Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1896-08-21
[Continued from 2d page. ]

The obligations of the United States tho
option reserved by law to the government
of rcdccming such obligations in either sill
yer coin or gold coin"
Cariisies Testimony.
1t Is constantly assumed by some that
the United states notes, commonly called
grecnbacks, and the treasury notes, issued
under the act of 1890, are responsible for
the recent drain upon the gold reserve, but
this assumption is entirely without foun-
dalton. Secretary Carlisle appeared before
the house committee on appropriations on
Jan. 81, 1895, and quote from the printed
report of his testimony before the commit
tee
Mr.. Sibley-I would like to ask you
(perhaps not entirely connected with the
matter under discussion) what objection
there could be to having the option of re-
.deeming either in silver or gold lie with
the treasury instead of the note holder?
Secretary Carlisle-If that policy had
been adopted at the beginning of resump-
tion-and am not saying this for the pur-
pose of criticising the action of any
of my predecessors or anybody else-the
policy of reserving to the government, at
the beginning of resumption, the option of
redecming in gold or silver all its paper
presented, believe it would have worked
benehcially, and there would have been no
trouble growing out of it, but the secre-
taries of the treasury from the beginning
of resumption have pursued policy of re-
deeming in gold or silver, at the option Of
the holder of the paper, and If any secre-
tary had afterward attempted to change
that policy and force silver upon man
who wanted gold, or gold upon a man who
wanted silver, and especially if he had
made that attempt at such critical period
as we have had in the last two years, my
Judgment is it would have been very disas-
trous
l do not agree with the secretary that 1t
was wise to follow a bad precedent, but
from his answer it will be seen that the
fault does not lie with the greenbacks and
treasury notes, but rather with the execu-
tive officers who have seen fit to surrender
right which should have been exercised
for the protection of the interests of the
people. This executive action has already
been made the excuse for the issue of moro
than $3.50, 900, 900 in bonds and it is i'm
possible to estimate the amount of bonds
which may hereafter be issued if this policy
is continued. We are told that any attempt
upon the part of the government at this
time to redeem its obligations in silver
would put premium upon gold, but why
should it? The Bank of France exercises
the right to redeem all bank paper in
either gold or silver, and yet France main
tains the parity between gold and silver at
the ratio of 15l5 to l and retains in cir
culation more silver per capita than we do
in the United States.
1t may be further answered that our OPP
poncnts have suggested no feasible plan for
avoiding the dangers which they fear. The
retirement of the grccnbacks and treasury
notes would not protect the treasury, be-
cause the same policy which now leads the
secretary of the treasury to redeem all gov
ernment paper in gold, when gold is de-
manded, will require the redemption of all
silver dollars and silver certificates in gold
if the grcenbacks and treasury notes are
withdrawn from circulation. More than
this, if the government should retire its
paper and throw upon the banks the ne
cessity of furnishing coin redemption, the
banks would exercise the right to furnish
either gold or silvcr-in other words, they
would exercise the option, just as the gov
eminent ought to exercise it now. The
government must either exercise the right
to redeem its obligations in silver when
silver is moro convenient, or it must retire
all the silver and silver certificates from
circulation and leave nothing but gold as
legal tender money. Are our opponents
willing to outline financial system which
will carry out their policy to its legitimate
conclusion, or will they continue to cloak
their designs in ambiguous phrases?
Necessity For Bimeeillism.
There is an actual necessity for bimetal-
ism as well as theoretical defense of it,
During the last 23 years legislation has
been creating an additional demand for
gold, and this law created demand has re-
suited in increasing the purchasing power
of each ounce of gold. The restoration of
bimetallism in the United States will take
away from gold just so much of its pur-
chasing power as was added to it by the
demonctization of silver by the United
States. Tho silver dollar is now held up to
the gold dollar by legal tender laws and
not by redemption in gold, because the
standard silver dollars are not now re-
decmable in gold either in law or by adj
ministrative policy.
We contend that free and unlimited coin
age by the United States alone will raise
the bullion value of silver to its coinage
value, and thus make silver bullion worth
$129 per ounce in gold throughout the
world. This proposition is in keeping with
natural laws, not in defiance of them. The
best known law of commerce is the law of
supply and demand. We recognize this
law and build our argument upon it. We
apply this law to money when we say that
reduction in the volume of money will
raise the purchasing power of the dollar.
We also apply the law of supply and de-
mand to silver when we say that a new
demand for silver created by law will raise
the price of silver bullion Gold and silver
are different from other commodities in
that they are limited in quantity. Corn,
wheat, manufactured products, etc. can be
produced almost without limit, provided
they can be sold at price sufficient to
stimulate production, but gold and silver
are called precious metals because they are
found, not produced. These metals have
been the objects of anxious search as far
back as history runs; yet, according to Mr..
Harvey's calculation, all the gold coin of
the world can be melted into a % foot cube
and all the silver coin in the world into q