Huntsville gazette., 1893-07-01
THE ACTION OF INDIA.
The Effect Produced by Her Re.
cent Move in Silver.
TWO PROMISES TO PAY.
One Costs Forty Cents More nan the
Other but That Government Stamp
Says They Are of the
Same in Value.

MAINTAINING the pdrlty VI tuc tWo Pio
cious metals.
Upon the results to be expected from
Inoia's sudden action in reference to
her mints, The World says:
India having stepped out from under
the silver cloud and taken start to-
wards gold basis. the United States,
Mexico and China are left as the great
silver users of the world.
OF course all nations use silver coins
in tipping, paying car fare, settling for
beer, and such little domestic matters.
These an similar uses necessitate the
employment of vast quantities of silver,
but all this small change is not legal
tender. In making up the treasurer's
statements here, this subsidiary silver
was not counted in at all until the inn
poverished condition of the national
finances under Republican recklessness
In congress compelled the secretary OF
the treasury to scrape together all small
change and count it in the available
funds. 1t is this aspect of silver here
as legal tender, as a good payment for
debts of any amount, which brings into
prominence the shutting out of silver
by the India council from mintage when
deposited by private individuals.
Before silver becomes coin it is in the
shape of bullion. 1t is then mere
commodity. When it is reported that
| 70 cents was bid and rs cents asked in
Wall street for silver it means that
amount was offered and aasked for an
ounce of fine silver as it lay in the big
| white pigs in the vaults of the Mercan
| tile Deposit company or in the vaults of
| the bullion dealers. But this price
means what will be given for it in gold.
| When n cents in gold is paid for an
ounce of silver it means that the pur
chaser would get disk of silver metal
as big as one of our standard dollars
| for just 60 cents. The government puts
| just 60 cents worth of it into a round
| disk, which is stamped lone dollar" and
passes as such, while on the same floor
| of the same mint other machines are
stamping out disks of gold as lone dol
| lar" which are worth bullion for bull
| lion just 40 cents more than the silver
| disks.
So long as the coins go floating about
| the United States, buying groceries
here. paying wages there, they are one
| as good as the other. But when it
comes to going to foreign country to
| buy anything, or pfring debt there
for goods imported here, the foreign
| creditor insists upon having the best
| coin, or if he must take silver he marks
up his prices to bring results even.
The United States government, hav-
| ing put its dollar mark on two such dis
similar things, gives with it promise
that the two shall be maintained at
parity. Every day the treasury state
| ment tells how many gold dollars the
government has and how many
silver dollars ard paper dollars are
out and liable to be handed in with
demand for gold. With the difference
| between gold and silver growing great
| er weekly there was clutching of gold
and a contraction of currency. This
brought stringency of money, an in
crease in loaning rates and consequent
shutting down Of credit in mauy direc-
tions. In other words, the least appear
| ance of fiurrT in the money situation
lead to demand for money instead of
any note or check or other promise to
pay money.
This is the explanation of the present
crisis, which is intensified because every
| month the government is compelled by
law to buy in the open market not less
than 100000 ounces of silver, pile it
| up uncoined in the vaults and print
lot Of treas lry notes to represent its
cost. The idea, when the act creating
this short of money was passed, was
that the price would remain at 1929
per ounce. at which bullion price the
silver dollar does contain a dollars
worth of silver. But instead of staying
| up in price, the offers to the govern
ment kept getting lower and lower, as
| miners found more silver, got it out
cheaper, or used better processes for
getting it out. In this, as in everything
else, it was question of supply and de-
mand. India, great creditor nation,
sending out large quantities of cotton,
wheat, etc.. used silver as legal ten
der, and therefore could be paid in it TO
any extent. With the enforced pur-
chase of 81, 900. 900 ounces year here.
the silver men thought they had pegged
silver at nice, high price, by having
an assurance of so much demand.
Now, all of sudden India comes out
with declaration not to reject silver.
| not to repudiate her silver coinage, but
| with an act which saws that ever holder
may not clap his bar of silver on the
| mint counter and have it handed back
In silver coin of the colony The sudden
cutting off of this method of disposing
Of silver bullion leaves the silver pro
| ducers with contracted demand. and
at once the price falls, all over the
world, as quickly as the news files
Here it will enable the government te
get silver more cheaply. but at the same
time every one of the hundreds of mil
lions Of dollars now outstanding in the
hands of the people or heaped in bags in
the treasury vaults. with the silver GER
tihcates out in the pockets of the peo-
pie, is worth less intrinsically.
BY an international agreement fixing
ratio between gold and silver or
rather fixing the value of so much sill
Yer In gold. the two metals would he
tied together aslegal tenders. and excent
for weight of carriage one would be
worth as much as the other and as ac,
ceptable.
The act of the Indian government has