The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-08-19

President Coils P Huntington, OF
the Southern Pacific Railroad com
pany. has just returned to New YORK
after several months spent on the con-
tinent. He is one of the closest observ-
ers of record and the news he brings
10 America regarding the silver senu-
ment in Europe is of the greatest IN
terest throughout the United STATES
Mr.. Huntington is an ardent silver
advocate and is firm in his OPINION
that conditions in this country and the
world will not be well until the Whlte
metal is rehabilitated with all or the
powers formerly held by II. lie mas
great hopes of an early international
movement and is almost certain That
some agreement favorable to silver,
the money of the people, as he terms
it, will be reached between the imam
cial powers. II, a representative CT the
San Francisco Call, Mr.. Huntington
gave an interesting account of his
travels in Europe and what he found
there. That portion of the interview
relative 80 the silver question is as
follows:
THE silver question is being dis
cussed abroad good DEAL Mr. Hunt
ington said, and added; "They don t
want us to run into silver currency. l
told them that silver would always
have a place in financial economy, and
that fourteen-twentieths of the human
race belonged to the debtor class, who
would insist that silver should have
good place. There was no one In this
country, 1 said, but who wanted sill
Yer to have a good place. told them
that the gold people on our side were
learning wisdom and favored good
place for silver, but they did not want
it 20 the extent that silver should be
legal tender. To the silver men 1 say:
I am a better silver man than you;
I belive that silver should be a legal
tender to the amount of $685. They said
over there that they were willing to
make silver a legal tender up to 50.
There is more silver in sight ten times
over in France than there is in this
country. The same is true in England.
Here a man viii apologize to you if
he gives you a silver dollar instead Of
a bill. If I wish to pay a hackman for
a short drive at night L would rather
pull out a dollar of our daddies' than
try 20 hunt up bill can be sure of
the silver dollar, but I must have a
light to make sure OF the amount of
the bill. The people of our country are
rather educated up to the use of paper
although in 1887 there was lots of it
that was good for nothing. Now we
are accustomed to using t and we
don't like silver, but we would if we
got used to it, as they are in France
and England. Why, it is common
there to pay for 81 or So worth of goods
in silver. By gradual approaches we
may some time get silver on parity
with gold, but not now. I talked this
abroad and they seemed to regard
this view Of the matter favorably
LAS to the 16 to l question, 1 would
rather have the government stamp on
a piece Of silver on a IS to 1 basis and
declare that this was dollar than to
have it on "a to / basis, for the lat
ter would be too big. If the stamp of
our government says thht such or
such piece of silver is dollar-I am
queer about these things, but such is
my view-then, If the government be
honest that piece of silver is a dollar.
But the danger is that we might get
into the hands Of dishonest people,
and they would END up perhaps by
trying to make dollars out of our for
ests. Give us good men in power and
1t doesn't matter much what the cur
Tency is. Our large transactions are
done by check; the cash IS not actually
handled. 1 pay out a great deal of
money a year, but I suppose I don't
see $4,000 in actual cash Confidence
Is the great factor behind the cur
rency question"