THE ‘ tILVER I QUESTION. ‘
n! :13:an JONES.
Iran: The Atlanta. Constitution.
I. The Importance of the Issue~0ur Gold an
«saver Money up to 1813.
The gravity of the silver question canned
well beover-estimeted. Coined silver is money; ‘
money is a tool at trade; trade is the process of
~exchange by which the ever varying and con
~|tuntly increasing necessities and desires of
*men ere satisfied-necessities and desires
‘bounded only by the apparently iliimitabie de
‘mefids of an expanding civilization. Without
'money theie would be no trade except barter,
and little barter- save that necessitated by
the absolute and altogether indispensable re;
--quitements of mankind. Any question, there
iore, which involves the denial or impairment
M)! the right of either of the great money
metals to discharge its full duty as money. is
--one of prime importance, not to be dwarfed by
xcomparison with any other issue, since its de‘
termination afiects every person in the com
munity—not incidental] y and occasionally,
Ibut directly and at all times.
It is only within a few years that this ques
tion has been of practical importance to the
people of the United States;
~?ertiy because of the absence»up to 1873—of partly
egisiation hostile to either metal specie and
owinz to the suspension of payments
at the time of, as well as before and after such,
nnactments. with subsequent As investigation and and argument of
us are to grow out
vsuch legislation, it is the natural order to in
quire what was the legal status of silver before
and at the time of such legislation; what was
the purpose of the lawmakers and what evils.
ii any. they intended to remedy.
During the colonial period we used both gold
:end silver as money, as they had always been
used, as far back in the history of the world
as Great there is any record. Though subjects of
Britain. it was not so much the 1
dol Eli§iish er, which pound the colonists as the preferred. Spanish milled Of all ‘
coins now in existence, this siiver dollar is the
«one of either metal most familiar to mankind.
Long been coined before in it came to Europe us from Spain it had
central as the “thaier,”
and it was recognized by congress during the
revolutionary war as 'the unit of value. This
“was the status at the time of the ratification of
the constitution, in which power was given
«congress “to coin money, regulate the value
thereof, and of foreign coin," and states were
forbidden to “coin money” or “make any
'thing but gold and silver coin, a tender in pay
ment of debts.” In the performance of
its plain duty; the second congress passed a
hill entitled, “An act establishing a mint and
meguiating the coins of the United States,”
which became a law Apri 2, 1792, having been
approved ilton, by Washington. At this time Ham
the federalist, was secretary of the treas-r
my, and J efferson, the democrat, secretary of
state. The former, in his report to congress,
‘upon which this legislation was based. recom
mended the double standard, and said: “To
mnnul the use of either of the metals as money
is to abridge the quantity oi circulating
.medium, an is liable to ail the objections
which arise from a comparison of the benefits
«it a. mu with the evils of a scanty circuiatiou,”
and Jefferson, after reading: the same, wrote to
llauiiitou, saying: “I return you the report on
the mint. 1 emmur with you that the unit
must stand on both xnetais."
“31:2 'ninth section of this coinage act de-
, ,fiw. v.--v_‘-- v- -u... v4...ubv mu- “0- 1
«named:
That. there shall he, (roux time to time. Struck
1nd cnlued m. the anus “fink, (mums 0! gold. snver
and copper 0f tin: hvuuwuug denolnihmuuns,
7th“)?! Ind dnaurhruunn, er. 1 E:\ghoa-(such tu he
of the value 0! 3H) or units. and mu coutahx 2475(
grnuv‘ u" yum). 0t 2'10 gnu“: of auuuuu‘d go‘d.
[Then lnuuw pnwh-unua (or mu: oag\eu and
‘ Details of legismtion tiresome. and
they will not be aye Into than is
gone more
necessary to a correqt understandin Joim of the
process of demonetizatwn. Sepator Sher
man, of Ohio, introduced a bill m 1868 to establish
a. in}; single standard of it. [niche “exclusively of gold,” but 90mm
came next congress, Apnl 28,
1870, Mr Sherman mtroduced a D111 “revxsmg the
laws relating to the mints, assay offices and
‘ coinage from ecretary of the United of the Treasury States,” and Boutwell, offered in a. which letter
it waspmted that there had been no revision of
the of comageilaws film hm (offered since 1837, by and Sherman) that the paasa%e ‘
‘ wuu d |
‘ “cumiuce hupurmm, to branch the emcicncy 01‘ the public and economy servicc.” of This this a ‘
.
mu,wich Some angm; amendments, passed the
senate.went couuniuee co the house, was referred to the
coxuufie anxun xnunts. too late and to reported be acted back, upon, with by other [\11‘.
