The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-26
A SMASHED IDOL.

Readers Of the Salt Lake morning
papers who have good memories. will
have in mind the controversy between
the Tribune and The Herald in refer
ence to the silver dollar, which was
renewed several times until the
former paper dropped its repeated as
sertions which The Herald had proved
were untrue.
The Tribune contended that the sill
yer dollar was no more than token
money. That it was just the same as
greenback. That it's par value was
maintained simply because the gov
ernment stood pledged to redeem it
with a gold dollar whenever called
upon.
The Herald maintained that the sill
yer dollar was money in its own right.
That it was standard money. That the
essential difference between it and a
greenback was, that it was not prom
Use to pay dollar but a, dollar itself.
That there was no promise of the gov
eminent to redeem it in anything.
That & silver dollar was no more re-
deemable in gold than gold was in
silver. That they were really inter-
changeable.
This dispute was never settled by
the acknowledgment from our con-
temporary that it was mistaken.
Posing as the one sole, great and
only exponent of the silver question
IN these regions, and denouncing
everybody else as ignorant concern
Ing that question. of course it could
not be expected to admit its error on
so simple yet vital a point.
We copy below, with some amuse-
ment as we'll as satisfaction. the fol-
lowing which we find in the Ogden
Press of September "a, 1895:
Goldbugs say that a silver dollar is
worth 100 cents now because the
holder of it can go to the United
States treasury and demand and re-
ceiVe a gold dollar for his silver dol
lar. To ascertain how much if any
truth was in the goldbug assertion,
Mr.. Weeks, editor of the Winterset
0owa) Review wrote, the following
letter to the secretary of the treasury,
Hon. John G. Carlisle:
Winterset, Iowa, Aug. 10, 1895.
Hon Secretary of the Treasury, WASH
ington, D. c.:
My dear sir-Having seen the statement
made many times that the standard ST.
yer dollar remains at par because the
government will redeem it in gold. 1
would feel under great obligations if you
will state:
1.-The statute, if any, which requires
the government to redeem silver dollars
with gold.
ITO state whether it is now or has
even been the practice to make such re-
demption. I am. sir.
Yours very respectfully,
A. ". C. WEEKS.
In the absence of Mr.. Carlisle, Mr..
Curtis, acting secretary of the treas
ury. wrote to MIR. Weeks as follows:
Treasury Department, Office of the Sec
rotary, Washington, D. c., August %,
1895:
A. W. c. Weeks, winterset. Ia:
Sir-In reply TO your letter of the 18th
instant. you are informed that there is
no law or regulation of this department
which provides for the redemption of
silver dollars or silver certificates in
gold. Silver certificates are, according to
their terms, redeemable by the govern
ment in silver dollars only. while the
latter, being standard coins OF the
United States. are not redeemable in any
other form Of money. 1t has never been
the practice of the government to re-
deem dollars or silver certificates in gold.
United States notes (greenbacks) and
treasury notes of 1890 are redeemable in.
coin and are redeemed in gold when it
is demanded, in accordance with the
terms of the enclosed circular of No
vember 1, 1894.
Both silver dollars and silver certi-
ficates are received by the government
the same as gold, in payment of all
debts due to the United States. Yours
respectfully W. E. CURTIS,
Acting Secretary.
The reply of the acting secretary
establishes what The Herald MAIN
tanned. But the fun in the foregoing
it. that the Press speaks of the argu-
ment against the silver dollar as one
coming from the "goldbugs," when it
is strictly a Tribune fallacy, enunci-
ated and contended for by the great
journalistic idol of the Press who pre-
tends to be par excellence the cham
pion of silver. The Tribune has made
other plumbers as serious as this, and
at the same time 'posed as the big L
know-it-all-and-yo u-know nothing OF
the Rocky Mountains.