The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-01-23

Our correspondent Of a week or so back
returns TO the case with the following
letter:
January IS. 1895.
Editor OF the Richmond Times:
Dear Sir.-Your courteous reply 20 pre-
Vious communication emboidenS me TO
trouble you with q few more questions.
You say: eff the holder Of a coin note
demanded payment of IL in gold. and such
demand was refused and only silver ten
cered, the, refusal would OF Itself put
gold to d premium, and thus destroy the
parity of the two dollars. II, on the
other hand, the holders of these notes are
allowed, as a matter OF right, 10 demand
payment in gold. is not that putting sill
yer a discount. and destroying the part
" of the two metals
| do not understand how two KINDS OF
legal tender money can be Kept at par
when the creditor has or is conceded the
right to demand payment in the KIND he
prefers.
Again. you say: I'VE must pay the in
terest on our bonds held abroad in what
is its equivalent there, or be set down
as a repudlating nation. AS 10 those
held IN this country, we do not underst and
that the Government holds itself bound 10
paw any of them in gold, unless the bond
calls for it," Do you mean 10 say that
the Government does. or should make
difference between native and foreign
houdholders? Were the bonds issued by
the present Administration sold for gold
exclusively, and are they made payable IN
gold?
I repeat that my inquiries are prompted
by a desire for more light upon our com
plicated financial system.
our correspondent must bear In mind
that his first letter asked US, as we under
stood, for information only why the Gov
eminent gave to holders of the Sherman
notes gold, when they demanded II. We
supposed our correspondent TO be without
information regarding the reason why
this was done, and We gave him the in
formation that he seemed to be seeking,
1t looks now however, as though he only
wanted to draw us into 81 discussion OF
whether it is wise or unwise in the Gov
eminent TO do this. Very well, we are
content to treat the case from this
standpoint. All we have to say about II
is that with the act which ordered the
issuing of these notes, declaring that II
was the settled purpose of the Govern
ment to maintain the parity Of the gold
and silver dollar with the silver dollar
seriously deprecated in value, ana WIN
the Government doing all IL could 70
keep 1t up to a parity with the gold DOL
lar If we had been the President we
should have done exactly what the Ad-
ninistration did. In our opinion. If gold
had been asked for in exchange for these
notes and the Government had refused 10
give gold but had offered 10 give silver, II
would at once have put gold TO premium,
gold would have entirely disappeared, and
we should have been at once put upon
silver basis, with a greatly deprecated
silver dollar as the standard of value.
As TO the bonds, we mean to say that
If we should send our silver dollar TO
London to pay the interest that we owe
Englishmen on our bonds held there, our
credit would be at once destroyed. ana we
should be Immediately placed by the com
mercial world amongst repudiating com-
tries, that refuse to perform their obliea-
tons. We should fall far below the level
of China in the scale of commercial ma
tions. and even Guatemala and Honduras
would stand better amongst them. II
our correspondent thinks we could share
in the commerce of the world with such
a reputation, he mistakes the usages of
trade.
We will say very frankly to our cor
ha.
not TO make difference between its bonds
held abroad and its bonds held here, UNI
less the terms OF the bonds make a diff
ference. But so long as IL keeps its
silver dollar up TO the value OF the gold
dollar il is not a matter OF any moment
10 the American Holder Of Government
bonds whether he IS paid his interest in
silver or in gold. 1T Is a matter of great
moment. though. 10 the English holder, be-
cause our silver dollar is worth in Eng
land only fifty cents, though our Govern
ment. by receiving IL for all dues to II as
a gold dollar. keeps it worth a gold dollar
in the United States.
The bonds issued by the present Admin
istration are payable '1n coin" but what
coin is not specified.