Year: 1878

reasons why the bill should not be passed; although
the few advantages which be attributed to such
q standard, while overwhelmed by the disadvan-
tages. are in no single instance shared by the
peculiar currency which this bill seeks to impose
upon the country.


b-metallic currency would have the ADVANTAGE
of Obliging the Government to resume, as IL caiis
for the circulation of both metals, as egaltender
side by side; and it always possesses the turther
merit that it can never be permanently inflated.
Any depreciation of either metal below the relative
value fixed by law will drive all Of the other metal
from circulation; and any further attempt at de-
probation of the mono-metallic currency which IL
left will, by increasing prices, regulate ltsei
through the medium of the foreign exchanges Such,
however, will never be the experience OF the Diahd
currency The scheme of this bill is to add an In
definite quantity Of silver to the present volume OF
the currency, which consists not OF gold. but OF IN
convertible paper. Such addition will not, as In
the case of double standard, drive all
the paper from circulation nor will it drive out
any of it. The paper will remain; and the silver
will remain except what is needed abroad; and the
result will be that each and every issue of silver
dollars will initiate the currency, and it Will stay
inflated The value OF silver and the Government
promises will depreciatc, and the price OF gold VIII
increase rapidly and indefinitely, and the day oi
resumption be as indefinitely postponed. The de-
mand for the Bland dollars would be so great. on
account of its cheapness, tha5 it is not to be pre-
sumed that the Secretary of tho Treasury wonid
issue any less than the full amount per month a'i-
thoIized by the act. Being left, however discre-
tionary with him, between two and four millions,
the monthly Issue would be entirely uncer-
tain, and afford fresh ground for speculation
Thus the volume Of the currency, which
should accommodate itself, though the laws
of demand and supply, to the wants OF trade, Is
made to fnctuate from dav to day, according to the
will of one man. and without any reference to the
requirements of such laws Such regulation Is far
more disastrous in Its consequences than an act al-
thorizing the ssueof fresh amount of irredecmable
paper bad as that is Such an act would fix ex-
actly the amount to be issued in fun and per month
and the prices of all commodities would immedi-
ately rise in accommodation TO such issue. Specula-
tion would not extend tO the amount TO be issued
from dav TO day but would be confined 10 the general
rise in prices which would be certain comparatively
uniform, and susceptible of calculation in advance.
The imitation may be large, but ii is always limited
in time and amount. which are both definitely set
forth III tho act.


Bad as such currency always proves, it is far
preferable TO that submitted in the Bland bill
With silver dollar of I12i2 grains TO begin with,
and under the provisions of thc3 Bland BILL We are
guaranteed an unsteady indefinite and permanent
imitation of the entire volume of the currency, but
with no certainty as to its extent, and with all the
evils and misery which such imitation is sure 10 in
act upon the unfortunate country that becomes Its
victim. The depreciation in the value OF The dollar
can be felt nowhere more severely than In Lowell,
where over twenty thousand laboring people en-
nloved in the mills must elsewhere, he tho first
10 suffer- The long tested rule that imitation raises
the price Of everything but labor will make its ap-
pication with terrible force in the manufacturing
towns. Wages will usually experience rise, after
long lapse of time but rise disproportionate TO
the rise IN the price Of commodities which afford the
means of Subsistence This bill. therefore, strikes
the laboring man in three places-frst, IL VIII
not raise his wages second 1t viii pay him, If he Is
getting 81 day, only 81 50, at most, and probably
much less ald third it viii raise the price Of every
commodity which he is obliged to buy. In addition
70 all this il he has been fortunate enough To save
from his earnings, and has invested his savings IN
tbs promises of the Government, or has lodged them
with the savings banks, he will b. forced 10 accept
a comprotn,se of his claim. The worxngmen here
are becoming intelligent upon TINS subject. aud un-
derstand it. There are no silver men among u.s.
The only one we had was sent 10 Congress, his con-
situcnts hoping to put him where ho would do tho
most good They ale having an ample opportunity
to witness the wisdom Of their selection.


Very respectfully, FREDERICK +. AVER,


LoreU Bass., Feb. is, 1873.