'll the value of
The cooperation of foreign owners is not
asked, and the risk of this experiment, six
sevenths of which is for the benefit
of foreign countries, is to be thrown
upon the shoulders of the repub-
lie. The volume of currency will
not be increased but diminished. The bill
itself will drive our gold into the Golfers of
invite foreign holders of our
securities to sell at any price to escape loss
system will be thus disrupted
Accompanying the report is a bill au-
the president to invite an inter
national monetary conference,