The herald., 1893-08-13
PARITY OF THE METALS.

! PARITY OF THE METALS.
Sherman Purchasing Act?
! lBy John Shirley ward.l
! The Sherman act agreeing to purchase
4.500, 900 ounces of silver each montl
was q compromise to prevent absolute
free coinage. This act made 1t manda
tory to purchase 4,500,000 ounces pei
month. This bullion was to be paid fol
by the issuance OF treasury certifcates
for the amount payable in coin, moi
gold nor silver, but at the discretion o
the secretary OF the treasury, in gold OF
silver, but COVER ned and controlled by
the dominant confederation that he wai
go to exercise this discretion az to keep
up the parity Of gole' and silver.
This discretion put it In the power oi
the secretary Of the tf easury, to pay all in
gold or silver "a most wonderful power).
had it not been controlled or modified
by the one limitation of that power that
it was to be 90 exercised, that it was to
keep up the parity betw cen gold and
silver which the government then rec
ognized.
How could the parity OF relative
equality OF the two metals b Q kept up
If the government insisted on paying
these same treasury notes, pay able In
coin, universally in gold. to the utter
disregard and humiliation of silver ?
Mr.. Cleveland showed that Of CO rtifi-
Gates OF this kind for the purchase OF
bullion be had caused to be paid $49,-
0O0, 600 gold coin on certificates of $54.-
600. 900, and which might have bsesl
paid, under the law. all in silver, or at
least one half in silver.
Mind you, the discretion OF the treas
urer was to be 60 exercised as to pre-
serve the then existing parity between
gold and silver.
The seller Of bullion, or the holder OF
certificates given for bullion may have
been perfectly willing to receive silver
for the same, but the secretary OF tho
treasury paid gold coin for what he
could, under the law. have paid only
silver, or what he should have done
under liberal construction OF the law,
one.half gold and one-hslf silver, or in
such proportion as would have main
tanned the parity between the two met
ale.
Had he paid for silver bullion one-half
in silver and one-halt in gold, he would
have thereby done his utmost to keep
up the parity of the two metals.
But he has dishonored silver by re-
fusing to pay for silver bullion silver
coin, or at least, by paying for it gold
coin, when he could under natural or
liberal construction of the law have paid |
one-half in silver.
What has been the result? Every |
man who has owed a debt abroad has |
bought silver bullion with silver dollars
a. xbo oplo,, hrl iiop rrico and q anId L
this bullion to the government and
taken pay for same in a certificate on
its face pay able in coin, and. armed with
this certih,a ate, he has called at the
TREASURY window, and the treasurer, at
his option, has paid for this silver bull
lion in gold coin of the United States,
and this coin has been shipped on the
first steamer to Europe to pay his
debts.
Mr.. Cleveland says $54, 900. 900 of these
certificates had been issued between
Nav 1, 1898. and the 18th of July 1893,
and that $49, ,000, 900 of these certificates
bad been paid in gold coin. Why in
gold coin? They did not call
for gold coin. but coin. Why
should silver be allowed to pay
only s5,OOO,000 OF this debt
and gold called on to pay $49, 600, 900?
Mr.. Cleveland, in his letter of accept
ance, processes to be in favor of keeping
up the parity OF the two metals. How
can this be done if the government itself
makes disparity by refusing to Pey
out. when it can lawfully do so, both
paFfsy r-----srIrrJ =. ---------f r
Who is more to blameforfthe present
financial condition now attributable to
The Sherman act? Mr.. HaIfis9n's and
Mr.. Cleveland's mal-administration of
the same or the pernicious Sherman act
Itself? ~ M
Everyone knows that it, MI, Harrison
and Mr.. Cleveland had had as secretary
Of the treasury decided silver man
al the bullion purchased under the act
Of 1890 might have been paid for in silver
dollars, thus making the miner OF silver
receive silver for his product.
If this had been the policy OF the
government there would have been no
speculative value ON silver by those who
wish to convert silver into gold coin, and
hence would have been no drain on the
gold coin in the treasury, with silver
certificates to be shipped abroad to meet
foreign debts.
The established ratio between the
two metals, whether 16 to l or 25 to /,
cannot keep up the price 80 long as the
wilfully disparages the J
volume of one of these by refusing to
pay it out in the ordinary transactions
Of business.
No currency, whether gold, silver or
paper, can ever be stable or fixed while
ts volume is left to the discretion of
sven AZ great man as Mr.. Cleveland or
ri7 he aanretarv Of the treasury.
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