The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-04-08

numbora making no allowance for the
pros.) ~, Tho svowed purpose Of coming
this bullion into silver dollars anu therepy
giving the people that abundance OF money
which the free silver men demand, but that IN
point of fact il has long ceased to coin the
bullion into dollars. 1t simply STACKS 1t up IN
the Treasury as bullion. where 1t is as abso-
lutely useless to the purposes OF trade and
commerce "a if IL had remained stacked up IN
the bowels of the earth from which 1t was re-
moved % the vaults of the Treasury. Oaderth
operations of the law requiring large purchase
each month. since coinage ceased, many tons
of silver bullion have thus come to be stacked
up in the treasury and there they rest as
sereneiy and supinely as they originally rested
in the beds where the laws Of Providence laid
them. The discussion brought out this fur
Their fact The Government coined and coined
silver stacking up the deprecated
dollars in the Treasury, and all the
world, including those people we hear 81
every day "a being 50 hungry for silver in-
cluded refusing to take out any Of the dollars
until the stacks became as high rs they were
useless, and the Government concluded that
it would allow the machinery at the Mint to
take rest until the public relieved 1t OF few
dollars Of that immense hoard of nominal dol
lars that it had on hand. Yet the
foolish public. hungry and yearning for
debased silver dollars as 1t was.
obsiinately continues 10 refuse to take out
one single one from the Governments hoard.
and the Government has therefore, in u sort
/ Of disgust. rs il were, ceased to coin at all.
Now these two facts. that the Government
has ceased coming silver, simply stacking It
I'D rs bullion. and that the public Will not
/ take out of the Treasury any Of that which
| is already coined. ought 10 arouse good
many reflections IN tie minds 0. tie free sill
yer men.
! In the first place they should admit that
the fact that that hungry public Of which
they so often speak will no. take any Of their
silver dollars from the Treasury when they
are freely offered to it by the Treasury at all
times is an efectual contradiction to their
statement that the country is hungry for sill
yer dollars. If the country were hungry for
silver dollars it would take those silver dol
lars which the Treasury is always offering toit'
yet it refuses absolutely to take one.
IN the next place they should admit that
the commercial value possessed by the silver
certificates put out by the Government Is
derived entirely from the credit Of the Govern
ment, and depends 10 no extent whatever
upon the silver at its back in the Treasury.
That silver is there as bullion alone and not az
coined dollars and if a sudden demand were
made upon the Government for al of it in the
form Of dollars the demand could not possibly
be met any more than if the bullion were still
stacked up IN the mines The public, how
ever, pays no heed TO this fact. 1t goes on
using the silver certificates as currency, salts
fed that the Government will in some way
take care of its obligations Their value then
does not come from the bullion at their back,
but from the Governments credit. and when
the silver men discourse on the value OF the
silver certificates, their arguments led them
directly into the camp of the fat-money men.
Instead of clamoring for free silver they
should clamor for fiat money-plenty of
greenbacks.
In the third place it being true that the
purchases Of silver by the Government tends
in no way whatever to increase the metallic |
currency. for whose benefit are these pur-
chases made? There can be but one answer. |
The sole person benefited is the producer If /
silyer-the owner Of the silver mine. When |
bought it is atonce stacked up in the Treasury /
as the same bullion that it was when it came I
out Of the mines, and it does no one on earth /
the slightest particle Of good while there [
Who. then, has been benefited by the pur-
Il q
owner only Tho country is therefore TO /
be rent from centre 10 circumference to fur
nish market for the products Of the silver
mines Of the Pacific States Their interests /
are entitled to consideration. but surely they
demand too much here.
Silver sold in London last Saturday at the
lowestprices thatit has yet touched. 1t sodby
the ounce at a price that makes the silver in
legal tender silver dollar worth fraction
over G5 cents. less than C. cents. What an
astounding fact is this from two points Of
view. How astonishing that il should con-
tinue to 20 down. down. down. notwithstand-
ing all tho camor in the interest Of keeping it
up. and how astonishing, in view OF this fact,
that sensible men can be found seriously ask
ing the law-making power of the land to en-
bark in the hopeless task Of compelling the
people to accept this 65-cent dollar as worth
100 cents.
This continued fall OF the market value Of
silver can have its origin in but one possible
cause. 1t is because the silver mines are
yielding more silver proportionately than the
gold mines. and how can any one expect
4l2is grains of it to continue to be worth as
much as % $40 grains Of gold, when the
quantity of silver to make dollars of is nearly
double as much in proportion to the quantity
of gold, as it was when 4l2js grains Of silver
exchanged on even terms with % $40 grains
Of gold. One must have the Magician wand
TO effect this result
Is the present age. when it seems impos-
sibe for the average American heiress to re-
sist advances of European noblemen who are
anxious to secure ther fortunes. II is refresh
ing to. find that there Is at least one young
lady Of fortune in America who. while she