The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1902-01-29
Still Prosecuting Silver.

A bill is now before the house in
Washington submitted by the commit
tee on coinage, weights and measures
which is the final step in the scheme
to demonetize and discredit our silver
money and that is bill directing the
secretary of the treasury g to exchange
gold for legal tender silver dollars. "
This bill is fraught with more danger
to the business interests of the conn-
try than any other one step in the
whole scheme to discredit silver money,
for it practically wipes out at one
stroke as money of final payment some
five OF six hundred millions of silver
dollars and makes them mere tokens
of money, puts them on the same plane
as paper money, redeenlable in gold.
This puts the silver dollar below the
status of a national bank note which
is not required to be redeemed in gold
at all nor in anything else but itself:
The advocates of the gold standard
have uniformely held that the green
back was an evidence OF debt because
it had to be redeemed, and If that be
true then, if this bill passes, these sill
yer dollars will cease to be dollars and
will represent that much debt because
they will have to be redeemed with
gold whenever presented at the treas
ury. This in effect will add to the
non-interest bearing debt of the Uni
ted States and will necessitate the ac-
cumulation Of an enormuos gold re-
serve. It in effect cuts our volume Of
money in two and is a Virtual contrac-
tion of the currency and a contraction
of the currency tends toward falling
prices and panics. The time might
come under such a scheme when the
government would be forced to corral
these silver dollars and lock them up
in the treasury in order to stop the
drain on the gold reserve. When a
thing is redeemed it is liquidated and
cancelled and the next step will be to
direct the secretary of the treasury to
melt them into bullion and thus de-
stroy their character as money as is
done with the paper circulation wien
redeemed. This is putting silver in
new attitude altogether and is an
entirely new departure that has never
before been tried. so far as we recall,
since silver became money current
WlGQ CO6 IuGTCDduG. NO udIlOH w
day makes, nor ever has, so far as we
know, made its silver money redeem
able in gold. It has always been
money of final payment. The gold and
silver money of the world are about
equal in volume, something near ST.
600. 600, 900 of each being in circulation.
If the governments of the world were
to pursue the same policy toward sill
yer money that this bill proposes for
us to pursue it can readily be seen that
the effect would be to cut the money
of the world in half and it can readily
be seen what financial distress and
suffering this would bring about.
That in effect is what this bill pro-
poess to do for US in the United
States. The minority report of the
democratic members of the committee
No nation on the face of the globe
requires it's exchequer to exchange
gold for silver. This is a new policy
in the treatment of the precious
metals. Why should this, the great
est silver producing nation in the
world, be the first to strike blow at
one of it's greatest industries? All
representatives, regardless of political
affiliations, should condemn such reck-
less legislation. Mail.