The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1896-09-16
CARLISLE GIVES HIS VIEWS
On the Maintenance of the Parity
Between G)ld and Silver.
in ANSWER TO MANY INQUIRIES
The Secretary Writes on the subject-"The
Government Will Do Whatever It's Moral
Obligations and Express Declara-
items Require 1t to Do"


parity between gold and silver;
Mr.. James p. Helm, Louisville, Ky,--My
Dear Sir; Your letter asking how the sill
yer dollars, which contain a quantity of
bullion commercially worth only about
fifty-tbree cents each, are maintained at a
parity with gold, Notwithstanding the
fact that the government does not directly
redeem them, or the certificates issued
upon them, in gold, is received, and as
great many inquiries upon the same sub
ject are addressed 10 me daily from diff
ferent parts Of the country which it is i'm
practicable to answer in detail will an
swer them all at once.
All the standard silver dollars issued
from tho mints since the passage of the act
of 1873, now amountingto more than S433,
100000, have beon coined on public &C.
count from bullion purchased by the gov
ernment and are legal tender in payment
of all debts, public and private, without
regard to the amount, except when other
wise expressly stipulated In the contract
besween the parties They belong TO the
government when coined and thoy are
paid out by the government ut parity
With gold for property and services of all
kinds, and received from the people at a
parity with gold in the payment Of all
public dues and demands. The govern
ynent has made no discrimination what
ever between the coins of the two metals,
gold having been paid on its coin obliga-
tions when gold was demanded and silver
having been paid when silver was de-
Under this policy the coinage has been
so limited by law and the policy of the
treasury department that the amount
coined has not become so great as to drive
the more valuable coin, gold, out of use,
and thus destroy the basis Of our none
tary system and so long as tho two metals
are Of unequal commercial value, at the
ratio established by law, this limitation
upon the coinage is, in my opinion, abso-
lutely essential to the maintenance Of
their parity in effecting exchanges
If the Limitation were removed conf
dence in the ability Of the government to
preserve equality In the exchangeable
value of the coins would be destroyed, and
the parity would be lost long before the
amount of silver coinage had become
really excessive With free and unlimited
coinage of silver on account of private
individuals and corporations the govern
ment would be under no moral obligation
TO maintain the parity, and, moreover. 1t
would be unable to do so, because the
volume of overvalued silver forced into
circulation by legal tender provision
would soon expel gold from the country
or put such premium upon 1t that 1t
would be impossible TO procure and hold
in the treasury a sufficient amount to
provide for the redemption of silver on
presentation.
In order to maintain the parity under
such conditions the government would be
compelled from the beginning to exchange
gold for silver dollars and their paper rep
resentatives whenever demanded, just as
1t now exchanges gold for its own notes
when demanded; and as the coinage Of
silver dollars would be unlimited and,
therefore, constantly increasing a point
would soon be reached where it would be
impossible to continue the process of re-
demptiOn
The implied obligation of the govern
fnent to preserve the value of the money
which IL coins from it's own bullion and
for its own use, and which it forces its
citizens to receive in exchange for their
property and services, has been supple
mented by two statutory declarations
which substantially pledge the public faith
TO the maintenance of that policy. The
act of July IL, 1890, after providing that
the secretary Of the treasury should under
such regulations as he might prescribe re-
deem the treasury notes issued in the pur-
chase of silver bullion, in gold or silver
coin at his discretion declares that it is
"the established policy of the United
States to maintain the two metals on a
parity with each other upon the present
legal ratio, or such ratio as may be pro-
vided by law, and the act of Nov. /, 1893,
again declares 1t to be 'the policy of the
United States to continue the use of both
gold and silver as standard money and to
coin both gold and silver into money of
equal intrinsic and exchangeable value,
such equality to be secured through in
ternational agreement or by such safe
guards of legislation as will insure the
of the parity of value of the
coins of the two metals and the equal
power Of every dollar at all times in the
and in the payment of debts"
With knowledge of these assurances, the
people have received these coins and have
relied confidently upon the good faith of
their government and the confidence thus
inspired has been most potent factor in
the maintenance OF the parity. The
public has been satisfied that, so long as
our present monetary system is preserved,
the government will do whatever its moral
and express declarations re-
quire II TO do, and very largely as a con-
sequence of this confidence In the good
faith of the executive authorities the sill
yer coins have not deprecated in value 1t
is not doubted that whatever can be law
fully done 10 maintain equality In the ex-
value OF the two metals will be
done whenever 1t becomes necessary, and
although silver dollars and silver certiA-
Gates have not, up to the present time, been
received in exchange for gold, yet if the
time shall ever come when the parity can
not be otherwise maintained such ex-
changes will be made.
1t is the duty of the secretary Of the
traasnrv and Of all other Duhlic officials