The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-20

NIEN.F pink OFT Nllf NNNl .'ahL NfNttH 'ItiI D
platform 20 mean. and we venture 90 say
that its understanding OF 80 rs vastly d'f
forcnt from that Of ans democratic Leader
or any other democratic newspaper tAl'
has taken the trouble 10 study carefully
the silver question. According TO th'
Register, the silver plank in tho nationa
democratic platform means that Tho
Euts OF the United States shall b,
opened 10 the free coinage of silver az tbs
ratio of l6 tol, that the government shall
undertake 10 keep up the price
of silver 10y providing that silver dollars
shall be received at their face value for
/ all dues, both public and private tt isquitc
clear that the silver plank in the plat
/ form does not mean anything Of the sort,
/ for if IL does there is absolutely no mean
/ ing to that part of it which says the dol
! lar unit of coinage Of both metals must be
of equal intrinsic and exchangeahle
/ value" II the Registers Interpretation
| is right the national democratic conven-
| ton, instead of adopting the plank 1t did,
would have adopted something like this:
/ We favor the free coinage of silver at the
existing ratio and demand that silver dol
! lars shall be received at their face value
for all dues, both public and private.
! If the convention had said that it would
have declared in favor of compelling the
| people to accept "a cents worth of silver
as dollar. 1t could Just as readily and
with just as much reason, have said that
it favored making 25 cents worth of silver
pass for a dollar II would have simply
put itself on record as favoring fiat money.
Fortunately it did nothing of the kind,
| and no democratic convention is likely to
do anything of the kind And if the gov
eminent should open its minis to the free
coinage of silver at the present ratio it
could not maintain the parity between
gold and silver except to the extent that
the commercial world believed it could do
so. The silver dollars would circulate
at their face value only so long as there
was confidence in the ability of the gov
eminent to redeem them in gold. They
wouldn't be received at their face value
on account of their intrinsic value, as gold
dollars are, because their intrinsic value
would be much less than their face
value.
And if the coinage of silver were made
free at the present ratio, how long would
the silver dollar remain on parity with
a gold dollar} We venture to say that
the act would hardly be signed by the
President before the silver dollar would
be at discount. Silver bullion would be
sent to our minis not only from our own
mines but from Europe to be coined into
dollars, and it would continue to
be sent just as long as GA
cents worth Of silver, or even "a cents
worth could be coined into dollars that
would be interchangeable in this country
with gold dollars But as already stated,
the silver dollar wouldn't remain on
parity with the gold dollar very long.
The currency of this country would be
forced TO q silver basis, and we should be
afflicted with all the evils of a debased
currency.
The Register is of the opinion, proba-
bly,, that the credit Of this country would
be sufficient TO keep silver dollars from
depreciating to their bullion value But
what reason has it for thinking SOL Does.
it know one free silver coinage
country where silver passes on a
parity with gold2 If not, why does
it think this country could carry thes
whole silver burden of the world2 If it
should adopt FREQ silver coinage why
should it be more fortunate than other
free coinage silver countries in prevent
ing its currency from becoming debased2
The main ground of opposition to the
silver purchase act is the fear that the
government will not be able to re-
deem tho silver certificates in gold.
If the government cannot keep the
certificates issued on our own sill
yer product at par with gold what pros
pect would it have to keep silver dollars
on an equal footing. with gold dollars if
our mints wore open for the coinage of the
worlds product of silycr3
The Register asks if silver collars are
not now accepted at their face value.
although intrinsicallyworth only GA cents.
Certainly they are. but the belief in the
ability of the government to maintain
gold payments sustains them at par Free
coinage of silver would drive gold
out of the country and mako it impossible
for the government to maintain gold pay
monts, and then the Silver dollar would
be accepted only at its bullion value We
are inclined to think that if the Register
viii give the silver question moro careful
study it will see that its interpretation of
the democratic platform is erroneous, and
its views of the silver question are not
sustained by sound reasoning.
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