The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1900-10-12

of the Sherman act of 1890, prior t.
the repeal Of that purchasing clause
in 1893 AS fast as this old stock Of
treasury silver is coined into dollars,
an equal amount of treasury notes OF
1890 is retired and cancelled; these
notes having been issued for the pur-
chase of the same bullion which is
now being coined The difference
between the silver dollars heretofore
coined and the limited number which
still remain to be coined under the
provisions of the Sherman act, on the
one hand, and the "free and un-
limited coinage of silver proposed
by Mr.. Bryan, is as follows: The
Esilver dollars, at present, being limit
ed in amount and being indirectly
redeemable in gold. are maintained
upon the basis of the gold standard.
That is to say, silver dollar or a sill
yer certificate which represents sill
yer dollar, passes as equivalent to
gold, and has a parch asing power
which is more than twice as great as
the intrinsic value of the silver con.
tanned in the dollar. For practical
purposes2the silver dollars at present
are like promissory notes made of
silver. They would have the SAINT
purchasing power that they now have,
even were they made of paper. That
purchasing power depends, not upon
the value of the silver which the coin
contains, but, upon the promise of the
u. S. government contained IN what
is called the parity clause" OF the
Sherman act, which is reiterated in
the recent currency law. by virtue
of which through the process of in
direct redemption, the silver coinage
is maintained at par with gold.
And this governmental promise is
accepted as equivalent to gold. because
it is known that the treasury main
tains gold reserve of $3.50, 000, 600 for
the purpose of making such promises,
as well as the promises commonly
known.as g1eenbacks, good in gold.
So long as the American people adhere
to the Republican policy of maintain
ing the gold standard, the paper
promise or the silver promise is good
to the man who receives wages, and
to the man who sells merchandise, as
the gold dollar which stands behind
the promise.
Everybody having confidence in the
fulfillment of the pledge, nobody cares
whether the money he receives is sill
yer, or paper, or gold, for all have an
equal value.
But the proposition contained in
the Chicago and Kansas City plat
forms, giving the privilege to every
owner of silver to have his silver
coined into dollars at the govern
ments expense, and returned to him
with the right to use the same as
money, involves of necessity depar-
ture from the policy of maintaining
the silver dollars upon the gold stan
dard. If everybody had the privilege
of having AZ cents worth of silver
made into a dollar, the silver dollars
thus coined, as well as the silver
dollars already coined, would pass in
exchange ON the basis of the value
of the silver contained in the coin
(about AZ cents), instead of passing,
as at present, on the basis Of the
gold standard. Indeed, the gold
standard is the very pith and essence
of Mr. Bryan's complaint against our
existing money system. He declares
that if anybody believes in the gold
standard he shoRld not vote for Mr..
Bryan, for he promises not to main
tain it any longer than may be neces-
sary to get rid of it. The frequent
complaint of Mr.. Bryan and his adj
herents is that the government has
Disseminated against silver by
giving to holders of government obli
cations the option of being paid in
gold Under unlimited silver coinage
the government would not be obliged
to redeem silver dollars or silver GER
tificates or greenbacks in gold, nor
would they be able to do so, even if
they were Obliged. Even the u. S.
government could not permanently
exchange 50 worth of gold for 81
worth of silver at the optionsof every
owner of silver
In short, under Mr.. Bryan's scheme
of silver coinage, the silver dollars
would be 50-cent dollars, in the sense
that they would be,worth about one
half of a gold dollar Mexico has 90
cent dollars now under free coinage
system, because she gives the priv
lege of free coinage to the silver bull
lion owners. 1, Even the United States
had 50-cent dollars during the dark
days of the Civil war, when gold was
selling at 200. Our greenbacks then
were called :" dollars, but they would
only purchase one-half as much as
gold dollars.
Under free coinage at 16 to /,
theoretically the silver of the world
might seek our mints, and therefore
many people think we should have
more money than we now have. In
fact, it would instantly be discovered
that the silver dollars were worth no
more than the silver they contained.
Therefore, there would be no ma
terial increase of silver coinage, ex-
cept perhaps for brief time. In
stead of raising the value of the silver
of the world up to double its present
value it would debase the value of the
dollars that circulate among our people
down to one-half of their present
value. This would not apply to the
gold coins, which now have, and then
would have, a value dependent upon
the value of the gold nor would 1t apply
to the gold certificates. But Tor all
other forms of American currency it
would mean debasement and repudia-
tinu t0 tho pxtpnt Nf ahOut fiftV captg