The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-01-16
Mr. n,w1r1 1NrERRoaArEp.
He 4, Asked to EIplain'ul' Articls-ThO'
closing Iismari.s.

closing IlemaTils.
To the Editor of the lntelllgcncer.
sIR:-A very readRble and sensible
communication appeA5sa.in your col
umns to-day from the pen OF Wheeling
citizen, Mr.. James L. Hawley, contrib
uted By him to the Pittsburgh Dispatch,
OF the 14th. There IL, in my judgment.
but single exception 10 be taken to the
general drift OF his article In favor OF a
sound coinage, and that exception refers
to his closing remarks and 20 the words
which / have capitalized In the extract
hereto appended, as follows:
NO government can regulate or create
value by the mere assertion; but goNcfE-
ment may very properly investigate facts
and thereby conclude and publish what the
real or Intrinsic value OF any precious
metal IS or appears to be, ana make All
rs coinage according to the intrinsic vAlle
NJ nm established unit. AND ~ SEEMS
TO ME THAT UNDER THIS Plan
POSSIBLY FREE COINAGE NIGHT BIZ
y REASONABLE REALITY"
Now must confess that after some
study OF the above paragraph, aided
trust, by some little familiarity with the
subject matter, l wholly fail 70 pene-
tratc the appOsitencss OF the conclusion
arrived at to the argument carried for
ward by Implication. through the whole
article in favor Of gold as the only pro-
per standard Of value. For instance,
near the end OF the article OF which
have given the conclusion, Mr.. HaWley
makes the following observation:
an conclusion. repeat that in our coin
age we should have one Standard unit Of
value; that unit of value should ne Tue
dollar and should be coined OF that which
4. sr0. g,NaI
value, and all other coinage should be IN
keeping with this one standard in intrinsic
value"
Now. what ! want TO get at Is this:
What does NJ" Hawlcy mean, interpret
ed by the above paragraph, when he
speaks in his first paragraph Of
free silver coinage as prac-
ticable possibility, or, to use his own
words. reasonable reality l ask
for information, because ! cannot con-
meet his general article with any such
conclusion rs that at which he arrives
and am curious to know how he makes
the two correspond
Inasmuch as he favOrs but one stand
ard. because, as a matter of common
.srnSe. there Gamble but one standard,
why does he, at the end, almost neutral
i2c all he has said In Its favor by admit
ting the possibility of free coinage,
meaning thereby the free and unlimited
coinage of silver at some ratio, as II
would seem, as near to gold as possible.
What kind of a silver dollar would that
be as to size and weight? AT the pres
ent commercial value of silver his silver
dollar would have to be nearly twice the
size and weight nf the present silver dol
lar. Thi:; would mean that as pocket
money such coins would be very unpop-
ular and would, like the present silver
dollars, find their way into the United
States treasury in exchange FOR silver
certificates. In other words, they would
differ very little as money from the bull
lion now in the treasury represented by
the so called Sherman notes.
/ beg to suggest to MIR, Hdwley that 1t
is time to get down tu the inevitable and
the practicable in all that we may say
and write. on this subject Of metallic
money. Silver has had It's day and run
It's career as standard money, quasi or
otherwise and henceforward will occupy
only the relation df subsidiary money to
gold. and for that purpose we need give
ourselves no great concern as to the e%-
actncss of its approximation to COM
merclal parity with gold. We are
pledged, of course. to maintain the pari-
ty of the existing silver dollars, which
we have done so far by e%haustinS every
device known to finance, viz, by making
them legal tender for all debts, pubic
and private, even for customs, and then
nj last have had to borrow gold TO help
us carry the load 1.-THE leg9 of the
lame are not equal" and both holy writ
and common sense tell us that they can
" = SINGLE STANDARD.
wheeling, Jan. 10.