The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-09-24
..s4y SILVER poLLARe ARE 40 GOOD
"a. As GOLD ONES.


How is IL that can buy as much now with
q silver dollar as I can with gold doilarP
Why won't silver dollars be Just a. good un.
der free coinage as they are now2
These are samples Of tho inquiries
that men are asking all over the coun-
try, and these and similar queries have
poured in upon Secretary Carlisle in
such quantities that he has deemed ii
advisable to answer them by means Of
an open letter, which contains q clear,
frank and convincing explanation Of
this matter.
Summed up in q single word, 1t may
be said that FAITH is at the basis Of the
governments ability to maintain each
of the silver dollars on par with gold.
The people have faith that each silver
dollar issued by the government will
purchase exactly as much as gold dol
lar will. Remove that faith, destroy
that confidence, upset that belief, and
the government, strong and powerful as
it is, will find itself unable to maintain
the parity between the silver and the
gold dollar, with the inevitable result
that the silver dollar will sink to its
commercial value Of about SO cents,
while, on the principle that poor dolla,
drives out good one, the gold dollar
will disappear entirely from circulation.
The people Of this country have freely
received silver dollars because the faith,
the honor and the integrity Of the ma
ton are pledged to keep the silver dollar
on an equality with the gold dollar.
For this reason the silver dollar, in
spite of its commercial shrinkage, has
been readily accepted at its face value
by the people. But if any doubt arises
in the public mind as to the govern
ment's ability to keep its pledge, there
is at once sudden withdrawal Of gold
from circulation either by foreign cred
itors or by domestic hoarders. Such
condition was created in 1898 and was
responsible for the panic Of that year,
which was further due to the additional
fact that the government was issuing
too many silver dollars under the Bland
law, and too many paper dollars in pay
ment for silver bars under the Sherman
law. Congress was obliged, therefore,
to stop the issue Of this money. But al
ready nearly 5000, 900, 900 in silver dol
lars and silvernotes had been created, and
the government naturally found oonsid-
cradle trouble in keeping this mass Of
silver, together with SS46, 100000 in
greenbacks, on a parity with gold. As
result it was obliged at times to pur-
chase gold to keep up the equality by the
issue Of bonds.
Now, if the government has had so
much difficulty in keeping its silver and
gold dollars exchangeable, with a COM
paratively linaited issue of silver dollars
and notes, how can it possibly hope to
maintain this parity when our mints are
open to all the silver of all the world,
when the citizen Of any nation on the
globe can come to our minis and have
So cents worth of silver metal coined
into a silver dollar? The government
would no longer be able to redeem its
obligations in gold, because point
would soon be reached where it would
be impossible to exchange gold for silver
dollars and their paper representatives,
the parity between the gold and silver
dollars would soon be removed, the
equality in the exohangeable value Of the
coins would be destroyed, and the coun-
try would descend to silver basis, with
the result that silver dollar would be
worth its commercial value and nothing
more.
This commercial value now amounts
to about SO cents, and, reckoning on that
basis, the enactment Of a law for the
free and unlimited coinage Of silver at
the ratio of 16 to would be a violation
of the explicit obligations of tho nation,
which by an act Of congress has de-
clared it to DO the established policy
of the United States to maintain the
two metals on parity with each other. ="
1t would be confession that the people
had lost faith in the ability and integ-
rity Of the government to redeem its
promises. 1t would be "a violation of
the implied and expressed pledges on
the faith of which the people have ac-
cepted hundreds of millions of these sill
yer dollars in payment for goods and
services at their full gold value. 1t
would be wholesale reputation Oh the
part Of the government against its own
citizens, and the dollars, being full legal
tender, would compel all debtors to re-
pudiate half their obligations, cut down
pensions, wages, salaries, savings bank
deposits and insurance policies one-half,
and whelm the whole country in disas-
ter"
These are, in brief, some Of the rea-
sons why the silver dollar today passes
equal and current with its gold COM
panion, and why the silver dollar will
sink to its OWL intrinsic value if our
mints are opened to the free and uniim-
tied coinage Of silver.
A tricky dollar never yet made any
nation prosperous nor added anything
to the real wealth of its people. "An
honest man is the noblest work Of Cod"
and an honest dollar is the noblest mon.
", and the most profitable that honest
men can coin or use.
The Arkansas verdict was discounted
n advance. Every one knew that the
Bryanites were guilty of as colossal
rauds as Tammany Hall ever commit
ed. And that is saying great deal
wen for Tammany.
Free silver means disgrace and nov