K3152? 3:131:23?.‘Yfiéfiflk‘ié"?i‘.3‘.£‘::3§;‘3““;533‘ey‘w 38 cg rs l’ténnsyh]tuna"t racism?“ o'_ the next (on. vsee nd
»_ the r hi“ without: alucnquufut [‘b‘x‘th'_rep‘.“"’cd ~r°inh
u cumunu.un. unnamed mm“. mm \ *u “‘ 79“““Wae
:_ muuuury du mrmueu: uud. in alxgwéfluu .. ”Ml“ the
‘ - 'atkaun N, ponéé:h§£d‘§‘gé:
THE ‘ SILVER l QUESTION.
By Henry Jones.
IIL—The Conspiracy Against Silver.
The original conspiracy against silver began
in Europe, but in its inception the metal at
tacked was gold. not silver. The occasion of
the onslaught was the discovery of gold in
California and Australia. For more than
three centuries prior to this time the annual
yield of silver had been more valuable than
that of gold, but the marvelous output of
these new mines completely reversed the pro- ‘
portion. so that the decade ended with 1850 1
showed a. product of near1y$2.000.000 more 1
gold the»: siiver. and the difference was in- ‘
creasing with each year's mining. ‘
This sudden and very considerable addition
to the steak of money excited and alarmed the
money dealers of Europe. Opinions of the
probable future yield 0! Australian and Cali
fornian gald mines varied, one calculation
being that the annual output would soon be
$350,000,000. These apprehensions were ex
pressed by M. Chevalier in his “Fall of Gold,
1856—57,” who said: "The quantity of gold
annually thrown on the general market ap
proaches, in round numbers. a miilard of
francs ($200,000,000). These 'two countries
must yet, for a long series of years, produce
gold in such quantities and on such con
ditions as to render a. market decline
in its value inevitable. It is absolutely certain
that so vast a production should be accom
panied with a great reduction in value. In no
direction can a new outlet be seen sufficiently
large to absorb the extraordinary production
of gold which we are now witnessing, so as to
prevent a fall in its value. Unless, then. we
possess a very robust faith in the immobility
of human affairs, we must regard the fall in
gold as an event for which we should prepare
without loss of time.”
Here we have the keynote to the whole
scheme of demonetization, end in accordance
with it Austria and Germany actually did de
monetize gold. Now Chevalier, Who after
wards became as hostile to silver as he was
then inimical to gold, had no prejudices for or
against either metal. His complaint was
that money was getting too abundant,
and he attacked gold because
at that time it promised to be the more plenti
ful for the future and money could be made
scarce): remembered by demonetizing gold than silver. Let
it be that this attempt at demone~
tization, whether aimed at gold or silver, had
precisely the of same metallic object—the reduction 01
the amount money in order to en
hance the value of that which should be left,
by lowering prices. Paris Said J M. Victor Economists: Bonnet,
later on in The oumal des
“The world is now saturated with the precious
metals, and if there is any danger against
which it is necessary to guard, it is that this
saturation shall become greater. " ' " II
‘ the annual production of gold is now re
L duced to 500,000,000 francs, let us
‘ thank heaVen for it, and let us wish
‘that wherhy too metallic Med Said great it Chambers Jacob may we money abundance should not Behren, which of be Commerce, be and is too embarrassed. member to not be rapidly apprehended.” the to of the the scarcity increased, It British associ- is the of
3
\ royal coinage: now if fl11(1g01d _Goid the the would silver commission had very “I standard believe otherwise not poorest been of that abroad be country 1868 generally very England had on lunch in international been introduced. the would kept reduced world, up be
1“ poured Value. Into and‘we hnuimid. should have had all the gold
2313;223 All the debts owiu'r to
{he ?:‘chStheunnpaid iyohz‘)lgégiifigecrgé?:§rsggégeiggs in the deprecizrted
Vvornh,
the mint, who, in his testimony before the
United States monetary commission of 1876,
said: “Within thirty days after the policy of
Germany had been determined upon, of course
everybody saw and everybody knew, that to
carry out that policy, Germany must get rid of
two—thirds of her silver and put an equal
amount of gold in stock. That would make an t
immediate draft on gold stocks in the market,
and tfi br kers commenced to charge a difference
and decline of silver commenced immed
iateiy.” decline (in gold) assis
That respect to was
ted and accelerated by the demonetizers or this
country. The foolish Wayfaring man may
sometimes err, but he knows well enough that
the object and the soie purpose of the demone
tizers on both sides of the Atlantic was to drive
out one money metal in order to enhance the
value of every coined piece of the other in the
civilized world.
