Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1895-10-14

Indeed determined enort ny hiany
leaders 10 both Of the great political
y ,rtles IL already being made TO secure
the withdrawal from circulation OF
both treasury notes and silver certih'
Gates and substitute for them SOME
form Of credit money, to be issued by
banking associations, the excuse fsr
thIs being that II ls impossible for the
government 10 maintain the surplus OF
one hundred millions In gold 10 the
treasury so long as every one Is at
liberty 10 present these notes and certl-
Gates far redemption and demand their
payment In gold.
Much is being said by Ananciers and
politicians about the necessities OF
maintaining a sound currency Of equal
exchangeable value, whether gold, sill
silver or paper, and to accomplish this,
the custom has been established, as ]
have before explained, to redeem all
paper currency presented ut the treas
ury With gUld, although silver certif-
Gates are by their expres terms redeem.
able In silver coin OF that metal, and go
while ( happens trat while we have
more than ten times as much outsiaud-
ing paper currency ~ We have gold IN
the treasury with which to redeem II,
Is all held up TO the full value Of gold
for 1t to any Que in any sum in which
It Is presented for red, mption.
This he's led the .yerDment into sm
barassing business complications. To
obtain the gold necessary TO maintain
It's hundred millions In the treasury, IT
has been repeatedly compelled to bor-
row gold and issue government bonds
bearing interest, that by and by will
have to be paid In gold, aud in its last
transaction Of this character II 10 said
u syndicate Of bankers, part Of the
members Of which are members Of this
country and part Of England, took cur
bonds under some arrangements by
which our syndicate was 70 maintain
the reserve In the treasury for given
period, and under that arrangement 1t
has vt different times within the last
few weeks been compelled to Furnish
the government many millions OF gold
In exchange for paper currency.
Notwithstanding the depreciation In
the market price Of silver, there has
certainly been no depreciation In the
value Of gold, fer the gold dollar is just
as large now and just as fine as 1t was
before silver was demonetized, and as
you have seen that all forms of paper
currency are held up to the full value
OF gold by the fact that they are re-
deemed with gold by the government,
1t is apparent that there could be no de-
probation in the value Of money ofany
kind, nor In the value OF any obligation
against responsible party that Is pay
able in money.
THE GREAT QUESTION.
The great question Of the present
hour is whether or not the removal OF
silver from our volume of standard
money has or has not enhanced the val.
ue of gold, and hence, because all paper
currency Is redeemed in gold, the
value of every form Of that kind Of cur
rency. and Of all obligations payable In
money, and correspondingly dimin-
ished the price of every other form Of
property and labor, Of which money Is
the sole measure Of value.
Ifit is true that by legislation or GUS
tom we have largely increased the
wealth Of the creditor class OF our
property owners Of other kinds CORE
spondlngly poorer, and thereby in
creased the burdens Of all who convert
other property or labor into money to
meet pecuniAry OBLIGATIONS, 1t Is GER
tainly true that we have been guilty OF
q very grave wrong towards a vast ma
jority Of our own people.
The fact is indlsputable that sIuce the
decentralization OF silver, there has been
marked decline In the market price OF
the great bulk OF the production OF
labor.
Nowhere has that decline been more
| haanlv falf than I'm iha o0ntinuad de-