The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-03-21
As TO COMING vACruns.


As TO COMING VACUUMs.
We would respectfully call the atten-
ton Of the indianapolis Journal and
other republican papers which are talk
ing about coming vacuum" to the
third section of the sherman silver law.
which reads as follows:
Sec. 3. That the secretary Of the treas
uTy shall each month coin 100000
ounces of the silver bullion purchased
under the provisions Of this act into
standard dollars until the 1st day of
July, 1891, and after that time he shall
coin Of the silver bullion purchased un-
der the provisions of this act as much
as may be necessary to provide for the
redemption Of the treasury notes herein
provided for. and any gain or seignior-
age arising from such coinage shall be
accounted for and paid into the treas
ury.
It will he observed that this section.
which is still in force. provides for the
the republican papers now talk, and so
long as the silver coinage continued this
vacuum was coined, and was paid into
the treasury. and was used 10 meet the
of vacuum so coined and utilized during
Mr.. Harrison's administration was SIS
sol .1oe, that being the amount of gain
or seigniorage" arising from the coin
age Of S96.oS7.1s5 coined from silver pur-
chased at market value 1t will fur
Their be observed that this section Of the
sherman law also provides for silver
coinage after July 1, 1891, to such ex-
tent as may be necessary to provide
for the redemption Of the treasury notes
herein provided for and these notes
were TO he redeemed in standard silver
dollars or standard gold dollars as the
secretary of the treasury might see fit
Hence, if Mr.. Carlisle desired to pro-
coed under this law, he might coin all
the silver bullion in the treasury and
utilize the vacuum" just as Mr.. Har-
rison did. Tho coinage OF the vacuum"
was intended from the first by the Sher-
man law.
lion is now unnecessary. There are over
$50. 900. COO of silver dollars in the treas
ury now beside the bullion uncolned and
the only change made by the bill just
passed is to coin the vacuum and
leave the amount necessary to provide
for the redemption or the treasury notes
herein provided for in its uucoined
state. Nothing is to he gained by coin
ing it, But this is not all. The re-
publican party is committed TO the pol
icy Of coming the vacuum" much more
than by the sherman Jaw. The question
Of utilizing the seigniorage arose, under
NIr. Harrison's administration. and both
his secretary of the treasury and his
encouragement decided that the seign-
forage was part of the general assets of
the treasury. and that certificates could
be issued upon it. Notwithstanding the
law of 1890 made no expression as to
such issue. AS to the attitude OF the
present administration, we know Of moth
ing to show that it ever objected to
such a measure as is now proposed.
Certainly Mr.. Carlisle did not, for he
said in his last report:
In order that the department might he
in a condition TO comply promptly with
any increased demand that may be made
upon it by the public for standard silver
dollars or silver certificates. or that it
might take advantage Of any favorable
opportunity that may occur TO put an adj
ditional amount Of such currency in cir
culattOn without unduly disturbing the
monetary situation / have caused
large amount of silver bullion to be pre-
pared for coinage at New Orleans and
San Francisco and have ordered the
minis at those places 10 he kept in
readiness to commence opera lions at any
time when required.
There appears no reason why this
bullion should not be utilized. The sud
den change of front by republicans is
clearly due to desire to embarrass the
administration by making Mr.. Harri-
sons deficit as prolonged and injurious
as possible.