Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-13
NO REPEAL.
Senator Stewart Says the sherman Act VIII
Stand.

CONVERSION OF ALL CONTACTS INTO GOLD
WOULD BREAK THE UNITED STATES, SAYS
THE NEVADA sENAToR-USLIMIrED COINAGE
THE ONLY MEANS OF MAINTAINING PARITY.
Senator Stewart has written o letter in regard
to the repeal of the Sherman silver act The
Nevada Senator says:
"You ask me whether the Sherman act will
be repealed / reply, no. The representatives
Of the people dare not do il. Every obligation
of the government, and nearly, IL not all,
private obligations entered into previous to
1890, except those on the Pacific coost, are pay
able in silver.
The repeal Of the Sherman act would de-
prive the debtor Of the right to pay in the
money of the contract and convert all the in
debtedness Of the United States into gold obi
cations, and not only impoverish and ruin the
present generation, but would be . heritage Of
misery for generations to come. No, the Sher-
man act will not be repealed
WILL BREAK THE COUNTRY.
Senator Stewart said in an interview upon
the letter: This Is the most serious thing that
has been considered, this proposed conversion
OF all contracts into gold contracts. Conversion
IN South America resulted in Reputation and
bankruptcy; the attempt to enforce gold pay
ments in Australia resulted in bankruptcy, and
although this Is the richest country In the world
the conversion of all contracts into gold would
break the United States.
discussion will develop the fact" continued
the Senator. that universal gold standard
means universal bankruptcy. The repeal Of
the Sherman Law, with the continued sus-
pension OF silver coinage in India, will reduce
the value OF silver bullion to extent that will
class it with the baser metals. In that it
viii be impossible to foa. the four thousand
millions OF silver money now doing
drty money for every purpose except
as reserve In banks and in government vaults.
Silver coin could then only be hoated on the
credit Of the government issuing it, and would
be no better than any other credit money So
far from being useful money Of ultimate pay
ment, IL would add to the burden Of credit al
ready resting the narrow limit of gold The
gold coin OF the world cannot be increased.
About one-third Of the output of gold comes
from silver mines, and the yield of gold would
therefore. be greatly diminished by the rejec-
ton Of silver resulting in the closing Of silver
mines Already the arts consume practically
all the output of gold. Soetbeer's tables tell US
that in the decade Of 1850 to 1860 81 PET cent Of
the output of gold went into new money, while
In the lustrum from 1880 to 1885 but 70 per cent
was saved from the arts for coinage. Since that
last date the progress OF dentistry and other
arts requiring gold has been great that it is
now supposed the entire output is used for non
monetary purposes. II the world q Indebtedness,
which vas contracted under the superstition
that IL was based on gold and silver coin, must
be paid in gold alone an inevitable collapse is
near at hand"
UNLIMITED COINAGE.
HHave you conferred with other Congress
men. Senator, upon the prospects of q repeal of
the Sherman law?''
Il have talAed with quite q number and I
have found no Congressman who bold
enough TO saw that he was in favor OF combining
money of ultimate redemption to gold alone.
have found some who had a vague idea of
supplementing gold with silver. but without
any definite idea how it was to be accomplished.
II silver Is to be money OF ultimate payment,
and not credit money resting gold, it must
have the same privilege of the mint that gold
has. Ii IL idle To talk about maintaining the
parity Of tho two metals with silver demonetized
and gold monetized If gold eau be coined
and silver cannot gold will be worth more than
silver. and the reverse of the case Is true-if
silver can be coined and gold cannot silver
will be worth more than gold The parity Of
the two metals was maintained for thousands
OF years before A. d. 1878 by the unlimited
coinage Of both No other means Of maintain
ing the two metals has ever been discovered or
-~vsr can ha