People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-07-14
LETTER AND AN ANSWER.

| CIduSe lneTeIOr.
The following letter, written June II,
at the Office of the secretary of agri-
culture, to Hon. ]. f. Lee, of Manhat-
tan, Kan, is of interest:
My Dear Sir: am pleased 10 acknowledge
the receipt OF your agreeable letter Of the 18th
inst, indorsing the views in a recent epistle ad-
dressed to you over my signature
The continued purchase Of 45JOOO ounces of
silver per month is very facilitating to the gold
reserve in the treasury OF the United States
The recent u;terance OF Secretary Carlisle
shows conclusively that while in eleven months
we issued $40 700 of treasury notes for silver
bullion, more than 81, 0)O,OOJ Of the said notes
have been returned to the treasury for redemp-
ton in gold. Plainly stated in a wild western
way, the question is now, which will hold out
the longest, the gold Of the United States or
the silver Of the whole world:
1t would be god object lesson in money fall
| lacies il the government could legally tender
4l2h grain silver dollars in payment for the
silver bullion which it buys each month under
! the compulsory provisions Of the Sherman act
Silver coined in il2li grain dollars is silver put
upon the public at g. % an ounce Therefore,
when silver bullion is only 81 cents an
ounce, if the producers and vendors
thereof we're compelled 10 receive their
pay in silver dollars Of 4l2H grains each,
the7 would be forced to pay IS cents an ounce
to boot between the plain unstamped bullion
aud the coined silver which bears the legend,
In God We Trust, and cameo OF the God
dess OF Liberty The giving of an ounce OF sill.
yer bullion, which contains 80 grains Of silver,
for dollar which contains only 4l2Il grains OF
silver, would soon leach the advocates OF fiat
money that the stamp Of the government is
merely a certifcation OF weight and fneness of
the coin, and not an enhancement Of the metal
it contains The mint value of gold is its bull
lion value. A twenty-dollar gold piece, with
the stamp of the government entirely obliter.
ated (the weight being retained and the fine
ness unimpaircd), will sell for so. Why, then,
should 80 in silver, reduced to bullion be
worth less than they were before the mint
stamp was erased, if silver is just as good for
money metal as gold is: Did mankind ever
successfully make money out Of anything which
had no value as commodity before il became
money? If the government can, by coinage.
create an artificial value Of Is cents to the
ounce in silver, why cannot the government
create 100 cents value in any kind Of metal
that it may coin and stamp zone dollar:r
Faithfully yours J STERLING MORTON
We have been shown recent letter
from Secretary of Agriculture Morton,
in which he discusses some phases of
the silver question from the admins
tration standpoint.
He quotes Secretary Carlisle's state
ment that within eleven months S49,-
100000 of silver bullion treasury notes
were issued and $4,000, 600 returned to
the treasury for gold. Secretary Nor
ton must know that this is a garbled
statement. The notes that were re-
turned Tor gold during the time named
were not the identical notes that were
issued during that time. They were
simply so much of the much larger
amount of these silver notes that were
abroad in the country, and that had
been issued not alone during the eleven
months referred to, but during the
nearly three years since the Sherman
act was passed in July, 1890.
Why were they returned for gold?
Not because their holders did not re-
gard them just as good as gold, or as
any other issues of the government,
but because, owing to the great de
mand for gold for export to pay our
debts resulting from the large balance
Of trade against us, and to meet the de-
mands from Austria. which was in the
markets of the world buying gold. a
great amount of gold was needed for ex-
port. Mr. Morton would leave it to be
inferred that during that eleven months
no demands were made upon the treas
ury for gold except by presentation of
the silver notes. He carefully omitS
to state the fact that many millions of
'greenbaclls" were also presented and
redeemed in gold to meet the export
demand. Why does he not mention
this as evidence that the people were
afraid of greenbacks?' For the
reason, no doubt, that it would not suit
the apparent purpose of the admins
tration, Of which he is a member, to
discredit silver and drive the country
to single gold basis
No effort has been made by our gov
eminent to put and maintain in circu-
lation the silver dollar. Many millions
would readily be absorbed by the
people if they were paid out and sub
stituted in place of the small paper
bills; but then that would reduce the
formidable mass of silver in the treas
ury, which its enemies so delight to
point to as unavailable stock.
But when Mr.. Morton touches upon
the general principles that underlie the
money problem he is most widely
astray. He says:
The stamp of the government is
merely certifcation of the weight and
tineneSs of the coin, and not an en-
hancement of the metal it contains.
The mint value of the gold is its bull
lion value. A twenty-dollar gold piece
with the stamp of the government en-
tirely obliterated the weight being
maintained and the fneness unim-
paired) will sell for $50. Why. then,
should $50 in silver, reduced to bullion.
be worth less than they were before
the mint stamp was erased, if silver is
just as good for money metal as gold
isl"
1t is indeed surprising that Mr.. Nor
ton should give utterance to such err
rors If he should reverse his state
ment, and say that the bullion value of
gold is its mint value he would be cor
rect. The earth's yield of gold is now
about Sl25,OOo.OOO per annum. The
consumption in the arts is about S65,-
100000. Suppose gold should be treat
ed as silver has been, and demonetized,
and its mint coinage value taken away,
what docs M N,,4o, -,,,,.s-., I'LL