The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1896-07-17
SHELTON MASON COUNTY, WASHINGTON FRIDAY JULY Il 1885,
The Money Of the United States.

The Money Of the United States.
In his informal acceptance of th
Presidential nomination Governor Nc
kinley said, in regard to the money Q
the United States, that it "must no
only be current at its full face value
at home, but it must be counted a
par in any and every commercial cen
ter of the globe"
Such has been the case ever sine,
Jan. l, 1879, when the resumption &C
went into effect, and is the case today
Silver dollars, United States notes
treasury notes, and national bank billl
are all counted at par in any anG
every commercial center Of the globe, >
and have been for seventeen years and
half. Yet the New York Sun, in
commenting on this part of Major Nc.
Kinley's speech of acceptance, says:
Now, there are only two ways OF
making every commercial center OF
the globe count our dollars at par.
One is to persuade or compel all the
nations OF the earth to take at par
American dollars which are worth less
than par, and that is an enterprise
rather too large for us. The other is
to put forth no dollar that is not in
trinsically worth par in the worlds
exchanges. That means gold dollars
or dollars based on the gold standard
the worlds standard of value.
Now, what are the actual facts in re.
gard to the money of the United
States? Broadly speaking, less than
one-third of the money of the United
States in actual circulation is gold
and hardly more than one-fourth OF
the general stock, that is, metal coin
ed and paper issued, is gold. Yet
every dollar is now, and has been for
over seventeen years, "counted at par
in any and every commercial center oil
the globe" The division of loans and
currency, Treasury Department, pre-
pared statement showing how much
money of different kinds we had in
this country Oct. 1, 1895. This state
ment is the most reliable one of the
kind to oe found. The gold coined
was set down at $500, 100, ,818; in Cir
culation, $469, $4,000, the rest, $780,
216,756, being in the treasury vaults.
The coinage of silver dollars was at
that time $423, ,2S9, ,3O9. The amount
of these dollars in actual circulation
was $55, ,146,5 ,527, and of silver certifi.
Gates. a proxy circulation of the same,
$685., ,297 ,5O4, leaving the amount o.
standard silver dollars not in circula-
ton, even by proxy, $29, ,845, ,278 in the
treasury that could be paid out. Oh
course the coin represented in circula-
ton by certificates must be kept in
the treasury for the specific redemp-
tion of the certificates.
We have gone into these details, dry
and repellent though they are, because
there is studied and varied attempt
to misrepresent the facts in the case
The free silverites, Democrats, and
Populists are trying to make the peo-
pie believe that the Republican party
is committed to the demonetizing OF
silver and the corruption of our full
legal-tender money so that, as the Sun
puts it, our government shall "put
forth no dollar that is not intrinsical-
ly worth par in the orld's exchange"
Nor do these political misrepresenta-
tions stand alone. Wall street and
the single gold standard advocates
generally are trying to make it appear
that the Republican party really
means nothing but gold. So from
various directions the people are being
told, in one form or another, that the
Republicans propose to place on a
non-legal tender basis all these silver
dollars. The Sun does not exactly
state that Major Mckinley favors this,
but its language would naturally pro-
duce that impression. This country
has, as a matter of fact, persuaded, not
compelled. "all the nations OF the
earth to take at par American dollars
which are worth less than par" So
far from being ian enterprise rather
too large for US" it is one that we car
ried on With ease until the Democratic
party came into control of the govern
ment and bred distrust of our financial
solvency and good faith. There is no
reason to suppose that William Nc
Kinley will find any difficulty in
maintaining all our silver do liars on
the same basis of current value as a
circulating medium as our gold. But
on free-silver basis any such main
tenance would indeed be ian enter
prise rather too large for US. Chicago
Inter Ocean.