Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-06-13

The bin OF Congressman Hill 10 au-
thorze the coinage Of silver dollars in
70 subsidiary money is OF much inter-
est to the west. and It may be Of value
70 citizens TO know the views Of Con-
gresham Sutherland as expressed In a
speech upon the subject delivered In
The house It was as follows;
It Is a matter OF sincere regret that
] antoompelled TO differ with the dis
tnguIshed gentleman from Connecti-
cut (Mr. HID. who Is In charge Of the
pending bill and for whose great abilI-
~ and learning upon financial ques-
tons have the utmost respect.
] am not opposed TO that provision
of the bin which contemplates an in
crease in the quantity Of the subsidiary
coin. The officials Of the treasury seem
10 regard II as necessary, and have
no doubt that it Is.
The bill under consideration provides
that The silver bullion now IN the treas
ury shall be used for the purpose OF
this subsidiary coinage. and provides.
further. that when this bullion shall
DE exhausted, and that as public me-
cesslties may demand thereafter the
secretary OF the treasury Is authorized
10 recoin the existing silver dollars in
80 subsidiary coins. This latter pro-
vision regard as both unnecessary
and unwse The silver dollars are now
by law full legal tender for all debts,
public and private. They comprise moro
than one-quarter OF all the full legal
tender money In existence In the Unit
ed States. They have always been
maintained at par with gold. even IN
the dark days between 1899 and 1896
when the business affairs OF this coun-
try were In q condition OF stagnation
from one end OF the land to the other
There Is not. In my judgment. the
slightest danger OF the silver dollar go
Ing below par the inAnltesimal fraction
OF a cent under any imaginable busi-
ness conditions so long as they are full
legal tender for billions OF dollars Of
private and public debt. II Is proposed
by this bill TO convert this full legal
tender money, which In everything hut
name Is as good as gold, into q class
OF coins that are not full legal tender |
but have only limited legal tender
quality under the law To the extent |
10 which this Is done, TO the extent 10
which these silver dollars are convert.
ed into subsidiary coins. the basic mon-
ty Of the country IL contracted
What Is the necessity for this pro- |
posed action? The advocates OF the |
bill say that we have IN existence more /
than 500000,000 OF These silver dollars. |
and we are able 10 put into circulation |
less than 100000 that the remain
der are held In the vaults Of the Unit
ed States; and they say that u is bet-
ter TO convert this class OF silver mon
ey. which will not circulate among the
People, into subsidiary coinage which
Will circulate among them.
Now. Mr. Chairman, the truth |
about II Is that the silver dollars cir
culate precisely the same az lhe $50
gold pieces clrculate---that Ia, In the
form Of paper certificates redeemable
IN coIn--the silver dollar in the forln
N certificates redeemable In silver
dollars. the gold coin IN the shape OF
gold certificates redeemabe In gold
coin.
When the gentleman from Iowa fMr.
SMITH, who strongly advocates this
bill, was discussing this question, ]
1eked him why It was objectionable TO
our silver In the form % sill
YER certificates and not Objectionable 10
circulate our gold In the form OF goid
certificates. He answered me that
there was no objection TO circulating |
silver In the form OF silver certificates |
that he knew Of. And yet he at once