Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1896-01-18

mint Thomas Jefferson In 7gI wrote %
follows:
The proportion between the value Of gold
snd silver is mercantile problem altogether
sss just principles win lead as to disregard
legal proportions altogether, to inquire into
the market price Of gold in the several coun-
tries with which we shall principally be CON
nectcd in commerce and TO take an average
from them.
In letter 10 Mr.. Hamilton IN Febru-
airy, 1892, Mr.. Jefferson expressed his
opposition to cheapening the dollar or
reducing the monetary unit. He said Of
the dollar:
very much doubt q right now to change
the value and especially to lessen it. 1t would
lead to so easy a mode OF paying OF their debts
s%s Should it be thought, however. that con-
gress may reduce the value Of the dollar, /
should be for adopting for our unit, instead Of
the dollar. either one ounce Of pure silver or
one ounce of standard silver 50 as to keep the
unit Of money part Of the system Of meas
urcs, weights and coins.
Andrew jackson in his message of
Dec. 2. 1884, said Of the result of chang
ing the ratio between gold and silver
and the consequent return Of gold to
this country:
The progress Of our gold coinage Is credit
able to the officers Of the mint and promises
in O short period TO furnish the country with
sound and portable currency.
In his message of Dec. 2, 1885, he
said:
1t is pleasing to witness the advantages
which have already been derived from the re-
cent laws regulating the value Of the gold
coinage
In his last message, Dec. @, 1886,
Andrew jackson described the effects of
an imitation Of the currency, and though
he was speaking of bank notes, not al
ways redeemable in coin, his remarks
are equally applicable to any currency
that is not worth intrinsically what it
purports TO be worth and to any reduc-
ton Of the money unit, whether a pa
per dollar worth less than a coin dollar
or a silver dollar worth less than the
gold dollar He said:
The progress of an expansion, or rather a
depreciation, of the currency, by excessive
bank issues, is always attended by loss to the
laboring classes This portion of the commu-
nifty have neither time nor opportunity to
watch the GIBBS and flows of the money market.
Engaged from day to day in their useful
tolls, they do not perceive that although their
wages are nominally the same. or even some
what higher, they are greatly reduced. in fact,
by the rapid increase Of q spurious currency
which. as 1t appears to make money abound,
they are at first inclined TO consider blessing.
1t is not so with the speculator by whom this
operation is better understood and is made to
contribute to his advantage. 1t is not until the
prices of the necessaries OF life become SO dear
that the laboring classes cannot supply their
wants out Of their wages that the wages rise
and gradually reach justly proportional rate
to that of the products of their labor.
Mr.. Ingham was secretary of the
treasury in the cabinet of Andrew Jack
son. In 1880 the absence Of gold from
the circulation because the mint ratio
was not the ratio of commerce led the
senate to call ON Secretary ingham for
a report regarding the relative value of
gold and silver. In his reply, dated May
4, 1880, Mr.. Ingham showed that he
preferred silver to gold, but he did not
pretend that country could have both
in concurrent circulation and under a
system of free coinage. This, he argued,
was impossible. Each country had got
to choose which metal it would take.
In this reply to the senate Jackson S
finance minister said:
However exactly the proper equilibrium OF
values of gold and silver may be adjusted at
the mint, the balance is liable to be disturbed
by causes which can neither be anticipated nor
controlled by political power. If the regula-
tion be founded on the most exact calculation
of relative values for the time being, the vi
brations of the values of gold and silver must
alternately cause the expulsion of each, and
where one metal is more essential to public
convenience than the other the adjustment
which exposes that under any circumstances
to general expectation or melting may be-
come greater evil than a regulation which
constantly excludes from circulation the less
desirable coin. - The proposition that there
can be but one standard in fact is self evident.
80 The history Of coinage abounds with mint
regulations to keep gold and silver together
and statutes prohibiting under severe penalties
the expectation of either, all of which have
disappointed every expectation of their pro
iectors. The adoption of one metal as a stand
ard measure of property IS recommended by
it's simplicity. No change in the mint regula
tions can ever be required, and it removes ev
cry pretext for dishonest or unwise govern
ments to debase their coins.
The congressional committee report
made by Campbell P. White in 1881
agreed with Secretary Ingham in favor
ing silver as the standard and in regard
ing two standards, or bimetallism, as
impossible. The report said:
The committee think that the desideratun
In the monetary system is the standard of uni
form value. They cannot ascertain that botf
metals have ever circulated simultaneously
concurrently and indiscriminately in any
country where there are banks or money deal
ers, and they entertain the conviction that the
nearest approach to an invariable standard i
its establishment in one metal which meta
shall compose exclusively the currency fol
large payments.