New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-08
PROMISES STAMPED on METAL.

With many silver men it IS not possible to
argue Some may be informed, if it is possible
to get them to listen to a statement that "l6
to L. does not mean gift of sixteen silver dol
lars for every gold dollar for example. In the
same class belong the very large number who
believe that silver was secretly demonetlzed by
the act of 1873. but who may be enlightened If
they can be made to look at official records,
which prove that the bill had been under discus
sion three years. and had passed both houses
more than once with abundant explanation Of
its dscontinuance of the coinage of dollars
which nobody could then keep in this country,
because they were worth more as bullion abroad
than as coins here. But most of the men who
believe silver stories are beyond the reach of in
formation. so the men who imagine they be-
lieve that silver dollars would continue to be
worth one hundred cents in gold-aS they are
now in their representative capacty-if anybody
could take 100 ounces of silver to a mint and
get $129 20 in silver coin for 1t. are not exactly
amenable TO reason. But there would he no
silver party worth considering if it embraced
only the people who hold such notions.
Probably the most mischevous of all errors
is that the silver dollar can be made worth just
what Government pleases because it gets its
not easy to make men see that the Government
stamp on a silver coin means in effect what is
printed on greenback, 1.-The United States will
pay one dollar" 1t is only because. under the
laws of the United States the public faith is
pledged to keep its coins equal in value to gold,
and the limited quantity Of silver coins can
therefore with certainty be exchanged for legal
tender or gold dollars, that they circulate at all.
| no itS on 81
piece Of paper men comprehend that the paper
is not the dollar itself, but the promise. 1t IS less
easy for them to comprehend that the stamp on
the silver coin is actually nothing but a prom
Use that the United States will make and keep
this coin exchangeable for a gold dollar. But
that fixes the value the coin has in circulation,
because nobody ever thinks Of its intrinsic or
bullion value any more than one thinks of the
| intrinsic value OF the paper on which the other
National pledge is printed.
With few silver dollars in circulation and not
one for which the holder has not actually paid
the value Of a gold dollar, the Government is
able to keep its pledge to maintain the parity of
the two kinds Of coin; in other words, Its pledge
to see that a holder can always get gold dol
lar for a silver dollar But the richest capital
list or banker or merchant on earth could destroy
!
out more promises than the world would accept
at their face value. A Rothschild may be worth
SlOOOOOOOO but if he should put out notes for
81 00,OOO,0W the notes might become nearly
worthless at once. The sum which a Govern
ment can put out in promises to pay Is less
easily defined, but there is always limit. No
| Government on earth can promise without limit
and escape bankruptcy.
That, however, is precisely what the United
States is wanted to do by those silver people
who imagine that unlimited silver coinage would
not cause the coin to depreciate 1t is now a
stamped pledge of the United States to see that
every holder shall be able to get for each silver
dollar a gold dollar, and less than $GO,OOO,OW
Of such stamped pledges are taken and kept in
use. If Government were TO put out S6OO.0U.-
900 of them, everybody would know that it
could not keep its pledge. The instant It de-
cided to pay out 5000 1000 everybody would
know that its stamped pledges wonld before
long be dshonored. and sold for less than the
sum promised and therefore everybody would
be in haste to get what he could for his coin.
Men who desire to be cheated will hold it sufii-
cient that the same coin would continue to be
called dollar But everybody Of practical
sense knows that the value of a coin depends
on what it will buy, and in the instant rise Of a
premium on gold and the swift advance in
prices of commodities would perceive the fall
Of the coin from its value as promise to its
value as metal. The storekeepers who are adj
vertisng to give for every greenback or silver
promise TO pay one dollar goods worth fifty
three cents and Mexican dollar besides are
teaching the people the difference in purchasing
power between the stamped promise of the
/ ,l,, l,f,I, u -
| stamped.