Year: 1878

The government OF the United
States, In the past twenty years,
have made SO many mistakes that
e Il aim ost o work of supereroga-
alien to partlcularize them. But,
having TO one side the Issues of the
War, and coming down TO later
times, eur characterization of silver
WAS one of the most astonishing
acts Of imbecility ever recorded of
any nation. We were confessedly
the largest producers of silver in
the world. Thousands of square
miles Of our territory were known
to bc underlaid with this precious
metal. Silver had been the cur.
rent money Of the masses Of man.
kind from the earliest recorded
history. The shekel, the earliest
money mentioned in the Bible,
Was = silver coin. It was in she.
kels Abraham paid for the field of
Macpelah. It was the money Of
univsrsal use amongst the most
numerous peoples of the world,
such ~ the Chinese and East In.
dlans. Yet, in face Of these facts,
We deliberately discredited q
money with which we are so
closely identified.


Not the least interesting portions
Of Senator John p. Jones's speech
IN the silverquestion were those in
which he demonstrated the fact that
tho production Of silver, relatively
to that of gold, has really decreased
In the present as compared with
the past. The United States sus-
pended its reputation of silver as
money until it had learned beyond
= doubt that the great reliance Of
the world for the continuance of
silver production, on a great scale,
was ou this country.


The proof is too conclusive to ad-
NIT of doubt that this singular
: attitude of the United States was
brought about at the suggestion of
English capitalists. Great Brit.
ain, after experiencing striking
financial vicissitudes, has for the
last thirty or forty years been
the great creditor nation of the
world. As almost every living
people owe her money, she is inter.
ested in selecting gold as the
medium Of payment, and in de-
pressing the value of silver. If sill
yer were the scarcer Of the precious
metals she would have selected
that. Her whole policy is directed
to increasing the purchasing
power Of the medium in which she
insists on being paid. It.seemi
Incredible that the United States,
Whose people have always demon.
stratively asserted their independ-
encs OF England, should have
fallen 30 readily into an English
trap.


But all the anomalous features
OF our financial situation have by
no means been told as yet. The
Congress Of the United States has
tardiIy repaired its great blunder
and has rsmonetizsd silver. We
are next confronted by the singu-
lar spectacle that the people, who
were once go in love with "hard
money" seem to have been "bull.
dozsdp by the voclferations of the
organs OF capitalists, at home and
abroad, into distaste for silver.
They seem to prefer the greenback,
an intrinsically valueless thing,
whose whole credit is derived from
the endorsement of the United
States government. This is more
strange because the greenback is
not receivable for interest on the
public debt or customs duties,
while the silver dollar OF the
fathers is legal tender for both.
We learn that the Treasury of.
firials find it difficult to keep the
s'hard money" In circulation.


To cap the climax of the absurd
tiles Of our fiscal attitude, past and
present, Californians are in the
front rank Of those who practically
repudiate the new silver coin. We
have always been, to a striking de-
gree, a community of money
changers, but one would think
that the whole people Of the Pacific
Slope would have cordially
hailed the Introduction of the new
money. 1t is true that we have
always been eccentric in our
financial notions. Oar rejection
Of the greenback currency of the
country probably cost us hun
sired million dollars and lost us
half a million people. But our
last vagary is even more surpris-
ing than our first. 1t is almost in
credible. The new silver money,
tiiscredited in the house of its God i
father, might well count upon q
hesitating and equivocal reception
IL the country at large and in the
world.


THE statesman or philosopher
who can devise some method Of re-
stricting the influence OF money