Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-10-02
THE SILVER SITUATION
New York Bankers Confident of
 Ultimate Repeal.
INVENTOR RDIsoNrs NOVEL SCHEME
He Proposes to Make Money Out of Com pressed wheat-That, He Says, Would
 Represent Actual Value and Labor Fer formed, and the Money Could Be Eaten.

Represent Actual Value and Labor Fer.
 formed, and the Money Could Re Eaten.
 NEW YoEK, Oct. Blank officers here are almost unanimous in the opinion that the senate ultimately will repeal the pur- chasing clause of the silver act, and there by restore to foreign investors faith in American securities.
 George G. Williams, president of the Chemical National bank, who is probably the oldest bank officer iu this city in point of service, in speaking To u reporter of the problems which are now puzzling not only the financial but also the business com munity, said:
 ''In the past few weeks there has been d very noticeable improvement in the finan- eial situation, but the movement in that direction is now retarded by the action of the senate, l firmly believe that if the sen ate will promptly pass the bill stopping silver purchases by the government the re coyery in the tone Of business will be phe- nomenal, and the improvement in every quarter will be so great that We will sur prise the nations of the earth by the exhib- tion of our recuperative powers.
 "The situation is much better than was anticipated, for this is the season for heavy borrowing by interior banks. and as their wants as borrowers are greatly diminished, we know they must he nearly able to take care of themselves.
 Inventor Edison's Plan.
 A new solution of the silver question has been offered by Thomas A. Edison. In an interview he said:
 'The hankering after gold and silver is largely traditional. People allow them selves to be governed by the old ideas oil the subject of coinage formulated at time when national credit did not exist and cur 1,a value. What we need is new standard of value. think that the best dollar could be made out of compressed wheat. You take bushel of wheat and squeeze the water out of it, and then compress it into a hard cake the size of a silver dollar and stamp the government mark upon it. That would represent actual value and labor performed, and then you could eat your dollar, for when you wanted to use the wheat all that would he necessary would be to put your money to soak We should then have the bushel of wheat as q perma- nent unit of value. which all farmer, would appreciate, and the currency of the country would represent actual worth and labor performed. Both gold and silver could then be dispensed with and the pres ent bimetallic problem solved
 Iron the Most Precious Metal.
 Our currency, however, would be as good as gold or silver in foreign exchange, for our wheat goes to all the countries of the world In all this talk about metal for coinage, I am surprised that no one has suggested iron. Iron is the most precious metal. Gold iS of no use, or silver either Mankind has no use for either gold or sil- yer. Iron could not he dispensed with. If the people would only give up this foolish traditional, hereditary hankcriuG for gold and silver, those metals would not be worth the price of old lead, and would be kicked aside by civilization. The human race, on the other hand, cannot dispense with iron Iron must be produced to keep pace with consumption or its price will steadily rise The demand for iron is, steady and will never cease. Therefore, why not issue treasury certificates on iron. This is the greatest iron producing country ill the world, and our output amounts annually to more than the output of both gold and silver. Instead of loading up the treasury with these useless metals, and as people would want bills of large denomination to accompany the wheat dollar, why not buy iron or steel instead and issue treasury ccr- tificates upon that%'