The Portland daily press., 1895-05-25
The Decentralization of Silver.
To the Editor of the Press:

Inc DECENTRALIZATION u SutcIs
To the Editor of the Press:
In a communication touching the de-
monetization of silver, in your issue OF
the Goth inst, signed S. W. 7. the writer
says: ''By that act the volume of the
world primary money was reduced one
half and commerce is struggling to adjust
itself to the changed conditions The
world appears to be getting along very
comfortably under this great reduction
of cash and in fact, financial ease is the
rule all over the world just now and
commerce seems to have struggled
quite successfully in adjusting itself to
the changed conditions" for on all sides
we find business improving, the great in
dustries of the country resuming work,
wages increasing and cheerful, confident
feeling pervading all classes. AS to the
panic of 1898 and the business prostration
following it arose from various causes but
silver agitation was responsible for a
large share of the trouble; the threat of
silver basis, the increasing piles of so
cent silver dollars under our coinage laws,
the possible disappearance of our gold all
had to do with creating alarm in the
business world and general loss of con-
confidence all around. Your correspondent
further states, that 'up to 1878, both gold
and silver were universal money metals,
of equal power for purposes of inter-
national exchange &c" The two metals
were never of equal power, for any pllr-
pose. So far as our country is concerned,
Congress passed law in 1899, creating
double standard of gold and silver at
ratio of 10 to and later of 16 to l. Dur
Inf rirr or
when the single standard was adopted,
there were coined but about 5000 900 of
silver dollars, while during this same
period upwards of $685. 900, 600 of gold
was coined During all these years al
though the law was intended to maintain
an equality between the two metals, the
actual money in use was gold, and with
it, the Government paid its employees,
the people made their purchases, and
paid their debts in fact, the gold dollar
was really "the dollar of the daddies.''
Since 1878, however, more silver has been
in circulation than during the old DAYS of
the double standard, we also have more
gold than ever before, and it is safe to
say, that there is more money, per CAPITA.
in circulation today, in this country. than
ever before during its history From 1899
to 1878 the country experimental with a
double standard and it appears to have
been found wanting. Gold was decidedly
preferred by our fathers, and it ought to
be good enough for us. If the two metals
should be declared equal by law in debt
paying power, the only way to prevent
the cheaper metal from driving the other
out, and to keep both in circulation
would be for the government to guarantee
that the coins of the cheaper metal shall
be redeemed in the other, if desired, and
thus kept at parity. A limited issue of
silver, as money, up to the point where
the government could safely give its
guarantee for redemption, would un-
doubleday be both desirable and benefi
cial but if the coinage of innumerable
guarantee, and power to redeem EN- all 18th the
lation So far as this country is con-
cerned, the decentralization of silver,
cuts no ice, - as the boy said, because
we are actually using all the silver coin
rne people want and more ,,b bhan Standard ws ia
H J. E.