IV.
A: between dollars of gold and silver, the su
ver dollar essentially the honest dollar.
The advocates of the single gold standard,
in such consideration as they give the question,
indiscriminately mix abuse and argument.
They seem to derive much; pleasure in de
nouncing silver as “cheap money" and “de
‘
‘ based currency," and they are fond of speaking
i of the silver dollar as the “short-legged dol
lar,” or the “72-cent dollar.” The 0311 for the
recent gold standard meeting in New York
spoke of tree coinage as “debasing our cur
rency." The chairman gracefully and delicately
compared these congressmen in favor of free
coinage to “a defiant criminal under sentence
of death." who insisted that not he, but the
world was tobe hanged. The democratic ex
president wrote of “the dangerous, the wreck
less experiment of free, unlimited and inde
pendent silver coinage.” Another gentleman
spoke of the silver “craze." Ex—Comptroiier
Trenhoim called it a “noisome thing,“ and
likened it to the efforts of monarchs to “de
base their coinages;” and a college professor
said it was a. “huge deceit,” and had been “fed
on ‘boodle’ exercised in the lobby of congress.”
In the face of this avalanche of abuse, di~
rected against a majority of the people of this
country, let us have the hardihood to inquire
what dark and desperate crime was sought to i
he committed by the people’s representatives 1
in congress. At that very meeting Mr. E. ‘
Ellery Anderson. its chairman, began his
speech as follows:
The silver bill now fiending in congreaa provides
that from and after t e date 01 its passage “the
unit of value in the United States shall be the
dollar, and the same may be coined grains o! 412% of standard grains
of standard silver, or of 25.8
gold, and the said coins shall be a. legal tender
or an debts, public or private.” The act bullion also
provides deposit that any the owner of With silver or gold mint 1n the
nay U ted be same formed any standard dollars
States, to into
or bars for his benefit and without charge.
This is the wicked legislation against which
these complaints are directed—a bill which
passed the United States senate at each session
of the last congress, and which contained the
law as it was from 1792 to 1873, except that
from 1792 to 1837 there were 3; more grains of al
loy in the silver dollar, and there was no provis
ion 10!: the gold dollar until 1849. As honest, as
patriotic, as judicious. as sensible, as well-in
formed a class of citizens as this country now
holds or ever contained, are denounced
and stigmatized as cheats and swindlers
! because they seek the passage of a law which
puts the silver dollar just where Washington,
and Jefl'erson, and Hamilton, and the second
congress placed it, in the identical position it
occupied from 1792 until 1873, when it was
thrust from our coinage by a. law, the purport
01 which was not understood by a dozen men
ch “sad it. One may
THE SILVER QUESFION.
By Henry Jones.
7. The variation in the price of gold and sit
vor bullion since 1873 due solely to leyislat'ion
hostiie to silver.
The promoters of the scheme to force the
single gold standard upon the United States,
after having depreciated silver bullion in
comparison with gold bullion, through legis
lation designed to accomplish that very pur.
pose, now oppose the remonetization of silver
because it is depreciated. Argument of this
character is entitled to as much consideration
as the reasoning, for instance, of a. master
mason who, having tied the hands of a
journeyman behind. his back, refuses to set
him to work because he is not able to hold a
trowel. Pertinent advice in these cases would
seem to be, to the mason, to cutthe cords
which bind his workman and give him oppor
tunity to show whether or not he could lay
btick as well as he did before he was
tied up; and to the gold men, to ‘
repeal the legislation which. since 1873, has 1
deprived silver bullion of its right of free 1
coinage into dollars. and then see if silver
bullion would not be worth as much in 1891 as
it was in 1873 under the same tree coinage
laws.
But these gold worshipers, who are in that
condition of grief and despondency on account
of the depreciation of silver bullion, as the
employer in the case supposed would proba—
bly be in consequence of the crippled condition
of the bricklayer, refuse to admit that legisla
tion is in any degree responsible for such de
preciation. 0n the contrary, they persist in
the assertion that the gold price of silver
bullion is lower, because. and only because, of
the increased output of silver from the mines.
