The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-25
A Tale of Two Dollars.

values of two silver dollars, one a
| Mexican and the other an American
| dollar, the Times says:
The American silver dollar is not
backed by gold" 1t Is primary money,
money of ultimate redemption, it rests
upon Its own bottom, and this government
| has never promised to redeem 1t in gold
| or anything else. II gold were demone-
tized tomorrow the silver dollar would
circulate at its face value just the same.
| The real reason why the American dollar
maintains its value Is that II is q full
legal tender for the payment of all debt.
| The trade dollar contains about the same
quantity of silver as the Mexican dollar.
There was a time when the trade dollar
was legal tender In this country and It
circulated side by side with the stand
| ard dollar There was even time when
the Mexican dollar was n legal tender in
this country and then 1t was worth as
much as any of our silver or gold dollars
If either or both were legal tender they
would today pass current az 100 cents.
But they have lost that quality and have
suffered in valve in consequence thereof
This demonstrates the wonderful effect
produced upon bullion by making it a
legal tender. Without this quality the
DullOn is SO Hlucn metal Win tHe ltSdi
tender quality the bullion becomes coin
which everybody wants. Silver and gold
as bullion and silver and gold as legal
tender are as different as the rough stone
and the statue chiseled from it by the
sculptor When free coinage sends
the value of silver up no one will be able
TO buy the Mexican dollar for less than
100 cents.
If the American silver dollar is "pri-
mary money, money of ultimate re-
demption," what becomes Of the Times
claim that silver has been demonetized?
All the free coinage orators complain
that silver has been stricken down, that
it has been done to death" by the
''crime of 1879; yet here is free sill
yer organ which declares the present
volume of our silver currency (Which is
nearly 100 times as great as it was in
1879 is primary money. money of ultl-
mate redemption" and full legal ten
der for all debts. IF that be true, then
we already have bimetallism and the
hullabaloo of Bryan, Bland & Co., is a
false alarm.
AS a matter of fact. the Times Is
wrong. Our silver money, while legal
tender it is true, is kept up to the gold
ernment, never departed from since
specie resumption i'm 1873. in redeeming
every matured obligation in gold. While
the holder of a silver dollar or a silver
certificate cannot at sub-treasury de-
mand a gold dollar In exchange, he
knows that in the ordinary processes of
business he can trade it on even terms
for a bank note or treasury note,
either of which must upon presentation
(under the rulings Of the treasury de-
partmenD be redeemed in gold. Be-
cause our silver money Is limited in
volume. everybody knows he can get
gold or its equivalent for that silver.
But If we should issue silver money
in unlimited quantity, as Mexico does,
that privilege of interconvertibility
would disappear and we should fall to
silver basis, with gold at a prem
ium just as it now is in Mexico.
The legal tender function did not keep
the greenback at parity with gold in
war times. 1t did not make confederate
money good. 1t does not make the
Mexican silver dollar good for more
than its bullion value. A gold dollar
when melted is worth practically
100 cents, the world over; but melt one
OF our present silver dollars and you get
for 1t only about So cents, its bullion
value. This proportion would still be
true If we had free coinage. Our silver
dollar then would pay 100 cents worth
of debt, but it would buy only SO cents
worth Of gold, and all who owe gold
debts would have to pay literally in
order to get the gold with which to dis
charge those debts. Free coinage by
Mexico has not sent the value of sill
yer up. 1t has only sent the purchasing
power of Mexican wages down. 1t has
doubled the Mexican laborers grocery
bills, his clothing bills and the cost of
his other necessaries. 1t has not
doubled his wages. His wages, on the
contrary, are falling.
In the days when Mexican and trade
dollars were as good as gold dollars in
this country, the bullion value of the
silver in them was worth in the mar
kets of the world as much as the gold
in a gold dollar. If the Mexicans would
now put a dollars worth of silver in
their silver dollar it would again be
worth as much as the gold dollar. But
to do that they would have to coin their
dollar at the ratio OF 90 to /. Whenever
the Bryanites agree to put dollars
worth of silver in the silver dollar,
one of the principal objections to free
coinage will vanish.
''The only policy for the United
States to follow in financial matters Is
that Of honesty and Ex-senator
Cullom.
Good Advice.
The Buffalo Enquirer thinks there is
one plain fact to be kept before the
people in this presidential canvass. I'm
1892 the Democratic party promised free
trade and represented 1t as the great
est possible boon to the farmer and
the working man. 1t was to bring on