The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-11-10
. CORRECTION.


editorial review OF the spee" -. ~
,ho richmond Theatre on the his"e ~
october 9Th by Major john w. ,,o
,rhts article was headed Don '"ep
,,,i,b the Truth" II has been suss
90 M that this is liable to be conS''
90 an intimation that Major Dafiiei iao
,o, adhered to the truth. we want "
eov at once that The Times had ho pun
! so or intention to intimate ahythilis
! - tho kind. We differ from MAJOR Daiilei
az widely as IL Is possible for TWO PEI
sons 20 differ regarding silver Out ms
personal character has no warmer
| miror than The Times. We thlhk MN '"'
soul of honor, truth, loyalty ana cahu'i'
In that same article we said:
"I, "a absurd. then, to say that one OF
| tho coins Is as valuable as the olHeI'
| is not so and nothing can Mart NJ
| But a great powerful government AZ
! ours. with its almost uniI Ils .bose silver
| can put out a large number OF these anr ,ts
| coins worth in fact only hIty ~!
! each. and cause them to peripliIhni az tbat
| functions of coins worth V tS,n en- ali
! its transactions as gold dollars anu az
WAYS giving gold dollars ior theih tMdi'Id
| demanded. But If the government si0 yoId
cease treating them )ust as i ~ IN ex
updiaae' hem for cold dollars whenever
| IL pleased they would not longer pei
| form the functions OF dqilars' pr' ,miIinn
at once take the place tiit 'ie'
value condemns them TO-
II is claimed upon the side of Major
Daniels view Of the case that this is not
correct. 1t is claimed II is equivalent to
a statement by us that any person could
take silver dollars TO the United States
Treasury. demand gold dollars for them
and receive them, whereas, 1t IS SAID
there is no law or rule OF the treasury
Department which will authorize this TO
be done.
II IS undoubtedly true that the Treas
ury is not required TO give gold dollars
| for silver dollars on demand.- and, so far
as our language amounts TO statement
| that the Treasury will make an actual
| exchange of them. ii is incorrect. We
we're dealing with the proposition that the
| silver dollar Is kept up in its current
| value to the value of the gold dollar by
the government treating 1t in all It's trans
| actions as the equivalent OF a gold dol
lar. and the language always giving gold
dollars for them when demanded. was
| used in the sense Of a man having sill
|
work of a gold dollar in all his transac-
! tl1ns with the government. If the man
owes the government a dollar, and it
will receive from him in payment of it
either a gold or silver dollar. we submit
that that fact enables the holder of the
silver dollar to do what amounts TO ex-
changing it for a gold dollar. We sub
| nit also. that the context shows that
this was the sense in which the language
referred TO was used. If we had used the
words practically" giving gold dollars,
&c. no question could have been raised.
| But that there may be no mistake about
| It, we now say that the reason silver
dollar keeps up TO the value of gold
| dollar is that the government always
| treats it, in all its transactions and
| wherever IL sees IT, as "A gold dollar. The
| government collects every year something
| like 500 millions of dollars of revenue,
| and it will receive its silver dollars in
| payment of that revenue. When a man
has a silver dollar he knows he can pay
dollar of taxes with it, and, If he does
| not owe taxes he knows a person owing
them and having a gold dollar will ex-
change with him and pay his tax with
/
take less than gold dollar for his silver
! dollar, because he knows he can always
make the silver dollar do the work of a
gold dollar. That. then, is the reason
| the silver dollar keeps as valuable as the
| gold dollar. II is because the government
treats it in all its transactions as a gold
| dollar and that enables the holder of il
to practically exchange it for gold dollar
| whenever he pleases.
But. If the free silver advocates were
to coin enough silver dollars to make
| the government unable 10 absorb all that
| were offered ii. then the silver dollar
would at once drop to its bullion value of
| fifty cents, gold would all retire and we
should do business on the basis of a
| tfty-cent dollar instead of on a hundred
cent dollar meanwhile, however we
should, before getting TO that basis. pass
through General state of bankruptcy
ana liquidation preceded by the most ter
rihc panic any people ever saw.