The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-10-25

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supply them.
The Monetary Question.
The Every Evening in noticing the
presentation to Senator Allen Of a 40
ounce brick OF pure silver by his Me-
braska friends for his l5-hour speech,
Gays as ''long as the mine owners can
force their silver on the people at the
rate OF dollar for about fifty-eight
cents worth Of the metal, they can af-
ford to lavish forty.ounce bricks OF
pure silver upon the men who fight to
maintain the imposition"
The above paragraph is misleading,
inasmuch as 1t implies that the mine
owners get q dollar for about IS cents
worth OF silver" whereas they get
only what the silver sells for in the
markets OF the world, the Secretary
OF the Treasury securing the quantity
designated by tho law on as favorable
terms as any other purchaser.
The silver purchased for IS cents is
converted into dollar, and the gov
ernment makes just 40 cents by the
operation, loss the expense of coinage,
and that Is very small gum. II a
private citizen could be given u simi.
lar privilege he could exercise 1t for
Ill indefinite period without injuIing
his credit or his fortune. There is a
great deal OF deception about the pur-
chase and coinage of silver. and at the
risk OF being little tedious We will
venture to expl ain the system eyon at
this late day. In the first place the act
OF Congress provides THAT the Secre-
tary of the Treasury shall purchase
100000 ounces of silver every
month at as low a rate as it is selling
for in the open market. The silv el
that entered into the dollar when
the law was passed cost over 90 cents
but it has declined In value until
It is worth about So cents.
The Government is therefore the
gamer rather than the loser by the de.
cline in price, 30 far as the making OF
money for home circulation is con
cerned, ard 50 far the people do not
object to receive silver dollars, the
chief difficulty being that they cannot
nnd means to got as many OF them as
they desire TO handle. 1t is true they
will not pay debts due to other coun.
tries. but for home circulation they
are preferred to gold.
Tho ptp,shooa nf tbiG uilpaF ah,nlJ
not exhaust the resources Of the
Government or injure Its credit fol
many years, II we could manage to
sell more goods to foreign countries
than we purchase from them, and
keep the balance OF trade in our favor
as theSecretary of the Treasury makes
payment for the bullion in silver Ger
tillcates that do not cost five dollars
per $1,000, or Iittla Iuogo unless they
Ire of a very small denomination.
1t is true that these silver cert illcute
are receivable for duties and Other
taxes but thousands Of them pass int,
tho hands OF the people, and will no
find their way Into the treasury 70
years to come and then they may b
paid out again. This process shout
not be very lnpoverishing Or lead T.
a disturbance Of the money marke
unless the abundance of money shout
contribute to increased importation
OF goods,and We should 10 required b
ply the balance against our countr
in gold. In That cuse overtrHding. TIL
failure TO export ns many goods ls W
import. would be the disturbing caus
rather than the character OF GU
money
Under the policy proposed by til
Democrats, an abundance OF none
may tend to disaster. US there vi
necessarily bo Increased importation
unless lower rate OF wages shall j
adopted.
The expectation OF gold n fe
months ago, was rendered nccessar
by the excessive importations we la
made, ard this gave the enemies {
silver an opportunity to raise an oli
cry to brighten tho people into draw
ing their money out of the bank
forcing thousands into bankruptcy.
The panic shriekets and not the 81
yer purchase act wac the cause Of tn
revulslon which swept over our lane
II there had not been single ounc
OF silver purchased, and tho sam
amount OF goods had been Importec
the same amount OF gold woul