The San Francisco call., 1895-10-13

halt and defend itself the end is not tar oil.
at would not be correct TO say that the
contest is over, because the sentiment in
favor of the free coinage of silver is still
quite strong in some parts of the country,
but it is not strong enough to exert con-
trolling influence in the councils OF either
of the great political parties, and without
this it can accomplish nothing in the form
of legislation or determination of admin
istrative policy. No well-informed man
now believes that our standard OF value
will be changed or that the financial policy
which has been steadily pursued by the
present administration will be abandoned,
and foreign holders of our securities and
foreign investors in industrial and COM
mercial enterprises Will make great mis-
take do they permit themselves to be in
fuenced by the fear that our currency will
be deprecated, or that all our obligations
will not be promptly and honestly dis
charged. The proposition that the United
States alone shall adopt the policy of free
coinage at a ratio which would make the
silver dollar intrinsically worth only about
half as much as the gold dollar, and de-
clare both coins full legal tender in the
payment of debts, is so unreasonable upon
its face that it is difficult to understand
how it could have received the support of
so large part of our people"
Secretary Carlisle combated the sugges-
tion that the gold standard has reduced
the prices OF commodities. He showed
that the amount of money in circulation
per capita is larger than it was in 1873,
when the gold standard was legally
adopted. He stated that the entire In
debtedness of the American people-that
is the current Indebtedness contracted in
ordinary business affairs-has been in
CURED since the adoption of the gold
standard, and he contended that there
was no injustice in requiring payments to
be made in the kind of money recognized
by law at the date OF the contract. He
asserted that the average rate of interest
was never lower than at the present time,
and that profits upon investments have
been reduced to the smallest percentage
consistent with the continuance of the en-
terprises in which the investments were
made. Notwithstanding this the great
body OF our producers, the laboring people
of the country, are receiving as high wages
as they ever received at any period in our
history, and the money in which they are
paid viii purchase IN the markets more
comforts than ever before.
The constant tendency in this country
is to give the laborer more and capital less
out of the proceeds of their Joint products
That is fixed law of our industrial prog
ress, and, unless disturbed by violence or
by unwise legislation, it will continue to
operate until the relations between the
two forces are permanently adjusted upon
al equitable basis. Their real interests
are not conflicting, but independ ent, SSand
every attempt to array one against the
other is injurious to both. II regretted
that one of the most effective weapons in
the hands of our free-silver opponents has
heretofore consisted of appeals to the class
and sectional preiudices of people, but
these appeals appear now to have spent
their force, "and," he said, 'I think we
may congratulate the country upon the
prospect Of a more dispassionate and in
telligent discussion of the subject here
after"
Secretary Carlisle went on to say that
the defeat of the free-silver movement will
not be sufficient to insure permanent
financial peace in this country. The first
great mistake in our currency legislation
was, he said, made in the act of March II,
1862, which authorized the Secretary of the
Treasury to issue United States notes to
the amount of $3.50, 900, 900, and made them
legal tender in the payment of all debts,
public and private, except duties on i'm
ports and interest on the public debt. Fol-
lowing this other acts were passed, under
which additional notes Of the same char
acter were issued, until the whole amount
of deprecated legal-tender paper reached
$382, ,0000O0. This was radical and dan
gerous departure from true financial prin-
ciples, if not serious infraction OF the
constitution of the United States. This
deprecated paper, of course, expelled
specie from circulation; but, as the Gov
ernment had not promised to redeem it
ct any particular time, it subjected the
Treasury Department to 10 serious re-
sponsibility or inconvenience. That de-
partment, for the first time in our history,
was invested with authority TO issue notes
to circulate as money, and for the time
being it was exempt from all responsible
lty for their redemption. But since the
passage OF the act of May 81, 1873, and the
resumption of specie payments on the
first day of January 1879, the situation
has entirely changed, and the Treasury
Department is now merely an agency for
the issue of circulating notes, but is re-
quired to provide for their redemption in
coin and to reissue them when redeemed.
1t thus appears that the Government has
redeemed notes in gold to the amount of
1886, 600, ,00G, and the notes SO redeemed are
still outstanding and may be presented for
redemption over and over again, as long
as our legislation remains in its present
condition. Under such a system of re-
demption and compulsory reissue the diff
Guilty of maintaining a permanent and
adequate coin reserve would be very great
even if the Treasury Department was
properly organized and equipped for the
transaction of banking business, but the
difficulty is greatly augmented by the fact
that the authority of the Secretary of the
Treasury is so limited by the law that he is
not permitted to resort to any OF the means
usually adopted by financial institutions in
cases OF emergency. Gold can be procured
only by sales of bonds or by voluntary ex-
changes of gold coins for other forms OF
currency by the banks, and it is scarcely
necessary to say that these voluntary ex-
changes of po]d coins for otbar forros ~