The Portland daily press., 1895-04-08
Concerning the silver Question.
To the Editor of the PRESS:

Concerning the SiSSA &ucstlOn,
To the Editor of the PRESS:
Referring to your editorial touching
upon the aSentimentalism" that attaches
to the discussion of Bimetallism, have
made something OF study OF it for the
past few years and have not discovered
anything of what you term Sentimental
ism.n / found only hard facts, sound
reasoning and conclusions which ara be-
ing justified By daily experiences.
I confess have some sentiment" in re-
gard to the green back, but not to an I'M
limited issue of it. The present issue of
green backs was born of the terrible
financial necessities of the war; they
served a good purpose then and have
been accepted with perfect confidence by
our people after the exigency of their
first issue had passed away. | never
heard any soldiers of our civil war find
fault with them when they bartersd
their services, their blood and their
lives for them at the rate OF fourteen
dollars per month. They were always
glad to take their pay in greenbacks,
although they had in 1864 deprecated in
gold value to the extent OF about two
fths of their face. During my service in
the army never heard a soldier demand
that he should be paid in gold according
to the terms of his enlistment contract;
he appreciated the financial difficulties
his government was in, and took his pay
in irredemable paper currency; while the
custom revenue OF the government paya-
BILE in gold was pledged to the bondhold
er. A Kennebec banker in recent ad-
dress before the State Board of Trade IN
this city following the lines of more dis
tinguisEed mem bers of his guild spoke
Of the green back as relic of the war
that had served it's purpose, whose day
had gone by, that it ought to be stored
in the museums with other memorials OF
those terrible days, but that the ooliga-
tion of the government, which the green
back represented, ought to be solidlfed
in a long term gold bondG and the void
in our currency caused by the funding of
this particular obligation of the govern
ment ought to be filled by further issue
of National bank notes based upon gov
ernment credit, and ultimately to be
redeemed by the s. Treasury-all this
at an annual cost III interest to the gov
eminent of ten millions of dollars.
The white metal" has been degraded"
by the law of 'S3. Up to that time it was
the equal, or rather the superior, of
gold; it was minted on equal terms; the
silver dollar was the unit Of value; was
worth in gold 81. .03. But under the law Of
1878 its coinage was stopped; it's unit of
value transferred to the gold dollar, and all
the functions of money taken away
from it. think that the teaching Of
COINS Financial School" is correct
when it says that gold is the money of
the rich and silver the money of the
poor. One of the strongest arguments in
favor of the use of silver is that it is
better adapted to the requirements of
the poorer classes than gold, being more
durable and more convenient for their
limited uses in it's smaller divisions
This is the chief reason that it is almost
wholly the money of the East.
You may search the pockets of the poor
the world over, and If you find any
money in them it will be silver money
and not gold. Tie effect of all the hos
tile legislation against silver has not been
to diminish it's purchasing power-it has
as great purchasing power now as 1t had
twenty years ago, but it has been to
increase the purchasing power of gold.
1t has brought the whole money demand
OF all the great commercial nations of
the world to bear upon the one metal,
gold, instead of upon the two metals,
gold and silver. The value of all pro.
ducts that are not interfered with by ar
tificial com binations, is measured in
gold. AS you increase the value of that
metal, you diminish the price of all COM
modities which it measures; you take
from the producer a fit return for his
labor; you restrict his ability to pur-
chase and disorganize the whole system
of business.
9 w m