The National tribune., 1895-06-27
SILVER IN THE TREASURY.


Way to Remonetize Silver,p which has given
rise to some very serious thoughts in my
mind. Heretofore / have always accepted
every statement made by The NATIONAL
TRIBUNE as being law and gospel, but the
article above alluded to has entirely stripped
me of such illusion. The article is too long
for me to quote here in full. will allude 10
but one statement. which involves question
| of veracity between you and j. q. Carlisle,
| Secretary of the Treasury 1t is as follows:
May there were 1863, 713, $50 silver dol
| lars stored up in the vaults in Washington,
and they have remained there for many
years in spite of every effort of the Govern
ment to force them into circulation"
In that statement You have laid yourself
| open 10 one or other OF two charges: First,
| that you were ignorant of the subject treated
of; or, second, that you made it to deceive
| your cid comrades.
Carlisle said in his Covington speech May
| 90:
Under this act TACT of '7s), and the So
called Sherman ast, and the act providing
for the recOinage of trade dollars, there have
been coined at the minis of the United
States and put into circulation during II
years $780,, $50 1873 in full legal-tender,
| standard silver, as against $S,030.O00 coined
during the whole previous existence of the
Government"
Now, which of you are right? IF you are
right and Carlisle is wrong, and made that
statement TO deceive, he should be exposed.
If you are wrong, to say the least, you should
try and post yourself better on finances
Yours in F., C., and L.-IsAIAH MILLS,
Gainesville, Tex.
L. S.-Carlisle further stated in reply to
Congressional inquiry, that there was not
n silver dollar in the vaults that was not
pledged 10 redeem an outstanding silver GER
tifcate.-I NJ.
Our statement was absolutely correct.
The Treasury Statement for June !,
1895, says:
Standard silver dollars coined $423,277 ,219
Standard silver dollars in Treas
uTy oiu.7O1ofJ
Standard silver dollars in cir
cuiation June l, 1895 S52,S12,57O
These are actual facts. What Mr..
Carlisle probably meant was that Unit
ed States notes representing these dollars
were in circulation, not that the dollars
themselves were.
The same statement of June | says:
Silver certificates issued =. $32s, 245, 5O4
Silver certificates in Treasury. 6,692, 1873
Silver certificates in circulation
June j, 1895. ~. 1921 ,553, III
This leaves an apparent discrepancy
between the amount of silver dollars in
the Treasury and of the notes issued
against them of s43,9f1, 47S. This is
accounted for by the dollars coined un-
der the Sherman Law. The same State
ment says of the notes Issued under this
law: -eaHt
Treasury Notes, Act Of July IA,
1870, issued Sl4S,0442SO
Treasury Notes. Act of July Ia,
1890, in Treasury F. 30,089, 473
Treasury Notes, Act Of July IA,
1890, in circulation $117954s07
Silver bullion in Treasury S124,528559
Now, it must be clear to everybody
that there must be the following amount
of silver in the Treasury:
Standard silver dollars 1910, Asa G49
Silver bullion which cost. F.. 124, 528553
Total S434 ,993205
Against this there is paper in circula-
ton, as follows:
Silver certificates 1921 ,553 III
U. S. notes of 1890. -. 1884 S07
Total :. >. >. S439 5O7 ,S7s
Therefore, if we assume the silver bull
lion to be worth what it cost, there must
be 500, 485, 1886 in silver in the Treasury
which is not represented by notes in the
hands of the people. Any man capable
of adding two numbers together can see
this at once
Bat this, after all, is net the gist of
the matter, in our opinion. Even fevery
dollars worth of silver in the Treasury
were represented by 81 in silver notes in
the hands of the people, it would still re-
main q fact this vast accumulation of
silver, which nobody shows the least
desire to actually use in his daily doings,
gives weight and force to the arguments
against the "white metal" The Treas
ury has made strong efforts to get the
silver into circulation. For awhile it
shipped large quantities to points where
they were asked for, and paid the ex-
penses itself, in order topromote the Cir
cuIation and relieve it Of the trouble and
expense of storing these dollars. But
all these efforts have been futile. The
dollars have come back within few
weeks after being sent out, and never
more than $60,000,000, or less than 81
per capita, have remained in the hands
of the people. Hla