The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-12-08
Mr.. 4. v. CAMPBELL.
Has Something 10 Say Of Mr.. iiearnes
scheme foI the Coinage OF Sii'er-Mr.
N.nrn.'. Contention Assaulted.


To the Editor OF the lrtclllEcncor.
SIR:-I am in receipt OF copy Of
the Ohio Valley Manufacturer OF the
3rd inst. In which appears an article
on the silver question from the pen OF
MIR. ". II. Hcarnc, especially marked
for my attcn; iOn. and Inasnuch As the
author invites discussion and criticism
| may, | suppose. reEard myself "a
personally called upon 10 give the sub
ject matter sumo attention.
The writer starts OUT With the hyno-
thesis that Il Is At least q political
necessity for tn Republican party TO
conc!lIlte tho Republican silver soma
tors" in order that they may permit
some revenue legislation" 10 he enact
ed. This reminds me OF the statement
OF Senator Teller. that the tariff act
or 1890 WAS tho result q: the silver deal
that cyentuated In the Sherman act ~
that year. Both acts were the Caus" OF
woes unnGmbrred' To the Republican
party. and the Sherman act WAS ihrGe-
lv the cause Of IN. panic OF lEGS and
all the resultant depression In business.
II recent history therefore has taught
us anything It Is tina; # would have
been Infinitely better for both the Re-
publican party and the country that
that deal had never been contaminated
Certainly II ought 10 make all con-
cerncd very SLOW 10 so into another
deal.
Nr. Fcarnc has n plan that he thinks
Will assure the country against tho To.
turn OF disaster from silver coinage. liz
submits an alternative sCirame.eithC
which he thinks would work. lie would
make 80 grains OF pure silver thu
standard for future dollars coined out
nr that metal. But he would not put
the 100 grains (worth now about dol
lar in gold, into silver dollar. Instead
Of that he would Use only 81 grains
for actual coinage Of a so-cnllcd dollar,
while the rest OF the $50 grains he
would reserve as a sort OF 3cpIrahle
concomitant Of said dollar. held in trus;
hy the United States treasury as Il
guarantee Of Its value. Or. II the dcpos-
!,or of 100 grains OF silver preferred /"
have the whole Of II in Uncle Sans
hands. he would Civ. him paper Certi-
ficaie dollar. Just as n paper dollar Is
now given in exchange for
I'll grain silver dollar. Al
our present silver paper mo-
ncy Is Of this character. lsomc $50 or
more mIlIlons). fact which may have
escaped Mr.. Hcnrnc's attention. by
which he will see that h. would thus
add TO present complications by pro-
vIdinG two kinds uf silver dollars, one
twice as valuable AZ the other. We
should thus have what might como to
he known as silver dollars common
and silver dollars preferred" just ms
we have two kinds OF stock nl this
character issued by the same corpora
thn, or just as We have first and Soc
nnd mortgage bonds. Certainly the DIT
ference IN the value OF these two dol
lars would he very marked in the cStt-
nation Of tho commercial world. Just
aY Il was in the case OF thr Trade a nd
Standard dollars some years ago, ]
fear the great law OF Gresham would
intervene to entirely Illustrate Mr..
Hcarncs calculations, or in other
words. that the inferior silver dollar
would drive the superior ono out Of
circulation This Is what always hap
pcng when You have two kinds az mo-
ncy Of the same nominal value, but OF
different real value. and certainly n
dollar with 80 grains Of silver behind II
10 worth more than on" with only 3il
grains Inside OF II. tn" government
would. Of course. stand pledged To sur
render that 40 grains OF silver on re-
turn nf the new dollar. else what value
would itbe? And FOR smelling purposes
this choice would he Invaluable. So
that, in effect, we would have as now,
simply IL 81 grain dollar in circulation.
I nssum" that Mr.. licarnc will admit
that any disparity In these iwo dollars
would ncItralZo their usefulness MS
circulating medium and II there would
be no such disparity then why ask the
IcHOslt0r 10 leave 40 grains nr silver
instead of 81? IT the one would go for
n dollar and the other would 30 for no
more. why double up In the require
inrniH of their respective COiunSc? |
Fay lsEQUl REMENTS, for. OF COura".
Mr.. IICarnc IL aware TINT we arc every
month even h0w. cOIning 3Il-Ernln Hil-
yer dollars out OF the bullion IN hand
under the sherman Act" And 10 coin
80 grain dollars and 81 grain dollars
par! pngau would be to buwlldrr the
world as to what VIC would do next.
OF course. We could not ,ln such
thing: neither could we afford to use
40 grains Of our already bOugh, and
paid for bullion In the treasury ms tho
uunntum for II dollar, for thereby we
would only add 10 the millions of loss
wr have alrrndy suffered by tl.l
uurclnRc Of Il Mt higher prices MI the
way down TO present figures. We arc
estimated Ia have lost. first nnd Inst,
aimee. 1875, FOinC 100 millions, and now
"a double up the amount az silver
in n dollar would h" simply to add q
ynst Increase TO this tremendous loss.
nm sure Mr. llrarnc would not a1vO-
cntc such II policy, and therefore I Il"
mi sec how he can make his plan work
M a practical scheme.