Upon this proposition the friends of the free
coinage of both metals join issue squarely, and,
though the burden of proof rests with the gold
men to show that increased production of sil
ver bullion has influenced its price, the onus
probandi is waived and they stand been ready to
prove that the output of silver has a very
unimportant factor, if factor at all, in deter~
mining the price of si1ver bullion.
If during any series of years the price of
silver bullion has fallen on account and in
conse quence of an increased silver product,
then an increased output of gold should have
been followed by alower price for gold bullion,
or What is-thesame thing relatively, bearing in
mind the fact that the price of gold builion is
fixed by act of parliament, a higher certain price fact for
‘ silver bullion—that is to say, if a.
in respect to the production of silver results
necessarily in a lower price for silver bullion,
then a lower price for gold bullion should be
the necessary resultant of this same fact when
connected with the production of gold. But if
it can be shown that a much greater increase
(than that relied upon; in the case of silver) in
the output of gold did not change the price of
gold bullion, in respect to silver bullion, at all,
then it is clear that the reduction of the price
of silver bullion must be due to some other
cause than its increased from production—and record. this
is exactly what appears the
From 1545 for more than 300 years the an
nual yield of silver was greater than the an
nual yield of gold, and from the discovery of
' America up to 1848, Chevalier estimates
‘ the production of gold and silver as £01-
3 lows: Gold. $2,626,000,000;si1ver, $5,705,000,
‘ 000. In 1848, the average price of silver bul
‘ lion an ounce in London was 592; pence. From
1 1849 t01b‘72, inclusive, the output of the re
spective metals was as foilows: Gold, 32.2526,—
000,000; silver, $1.0}5,600,000. In 187:5 the
average price of silver was 55)} had pence. During
these twenty-tour years there been nearly
three times as nxuch gold as silver nxined, t
nlor'e gold in the quarter of a century than (or
the .350 ears before; the stock of nzoney since
‘ u 0 silver and
Sublic ebts must reputation be settled that they with insist the “best that
money,” the most,” that is iest “the money repudiation which is
worth the taint ot'
should linger somewhere about the public gar
ments. They were never known to complain of
the money of payment when, in consequence
of its scarcity, a dollar was increasing in vaiue
every day; but when they think they see a
prospect that the debtor may have a lawful
choice between two kinds of money, they
clamor for legislation though to compel it be him to pay in
the dearer coin, more than he
ought to pay, or had any Idea that he would
be called upon to pay When he made his con
tract. Naturally enough these people say that
all indebtedness of the government must be
paid in goid only.
morally The United bound States are all legallytequitably their obiigations and
to pay
strictly in accordance with the .terms of the
contract, but not otherwise. It is no part 0:
the duty of the government calls to for pay either one by penny
more than the contract pay
ments in more dollars, or in anpreciated obligation. gold The
coin when silver satisfies the
rights of the people, who pay, are every whit
as sacred as those of the creditors who receive,
and it is not the business of public officers. the
servants of the people, to dexraud either party.
It is their it duty, that moreover, public and their plain is duty pani
to see to no more money
out on account of public obligations than is
absolutely necessary to satisfy them according
3 to law.
1 Twenty~fi ve years ago the great bulk of the
‘ bonded indebtedness of the government was in
the form of what were known as “five twen
ties.” They hmi been negotiated at afiiscount,
and were payable in “lawful money,” that
money being treasury notes, or ”greenbacks.”
which.by the act authorizingithem, were a legal
tender for all public and private debts. except public
customs dues and interest on the
debt. In March 1869, after all these
bonds had been sold by the government and
had become private property, the congress was
induced to pass a law called, “An act to
strengthen the public credit.” making these
bonds payable in coin, the sole object or which,
intended and effected, was to materially in
crease the value of these obligations in the of
hands of their owners, at the expense,
course, of the taxpayers.
It is reasonable to suppose that these bond
holders would have been satisfied with this
gratuity, amounting to at least 30 per cent 0!
their holdings, tendered them by a free
handed and liberal congress, but the ease with
which they changed a contract payable in law
ful money to one to be satisfied With coin stim
ulated them to a further alteration and viola
tion of the contract, so that all government
obligations must be paid but in gold only. of Noth- the
ingdstauds in their way the law
Ian .
The act of March 18th, 1869, ”to obligationsloi strengthen
the public credit.” declared all
the government payable in expressly coin or its provided equiva‘
lent unless where it was
that pay ments might be made "in lawful
money or other currency than gold or silver."
