The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1893-08-25
THE
Driaee George's enquirer
The Silver Dollars Buying Power.

"The silver dollar buys as much as gold
ollar Then why object to the silver dollar
orto the unlimited coinage OF such dollars!
This is question otter asked by the advocates
OF the free coinage of silver, as il II proved
their case. 1t is often asked also by persons
without bias, who have not taken the trouble
to consider by what means the government
has since 1879 kept gre nlacks a we'll lssilver
dollars, at par with gold. 1t will be remem-
bered that in Juiy. 1864 one o'lar o. our cur
reucy was worth bat 3S.7 cents Ill gold. In
July, 1870, five years after tie war. it was
worth bu. IS . can;s III gold. The greenbdck
was not brought to par with gold till. under
an act of Congress, the Secretary nt tn. Treas
ury, in 1873, by selling bonds, accumulated
the $l0O, 900, 600 of gold reserve now in the
treasury for the redemption OF green backs, in
case nybody should wish 20 turn his green
backs into gold. As soon as people saw that
they could get 100 cents in gal! 10 their pa
per money, dollar for dollar, they c ased to
take less tor it. And, as is usual in such
cases, as soon as they saw the gid vas there
to redeem their greeubacks they ceased to
wish them redeemed, preterring redeemahle
paper to metal, as being more convenient to
handle, Thus $4,000 900 Of greenhacks
were brought to par and kept there. A reserve
Of 5000 900 Of old was c. ,gh for that
purpose Under a clause of til. She, man act
aud the practice of the government, it has
been the policy of the tressury to keep all The
other kinds of IN ,usy ii crcu alton at par
with god, but no tuIti.er accumulation OF
gold has been provided By law to do this
work. In July, 1853, there were $40 OOO, 900
Of silver dollars (mosty in circulation IS GER
tifcAtes.) $4,000 900 of gr-enbacks and
about $I4U, 000,O 900 of silver bullion treasury
notes-or S9eO,OOG,000 in the sgsresatn-io be
kept at par with gold, on the strength of the
sreasury's dwindling gold reserve. At that
lime this reserve had declined from S193 ,0cO,-
eStr, in 1888, during Mr.. Cleveiand's fist term
to less than 500 0O",'OO. This amount of
gold has been insufficient to inspire confidence
in the governments ability to keep 500, 0JO,-
t0) Of greenbacks and 55-cent sill er dollars at
par, especially as it has been seen that this e.
n,rmOus burden is being added to under the
Sherman act by the purchase II 1880 coo
ounces Of silver per month.
Hence the panic Gold was being exported.
Wharf.-The whole 500, 900 of gold reserve
were Withdrawn from the treasury by holders
Of greenbacks, certificates or treasury notess
Then the government, it was seen, would NOT
be able to keep the 55-cent silver dollar a, par
withgold There was good reason to ar this,
sihce Iio 'AceSS vi goa exports over imports
in 1890 was $lS,G0O,O00; in 1891, SI2 OO0, 900;
1892 when our exports of crops We're excep-
tiohally large, $l3,0OO,000. In 1893 gold ex-
ports have been on a vastly increased
scale. To July 1, 1898 sl4o, 100000 of trea-
sury notes were issued under the Sherman
act, but Our net exports of gold in the same
time we're Sal 100000. The goodness of the
silver dollar being dependent on the ability of
bhe treasury to exchange gold for it, the hold
er OF It, Investors and others, became alarmed
at the prospect of the treasury losing all lis
gold.
ne reason why the silver dollar now buys
as much as the gold dollar is clear from the
foregoing. Of the sill, er dollar S. cents is gold
Value and the rest is fiat, or mere implied
promise to pay. So long as the gold reserve is
maintained at Washington, the silver dollar
will continue to be worth 100 cents, because
the treasury " II be able to give, in effect, a
gold dellar for it, Clear out The gold reserve
and the silver dollar viii, go for only what the
sfverlnit Is worth-55 cents. Free coinage i,
folly because it means multiplying light dollars
enormously. and so making it impossible 70,
he treasury TO keep silver dollars and green.
backs at par with gold. With flee coinage
the silver dollar would speedily lose half il.
purchasing power.