Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-02-16
w.t. o,,,n,on. A. to the Gold Standard

The Providence Or. l) Journal says
4, "a figured that at the present price OIL
silver the people OF the United states
have lost over sl72. 0o0, 900 on the silver pur-
chased by our government since tne
,oesage of the silver reconciliation act
Of 1878. That is to say. that from 1910
until now silver has been declining IN
vslue az compared with gold; and there
fore the government has since 'ha'
date lost the sum above stated. On the
other hand there are persons VINO hsuie
that the government has made a
good speculation" by purchasing SILVER
at its bullion value and coming II INTO
dollars at its coinage value. The 'seish-
forage" of which we hear and reah 80
much recently is nothing more nor less
than the difference between the value
NJ coined silver and silver bullion we
sunnose the account as between the gain
by seigniorage and the loss by the decline
in the gold value of silver bullion would
not show much profit on either side II
II were carefully and correctly made
up.
MIR. Bland, chairman OF the committee
on Coinage. Weights, and Measures VINO
has identified his name with the silver
legislation of Congress, seems to mold
and TO have a goodly number Of his Dem
ocratic associates In the House OF Repre-
tatiyes who agree with him in hold
ing-that to coin the seigniorage into dol
lars will have the effect OF rendering
money more abundant. But large ma
iority of the bankers and other capitalists
hold that the free coinage Of silver would
result In causing the prices OF all articles
TO be fixed by the silver standard. The
Chicago Tribune says that Mr.. Bland Is
a dolt II he does not know that TO adopt
the silver standard would be to reduce
the purchasing power Of silver by nun
dreds of millions of dollars, and at the
same time TO expel gold altogether from
the circulation OF the country. 1t does
look as II It would be dangerous to make
such an experiment; for II the moneyed
men really believe that such result
would follow free coinage they would
nroceed at once to adopt measures for
saving their money. and thus would them
selves create the very conditions which
they expect free coinage to produce. so
We of this country are In a strait.
But there is another side TO this latter
picture. The followers Of Mr.. Bland are
not afraid of silver monometallism. one
of the ablest advocates Of the free COIN
age of silver Is the Atlanta Constitution,
which so far from being afraid OF silver
monometallism. Is not averse to green
backism, but argues that the people OF
this country were perhaps never at any
other period so prosperous. as they were
from about 1861 to 1876. and never during
any other period laid up so much money
nor accumulated so much property. Du-
ring that period, says the Constitution,
the average American never saw either
a gold or a silver dollar. Specie payments
were suspended, but what Of 1t? Labor
was In general demand. We built towns
and railroads, and started most or our
great Industrial enterprises. THE masses
never lived more comiorthpy' anu ehe'
never purchased more imported luxuries
than during that period" Every mid
die-aged man will readily remember that
the most prosperous period In his life
was the era of the suspension OF gold
payments" During the fifteen years
that we got along without specie this
country was a regular beehive OF indus
try" And more Of the same sort.
1t would seem. therefore. that even
total suspension of specie payments
would not necessarily ruin us. But 1t
must be added that bullion silver was
worth more than bullion gold up to 1872.
Our present deplorable condition could
not easily be made worse, both mono
metallists and bimetallists agree. Let us
hope that the final result will be the soh-
ton, once for ali, OF the silver problem.