The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-05-18

was maoe In the House of Representatives to
suspend the rules and it passed bill which,
among other provisions, con tanned the follow
ing clause:
ana any owner Of silver bullion may deposit the
same at any Unitei States coming mint or assay
office to be coined into such dollars for his benefit
upon the same terms and conditions as gold
ouiion deposited for coinage under existing laws.
FINALLY, after long discussion in the Sem
ate, the bill was amended by striking out the
free-coinage provision and inserting in its
place the following:
ana the Secretary Of the Treasury is auth rized
ana directed 10 purchase from time to time silver
Ouion at the market price thereof, not less tn an
EoOO,Oo0 worth per month. nor more than S4,-
ooO.OOO worth per month, and cause the same 10
De coined monthly as fast purchased; and a
sum sufficient to carry out the going provision
OF this act Is hereby appropriated out Of any money
In the treasury not otherwise appropriated And
any gain or seigniorage arising from this coinage
shall be accounted for and paid into the treasury
rs provided under existing laws relative TO the
subsidiary coinage.
The bill, with this amendment, was sent
back to the House for the concurrence of that
body, and on the 21st day of February, 1878,
while 1t was under consideration, made the
speech which has been so often referred to
during the last three years by the advocates of
Tree coinage and few sentences from which
they have frequently published. In this
speech l said, among other things, the over
loaded taxpayers of this country, already stag
gering and sinking under the burdens inn
posed upon them by unwise legislation, would
have been subjected by that provision to n new
exact1on OF several millions Of dollars
nually to pay for coming the bullion of CAPT.
talists at home and abroad. l cannot become
the advocate of such system either as to gold
or silver, ana although my vote was given for
the bill as it passed the House under a suspen-
sion of the rules, with this feature in it, did
not approve OF it and then hoped that it would
be amended in the Senate
My position upon this subject is briefly this /:
am opposed to the free coinage of either gold
or silver but in favor of unlimited coinage of
both metals upon terms of exact equality. No
discrimination should be made in favor of one
metal and against the other, nor should any
discrimination be made in favor of the no lders
of either gold or silver bullion and against the
great body OF the people who own other kinds
OF property.
great Government should treat all its
citizens alike, and whenever it attempts to do
otherwise it will engender a spirit of discon
| tent which, sooner or later, must disturb the
harmony II not the peace OF society. 1t is
scarcely necessary TO say that a gross dis
elimination would be made between the two
| metals If the owners of silver bullion were per.
| mitted to have 81 or So cents worth of silver
| coined and stamped as dollar when the own.
/, ers of gold bullion were required to present
100 cents worth of gold in order to have their
metal coined and stamped as dollar The
two metals are coined upon terms of exact
| equality only when dollars worth of silver
/ is contained in the silver dollar and dollar
worth of gold is contained in the gold dollar
| and when no more is charged for the coinage
of one than for the coinage of the other
In the speech referred to showed that the
| ratio established by the coinage act OF 1892
| overvalued silver and drove gold out of circu-
lation.
In conclusion Mr.. Carlisle says:
After careful review of the speech of 1873
1 think it would be perfectly fair interpreta-
ton of il to say:
First-That was opposed to the free coinage
of silver.
Second-That then believed the restoration
of the standard silver dollar to the coinage of
the United States and a larger use of that
metal in this country would not only arrest its
depreciation, but would ultimately restore it
to parity with gold at the ratio of 16 to 1.
Third-That when parity at this ratio had
been restored l was in favor of coming both
metals upon terms of exact equality.
Fourth-That l was opposed to the total dis
use of silver as legal tender money in this
country.
Fifth--That was in favor of an international
monetary conference to consider the adoption
of common ratio between gold and silver
| for the purpose OF establishing internationally
the use of bimetallic money and securing
ixity of relative value between these metals
Upon some Of these propositions my opinions
have undergone a complete change and have
made no attempt to suppress or conceal the
fact. My Official course as Secretary of the
Treasury, and my speeches upon the subject of
| the currency are sufficient, think, to show
quite clearly what my present opinions are,
| and it is not necessary therefore to restate
them in this letter, which is already much too
long. Very truly yours, JIG. CARLISLE.