The next legislation on the subjeut was the
act of July 14th, 1870, “to authorize the refund
ing of the national ‘public debt.” which “in provided coin ot the to:
payment of obligations
present standard value," that is of the stand- gold
ard value of J uly 14th, 1870, which dollar was a 412.6
dollar of 25.8 grains, or a silver of
grains. The act of January 20th, 1871, amended
this act in a few nomimportant particulars.
There demonetizing was no further legislation Februar prior to 1873. the
silver act of adyemonetized 12th,
While the silver dollar was in
and suspended condition, that is between
February 12. 1873, and February 28, 1878, con
gress passed the act of January 14, 1875, "to
provide for the resumption of specie pay
ments," which declared that on and after
January 1, 1879, the secretary of the treasury
shall redeem the outstanding greenbaoks “in
‘ coin," and provide rodozizptton
may a fund by
selling any of the bonds authorized by the act
coin." of July Nothing 14-, 1870, at not this less than )uu‘, "gold" "1n
is said in act; uhout.
or "silver " or "gold coin." or "ullver coin."
States were open freely to the holders of
gold bullion and silver bullion. Dollars
01' silver and multlples tender of dollars in gold
were alike legal The debtor for all debts.
public and private. might law
fully tender If either coin to him most conven—
ient. for any reason, or no reason at all,
the one kind of money was scarce or boarded,
the other stood ready to take its place and do
its part in maintainin g equities between debtor
and creditor. prices and commodities. After
more than eighty years of this perfect equa‘dty,
there came the act of 1873. to not only disturb. ,
but completely sunder this long—existing and
close and relationship. What was this law, and
why how was it passed?
11.
"How silver was demanetized by the act of
1873 and the revLs’ion of 1374.
The silver dollar was demonetized by the act of
congress of February 13, 1873, am; the revision of
the statutes or J une 22. 1874. The country had
recently passed through an exhaustive and costly
war. The volume of indebtedness—Jedeml, state,
county, municipal and private~was enormous,
and vastly greater than ever before. Specie pay
ments had been suspended for mere than ten
years, the only money in circulation being green
backs, national bank notes and fracti onal cur
rency. Resumption was intended and expected,
but no preparations had been made or date fixed.
Our mints were open to gold and silver dollars
Mike. and coinage was going on. but gold was at
a. considerable premium compared with paper,
and silver was slightly higher than gold. This
country, also, more than any other nation, was
a producer of both gold and silver bullion.
Bearing this situation in mmd, is it to be
assumed, or does it comport with the intelligence
and business sense of lawmakers to believe, that
congress would intentionally and deliberately de
monetize silver, of which this country was the
chief producer, and thereby add a. very let go
amount to the heavy burden of an enormous pub
lic and private indebtedness? 0f the leg
islation and the effect 0t it. there
is, unfortunately. no doubt. but there
is no evidence of a concurring deliberation and
intention on the part of congress. On the con
trary, there is no lack of testimony to prove that
the obnoxious legislation was a. part of a consplr
cluding eey involvingother foreign countries than ours,and m—
as well as native talent.
No tune for tumpermg with the comage laws
could have been more propitious. Whether we
favored, by policy and statute, bimetallism or
i monometallism.tbe singie or double standard, free
' or restricted coinage, was of no importance. The
gold and silver coined did not circulate, so people
were not interested in, nor did they concern
themselves about Haa coinage laws then practically
l inoperative. it riot our specie been in circulation,
as woulg was to suspension and is now, the act of
1873 not have been voted upon without the
closest scrutiny. nor would it have passed after 1
having tion; ut, been under subjected the peculiar to a thorough circumstances, examina- the 1 ‘
conspirators plish their object against without silver enlightening were able to accom- ‘
the public, and without invitation from congress
or an any
quartet to d9 30. , , , ' 7
SUPPLEMENT. ,
The foiiowihg ietters on the SILVER QUESTION were prepared by Mr. Henry Jones, who has made a special study of National finances, and who is prohahly the best informed man on this particular subject in the South. The letters were prepared for tho
fiTLANTA CONSHTUTICW in response to a number of inquiries received by that paper for an explanation of the Silver Question. Mr. Jones’ letters give a clear insight Into the history of silver legislation in this country. The consmracy against Silver, resulting in
fits demonetization in i373, and the resuit thereof, forms a very readable chapter, which is particuiarly interesting at this time, when the whole country is clamoring for financiai reform, and relief from the burdens resulting from iegislation discriminating against
1he great mass of the people. The ietters should he read, studied and kept for reference.
