The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-02-15
SHALL BLAND BE ALLOWED TO RUIN
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The bill which Mr.. Bland has reported
from his Committee on Coinage, 10 create
another considerable quantity Of debased
silver dollars is fraught with elements
Of danger and disaster to the country. 1t
is not so much the quantity OF
them that gives rise TO alarm
as the fact that we are TO coin
any more at all. 1t is said his bill will
pass both houses Of Congress under the
lull in financial matters that has fol-
lowed Mr.. Carlisle's success in negotiat-
ing his loan, and It will be that fact that
Will give rise to the danger If indeed It
does pass and become a law.
When Congress repealed the sherman
law the world understood its action 10
mean that this country had resolutely
set its face against unsound finance and
had tied itself indissolubly TO the pro-
position that there should be but one
standard of values to which every other
thing whatever should be made TO con-
form. This understanding brought our
panic to an end, and placed us again on
solid ground upon which we have been
steadily moving forward ever since The
repeal. But if both branches of Con-
gress pass this bill which Mr.. Bland IS
now pressing upon them the world will
AT once begin TO think that we are by no
means financially reformed, but that rs
"a
country is ready to embark again upon a
sea OF rotten money and discredited obi
cations. AS soon as that apprehension
takes possession of the mind of the finan-
ment of movement identical in every
respect with what set in some nine
months ago. Great investment and
banking interests will at once commence
to tighten their grip and look around for
avenues through which they may rid
themselves of securities and convert
their holdings into gold. How quickly a
movement Of this sort is turned with a
back should plainly teach us Mr.. Bland
is, therefore, threatening the country
with another panic and every man, wo-
man. and child who has a dollars stake
in this life should set all his or her sn-
fiuence at work TO check him in his wild
and reckless career
Why can these silver lunatics not
learn that prosperity has no relation
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country: Money is merely the counters
in the game Of life. the petty investment
with which We effect the trining and in
significant transactions that are too IN
considerable 10 be taken notice OF by
the current of trade and business. Go
TO any bank you please and you will be
told that the transactions there effected
through the agency Of money do not
amount to o per cent. of the whole.
business is done with checks. notes. and
drafts. Any man who will attend for Il
moment TO an illustration which We have
used more than osce. will see this as
clearly as day. 4. owns house on
Franklin street. worth $4,000 lie goes
to bank and asks for a loan of $4,000.
which is granted him on the faith OF
his house and character for honesty.
But no money is given to him. and he
does not want any. A credit Of $1,000
Is given him on the books of the bank.
He gives ten checks on this credit of
900 each, for purchases he makes
and these are deposited by those 10 whom
he gives them. and become the bases
OF many more checks by each Of these
ten persons. and so on. Sd infinitum. FL
nally. when these ten checks that A. pat
put. get back to the bank that made
the loan they are met by demands that
that bank has against the individuals who