The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-09-01
A Fair and Practicable Plan.

A Fair and Practicable Plan.
Professor George Gunton, president
of the School of Social Economics,
New York, and editor of the Social
Economist, is a fair, clear-headed
man, and neither silver nor gold
bug,
He does not believe in demonetizing
silver. nor does he believe that It's
value should be artificially enhanced
by our government buying it and stor'
ing it in the vaults of the treasury, or
giving it free coinage on any other
basis than a gold dollars worth of sill
yer in a dollar; or, if silver certificates
are issued against deposits of silver
bullion, it should be on the same
basis.
This is what most business men be-
lieve. They do not want the volume
of circulating medium decreased by
having gold drive silver out of circu.
lation, nor by having silver drive gold
out of circulation; but they want both
| to circulate on an equality which VIII
give every producer and laborer DOL
| lar for his produce or labor that Will
buy q dollars worth OF other things
he may require. ;,
Professor Gunton, in the Social
Economist, says:
| NThere is no financial or economic
reason in either practice or theory
| why silver should be demonetized,
| and there are strong industrial anu
| social reasons why il should not
| "There is every reason for DelieVlng
| that silver men who are not influenced
by q mere shark impulse to force the
| government to create q market loF
| Oyeryalued silver will be found per-
| fectIy willing to repeal the Sherman
| act provided some rational measure
can be substituted by which silver
| shall be allowed to remain q per-
| mapent part of our currency. A
thoroughly practical way of doing
this was suggested by the Sociai
Economist for June, namely, to pro-
vide for the free use OF silver at It's
bullion value, just the same as gold,
making every silver dollar and every
silver certificate redeemable on de
mand in a dollars worth of silver.
This would permit every one to have
all the silver he wished converted
into money If he had any interest In
doing so, and such money would
always be worth it's face value in the
metal it represented. No one could
lose by receiving IL, because, like gold,
it would always be convertible into
its face value In bullion or coin.
$50 put the case in more specific
form, we would say that congress
should
81. Repeal the purchasing clause
in the Sherman act.
s2. Authorize the secretary of the
treasury to use the silver now In the
government vaults to redeem the sit-
yer certificates issued under the Sher-
man act at their face value in silver
thus making every silver dollar Oh
certificate as good as gold dollar OF
1 o.
convertible on demand into dollar
worth of silver.
as. Authorize the secretary OF the
treasury to issue bonds to an amount
equal to the deficiency of silver In the
treasury, to meet the outstanding GER
tificates at bullion value.
az. Provide that hereafter, except
as fractional currency, silver shall be
nut on the same basis as gold; that Is
il shall be freely issued as coin or GER
titicates at its full bullion value, 6
dollar of either always being redeem
able OH demand in dollars worth Of
silver.
"5. In order TO secure government
against loss through depreciation OF
silver, the secretary of the treasury
shall be empowered to charge two pei
cent. for issuing coin or certificates,
and increase the charge proportionate-
ly as the price of silver declines, SUI.
ffciently to keep the aggregate amount
of silver on deposit equal to the aggre
gate demand against it in coin and
certificates in circulation, the charge
rising as the value of silver falls, and
falling as the price of silver rises. ,
"6. If the administration would
propose such a measure, no serious OPP
nosition would be offered to it by the
silver men and absolutely no danger
could come to the community. We
should then have both free silver and
sound money"