Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-07-19
A LETTER AND AN ANSWER.
The Secretary of Agriculture Sends Forth
an Oliver and Gets q Roland In Ex-
change Therefor.

at the Office of the secretary of agri-
cnlture, to Hon. J. +. Lee, of Manhat-
tan, Kan, is of interest:
My Dear Sir: am pleased to acknowledge
the receipt of your agreeable letter Of the 18th
inst, indorsing the views in recent epistle ad-
dressed to you over my signature.
The continued purchase of A5o0,Q)0 ounces of
silver per month is very debilitating to the gold
reserve In the treasury OF the United States
The recent u5terance of Secretary Carlisle
shows conclusively that while in eleven months
we issued e4s 900 of treasury notes for silver
bullion, more than si7, ,OOO. .o0J of the said notes
have been returned to the treasury for redemp-
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 good object lesson in money fall
iacies II the government could legally tender
4l2H grain silver dollars in payment for the
silver bullion which II buys each month under
the compulsory provisions of the Sherman act
Silver coined in 4l21k grain dohars is silver put
upon the public at ST. 20 ounce Therefore,
when silver bullion is only 81 cents an
ounce, IL the producers and vendors
thereof were compelled TO receive their
pay In silver dollars OF 4I,H grains each
they would be forced TO pay a cents an ounce
to boot between the plain suustamped bullion
aud the coined silver which bears the legend
I'm God We Trust" and cameo OF the God
dess of Liberty. The giving of an ounce OF sill
yer bullion, which contains 4S0 grains of silver
Tor dollar which contains only 4l2tl grains OF
silver, would soon teach the advocates OF fiat
money that the stamp of the government is
merely certifcauon of weight and fneness of
the coin, and not an enhancement of the metal
1t 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 unfmpaired), will sell for SO. Why, then,
should so in silver, reduced to bullion, be
worth less than they were before the mint
stamp was erased, II silver is just as good for
q money metal as gold is? Did mankind ever
successfully make money out of anything which
had no value as commodity before 1t 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 1t may coin and stamp zone dol.ar?"
Faithfully yours, j. STERLING MORTON
We have been shown a recent letter
from Secretary of Agriculture Morton,
in which he discusses some phases of
the silver question from tho admins
tration standpoint.
He quotes Secretary Carlisle's state
ment that within eleven months $40
600, 900 of silver bullion treasury notes
were issued and SsT, 900, 600 returned to
the treasury for gold. Secretary Nor
ton must know that this is a garbled
statement. The notes that were re-
turned for 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
"greenbacl<s" 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 member, to
discredit silver and drive the country
to a single gold basis.
No effort has been made by our gov
ernment 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 it's 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 certifica tion of the weight and
fneness of the coin, and not an en-
hancement of the metal it contains.
The mint value of the gold is its bull
lion value. 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 $40 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 a money metal as gold
is?''
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 1925, ,Ooo,00 per annum The
consumption in the arts is about $685.
100000. Suppose gold should be treat
ed as silver has been, and demonetized,
and its mint coinage value taken away,
what does Mr.. Morton suppose would
be the value of gold? 1t would then
be simply a commodity, the price OF
which would be fixed by demand and
supply for use otherwise than as
money; and with supply about double
the requirements for such uses, does
not Mr.. Morton see that it would inev-
itably decline in value? Would not the
same law prevail as in the case of all
other commodities? Does he not see
that the reason why his twenty-dol-
lar gold piece will have the same
value after obliteration of the gov.
ernment stamp is because the hold
er knows he can have 1t recoined
at tho mint valuation which was
expressed on its face? Does the
mint offer the same privilege to the
holder of silver bullion? If it were not
now as it was from the foundation of
the government until 1878, would not
Mr., Morton, with his twenty dollars
In silver reduced to bullion" be able to
hs ye them recoined again, and would
nc : his silver be then Just as good for
- r,.a4oI rroI1 fc0J