The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1894-03-08

! Udlc III HdS .tNciN CO 4' -
lis task is comparatively, easy II it
insists on executing tic mandate OF a
lobby Of protootionists II cannot re-
form thc tariff, but the people will
address themselves to the task OF re-
forming Congress.
TWO Opinions as to the Gold Stand
The Providence Or. ~ Journal
says it is figured that at the present
price Of silver The people Of the Unit
ed States have lost over $l72:o00 600
on the silver purchased by our gov
eminent since the passage of the gil
yer reconciliation act Of 1878. That
is to say, that from 1915 until now
silver has been declining in value rs
compared with gold. and therefore
the government has s;ncs that date
lost the sum above stated On the
other hand, there are persons who
figure that the government has made
"a good speculation by purchasing
silver at It's bullion value and coming
it into dollars at its coinage value.
The "seigniorage," Of which we hear
and read 50 mach recently is nothing
more nor leas lhan the difference be
tween the value Of coined silver aad
silver bullion. We suppose the ac-
coru; as between de gaiu by oeigai-
GRACE auI tie loss by the decline il!
lie gold value Of silver bullion would
mot %ow much prof On either side
il it were careful J and correctly
made up.
-Mr. Bland, Chairman Of the Com
mittee on Coinage, Weights, and
Measures, WHO has identified his
name with the silver legislation Of
Congress. ssems to hold--end to
have soolly number Of his Dem
ocratic associates in the House OF
Representatives, who agree with him
in holding--that to coin the acigni-
oraga into dollars will have the effect
of rendering money more abundant.
But majority Of the bankers and
ether capitalists hold that tie free
coinage Of silver would result in caua-
ing Tie prices Of all articles to be
fixed by the silver standard The
Chicago T,fbaae says that HIr.
Bland is bolt If he does no know
that to adopt the silver standard
would be to reduce the purchasing
power Of silver by hundreds of mil
lions Of dollars, and at the same time
to cxpel gold altogether from the cir
culation Of the country It does look
as if it would be dangerous to make
such an experiment; for if :he mon
eyed men really believe that such q
result would follow free coinage they
would proceed az once to adopt meas
ures fer saving their money, and
would themselves create the very
conditions which they expect free
coinage to produce. SO we OF this
country are in q strait.
Bnt there is another side to this
latter picture. The followers of 3lr.
Bland are not afraid Of monometal-
ism One of the ablest advocates Of
free coinage Of silver is tie .Jtlonta
I Constitution, which SO far from being
afraid OF silver recommendation, is
not ayerse to greenbacksm, but ar
CUES that the people Of this country
were perhaps never at any other per-
iod so prosperous as they were from
about 1881 to 1876, and never dur
ing any other period laid Up SO
much money nor accumulated so
much property. During that period,
says tie Consultation. the average
American never saw either a gold or
u silver dollar Specie payments
were suspended, bnt what Of it2 La
cor was IN general demand. we
built towns and railroads, and start
cl most Of our industrial enterprises.
;'i,he masses never lived more com
fortably, and they never purchased
more important luxuries than during
that period Every middle
aged man will readily remember
that The most prosperous period in
his life was the era Of suspension Of
gold payments" During the
fifteen years that we got along with
out specie this country was a regular
beehive of industry" And more
OF the same sort.
1t would seem, therefore, that even
q total suspension Of specie payments
Wonll not necessarily ruin us. Bat
it must he. added that bullion silver
was worth more than bullion gold up
70 lS72. Our present dcPlorable
condition could not easily be male
worse, beth moaometalEists and BIZ
agree. let rs hope that
tho final result will be the solution,
once for all, OF the silver problem
Richmond Dispatch,
4