The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1893-11-30
SECRETARY CARLISLE
THE MAIN POINTS OF HIS AD
DRESS ON THE CURRENCY.
He Speaks of the Value to the Country
of a Sound and Stable
Currency,

Ia his address at the banquet of tn,
New York Chamber of Commerce Sec
retary Carlisle dwelt upon the great
value to a country of a sound anC
stable currency. With a f1uctuatinl
currency confidence, he points out, is
destroyed, trade is interrupted, the
| obligations of contracts are violated
| and the community is afflicted with
| lnnumeraDle financial evils. A large
| proportion of our farmers, mechanics
! ana o1her laborlng people are engaged
| ia producing tor foreign countries. A
/ bad tariff or bad currency system
| that interfereS with our foreign trade
! brings hard times upon our producers.
Prices OF exported articles are fixed
| IN foreign markets. and in these mar
ketS gold is the standard Of value.
OF our foreign trade of 81. 700 900, 900
last year, Sl,lO0, 100000 was with
Europe, which wants gold in the set
tlement OF balances. Excluding Brazil.
which has the single gold standard.
our trade with South America was
bit S46 600, coo: with all Asia it was
but little over 500. 200, 600. The char
acter OF our currency must, it is
obvious, be shaped to Oaccord with that
of the nations with which we trade
most il we are to escape the friction
and loss that differing standards of
value produce. In international trade
what is stamped on coin counts for
nothing: its intrinsic value is alone
regarded. We may use silver among
ourselves under certain conditions to
a large amount, but gold is the only
international money, and we must
have plenty of that in use if we do not
wish TO hObble and injure our foreign
trade
''It is useless" says the Secretary,
''fOr the advocates of a different sys-
tenn to insist that this ought not to
be 50; it is SO and We cannot change
the fact. This is a great and power
ful government, but there is one thing
1t cannot dot cannot create money. :"
1t can, however, maintain the parity
of its coins by receiving them and
their paper representatives in pay
ment of public dues and discharge its
obligations in whatever kind of money
its creditors demand" BY so doing
it keeps its large issue of deprecated
silver coins at par with Aold. We
have coined, says the Secretary of the
Treasury, 1913 $50 silver dollars
we have l4o, 699. 16o tine ounces of sill
Yer bullion, which, at the ratio of 16
to /, would make SIS1, 9l4. .S4l. Thus
we have S60l, ,247, ,39l of silver dollars,
besides $40, 9lI, ,002 in subsidiary silver
coin. Our stock of gold coin and bull
lion is 500, l67, $40. The countries in
the Latin Union, having population
of $4,000, 900 and 1915, 200, 900 of gold,
by suspending the free coinage of sill
yer, keep S123, ,000, 900 OF legal-tender
silver and S95, 900, 900 Of subsidiary sill
yer coin at par with gold. We can do
as well. But We could not alone main
tain the unlimited coinage of silver as
full legal tender in opposition to the
policies Of the other great nations Of
the earth. Events have made one
thing clear. That we are to pay our
obligations lin coin current in all the
markets Of the world has been set
tied, says the Secretary, for all time
TO cOlue." The question is no longer
open, if it was ever an open question.
''Ihe spirit and obvious purpose OF
the whole body of existing legislation
has settled it, he declares, once for
all