St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-26
NOT A FAIR TEST.

Willie we nave an arQenL dQmlra-
ton for ]. Sterling Morton, secre-
tary of agriculture, as a cabinet of
hcer who can save million dollars
year out of his appropriation, and
as Democrat without fear and with
out reproach, we consider the expert
ment which he has made in his de-
partment, in paying the salaries of
subordinateS in silver coin, to be
inconclusive in itself and useless for
the purpose intended. No doubt Mr..
Morton proposed to give the en-
ployes in the agricultural depart
ment, and incidently the whole pub
lie, an object lesson in the folly of
free silver. We think that he is
mistaken in the method adopted. It
does not require such an act to
prove to anybody that the use of
silver dollars in large transactions
would be inconvenient or impossible
But that establishes nothing in the
way of general principle. The en-
ployes who objected to it were quite
right in saying that man would OBJ
ject just as strenuously to receiving
gold coin, if the amount to be paid
him to carry away several pounds
Of the yellow metal.
If we are to argue anything at all
in money matters from weight and
inconvenience, we would find that
the difference between gold and sill
yer in this respect depends entirely
upon the amount that passes. This is
not the conclusion that Mr.. Morton
wishes to enforce, nor is it correct
one. 1t is quite possible, indeed, that
his little performance may do mis-
chief; by confirming in the minds Of
his free silver clerks the opinion that
gold and silver coin at the present
ratio are of Indifferent value, since
the inconvenience imposed by the
use of one would be equally obvious
in different circumstances in the
case of the other. The objection to
the free coinage and use of silver
has no connection whatever with
the weight of the coin in bulk. If
congress were to pass an act tomor-
row requiring silver dollars to be
coined hereafter at the market ratio,
practically doubling the amount of
silver in each dollar, such coin would,
as long as that ratio remained fixed,
view of sound money. If there were
a dollars worth of silver in the silver
dollar nobody could object to it. If
that were the case, however, the
silver dollar would weigh almost
twice as much as it does now. In
that event, if Mr.. Morton were to
pay his clerks in silver they would
have to carry away twice as much
metal as burdened their pockets,
while every dollar of it would be not
only on its face but in its bullion
value the equivalent of gold. This
shows that the secretary's object les
son is a mistake.
Gold coin may be used, or silver
coin, or the paper representative of
either, with equal propriety by the
government The sole condition is
that the money of the nation shall
have an exchange value, without the
support of legal tender acts or other
government interference, equal to
| it's face. II behind every paper dol
lar there stands a coin dollar, and
if the value of that coin dollar in bull
! lion is one dollars worth of COM
moditieS, then it is a matter of in
difference how many of each may
be in circulation. The Objectionable
part of our money system is the
element of fiat. 1t exists in the sill
yer dollar. That is why Mr. Morton
dislikes it. If there We're more
! silver dollars coined at the present
! ratio, there would be more fiat; so
! much more that the credit of the
/ government itself would be unable
to maintain them at par That is the
! point about which the battle now