The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-11-03

ses q fxs4 sent the sEETer dasszr 20 fhe
melting Ess The silver Gossar Vas ohss-
Iese wkss Il uas wgrfh mere 80 uasas -
buslioa than 10 efreui.ss - e5sasxe. ozr
sahsEdEasy cgsnaxs & h4If eossxrs aad
qaarters disappeared 30 fass zoo thas ws
only ksps shsna Al hezne ~ the art 81 lss2.
Ths So q ts-s cnfy drovpe6 e1ia which
bad been practically ohsolsze since lisa
Way. then, when she rna1esary Fsvuas-
lion Of is7o-7s Eas rOsng on did ne depars
from Ger positsoa Of seand 1naaee and
fnsily IN Fsbraszy. ISIS tsks the back
track xsd enact tna parwAass Of silver ard
the eofnaze % disAossst Legal tender
dollar ~ Tie demand o. lobby Of mtas
owners supported by ths fnsassonisss Of
both psrsies7 The kcness supporters Of
thls feaEfal mSstaks 10 fnaneiA policy
we're pegsons who bssisse1 that IL vas the
business and fanction Of govsrnmens
20 make nacneY. when ths truth Is IL IL
only the business and function Of govern
Tnens 70 cora raoaey. the governments
stamp GA cola merely certifying its
weight and Gneness
Ths legal tauder act Of Iss2 was The
parent Of the deiusioa that ths govern
meat can make monsy. The gresnback
was merely . certfdcats OF the govern
meats Indebtedness. and these legal
tenders ssre nothing bat . forced loan.
Because there grsenbacks paid debts as
vel rs gold. when the war ended the
Democrats demsgoguss who denounced
their issue demanded more greenbaeks.
Give a. plenty Of money" was the err.
In fs74-75 President Grsns vetoed the
imitation bill and the people sustained
him. Here the battle would have ended
In compiets victory for sound money.
but the price Of silver as compared with
gold fell liz per cent in the space Of three
years. Daring the previous 30 years IL
had fallen only per cent. The defeated
iniationists saw their chance. They pre-
tended that the silver dollar had been leg
islated ont OF existence in 1873 By fraud,
bribery and underhand legislation. The
silver dollar had been De facte ont OF en-
isssnes nearly forty years, and the act Of
1873 was voted for by Bayard, Thur
man and al the leading Democrats:
by Edmunds. conkiing, Merton and
all the leading Republicans. was
voted for by Senator Stewart. the great
PopuiIst; was before congress two years;
was the subject Of fan debate in both
houses OF congress. When the Let of 1873
vas passed the silver dollar was worth
tl.os. and was Of course obsole.s. The
fall in silver In three years. liz per cent,
made IL profitable for the silver mining
lobby 70 sell 80 cents worth OF bullion to
the government for 10 cents above the
market. and the infationists in both par
ties were willing TO help the silver lobby
enact the sxindle.
Senator BayaFd In 1878 told the .'silver
bugs" that panic would come ultimately
when the public began to believe that the
silver piled mp by the government could
not be kept at par with gold, and ths
panic came when II was reported that the
secretary Of the treasury would not use
his declining gold reserve 70 redeem the
silver notes. but only the greenbacks, for
whose redemption IL was first accumulated.
This prospect of two kinds OF money in
the country. one at par with gold and the
other not so, shook public confidsnce, and
the predicted panic came at last.
This panic has taught the people one
thing. viz; that public confidence and
nothing bat public confidence can make
money plenty; no act Of government can
make money plenty. We never had so
much governments money Of ell sorts in
existence as we have today. and yet when
the panic came there was no money; IL
was all boarded; had the government
issued more money 1t would have been
boarded too.
Pablo confidence II what makes money
plenty; imitation by the government only
makes money cheap and dishonest. Money
Is always plenty when there is any conf
dence in your collateral; but destroy pub
lie confidence IN values and contracts and
no government can make money plenty:
when capital boards money Is always
scarce no matter how great is the volume
of government issues. Money is plenty. !"
said Bob IngersoIl;" Il is only collateral
that is scarce" The people have at last
learned what Ingersoll told the green
hackers OF 1874, that it Is confidence which
makes money plenty and the lack OF it
which makes IL scarce, and they have
learned that gold is the standard money
of the civilized world which makes bat
limited use OF silver.
The silver craze, which was born out OF
the greenback imitation has loaded us IN
with 5000, coo, 600 Of unavailable assets and
has added that amount 10 the national
obligations We can not force silver
dollars into circulation; we can not sell
our silver bullion to any advantage; an
offer to sell 1t would break the market to-
morrow.
Greenbsck imitation cost as $500, 600. 600 :
the silver craze has cost US $500. COO 600.
This ''siyer craze" all dates back TO the de-
fusion that the government can create
money, when IL can no more make far
money than it can make fiat labor. Gov
eminent can no more make 50-cent piece
pass for 81 by stamping il one dollar than il
can make one days work pass for two
days work.
II is 20 be hoped that the determinatio n
of the hoid-oysr aldermen not 10 surrender
theiF aaatH will not rsss,ft IN yrswa,,l,,,. 4.