| Show FOR AND AGAINST The squabble over the Bland proposition proposi-tion for the coinage of the silver seig niorage in the United States treasury is disgraceful alike to the Democrats and the Republicans who have participated par-ticipated in the filibustering which has obstructed business in the House of Representatives As to the merits oC the bill there is a wide difference of opinion The chief objection to it on the part of the gold standard men is that it would prove a step towards free coinage x And of course that is pne of its recommendations to the advocates ad-vocates of silver Following are a few press comments on either side The New York Journal of Commerce Ind says If Congress is prepared to compel this increase of 180 millions in our fil ver money there not only is no guarantee guar-antee that it may not later l go seriously seri-ously beyond that but there is the strongest probability that it would ultimate ul-timate y adopt free coinage and even without the backing of European cooperation co-operation The thoughtful conservative conserva-tive element of our people will unhesitatingly unhesi-tatingly conclude that If this thing is to be done the strongest possible probability prob-ability is established that the gold basis in this country will be abolished and the silver basis substituted at no very distant day I o man who under sands the extreme and earnest sensi tlvenecs of credit on this matter and the importance which the great investment invest-ment and banking interests attach to all payments being distinctly payable in gold or its equivalent can haven moments doubt as to what their course will be in pros > 2ct of the policy which this measure foreshadows This is from the Chicago Herald Dem The secretary of the treasury wants no such legislation as Mr Bland proposes pro-poses Neither does any one else who does not also want to degrade our currency cur-rency to the silver level We have now in circulation over 118000000 more currency than we had a year ago cr 123 more per capita So far from scarcity there is redundancy The straightforward way to meet the deficit de-ficit is to provide sufficient revenue cr issue bonds These are the only safe ways The Chicago Tribune Rep has this to say The coinage value of the silver in the National Treasury is about one hundred and eightytyo millions but its bullion or real value Is only d trifle over ninetyseven million dollars To coin that silver as if it were worth 3129 per ounce would be to increase by eightyfive millions the load of obligation ob-ligation carried by the Government at a time when the burden already Is lose to the limit of safety The aim is to force an abandonment of the standard of currency values which has been in exclusive use for so many years and substitute for it the silver standard the unit of values in which would be little more than half that of the gold standard t This is what the New York World Dem thinks The passage of the Bland bill cannot serve the silver cause It will not change the legal status of silver as a money metal It will merely add about 555000000 of paper money to the currency cur-rency that will eventually take the place in the Treasury of the gold that is realized from the sale of the five per cent bonds Against that the St Louis Republic Dem remarks The seigniorage silver is an asset of the Treasury over and above the amount required for redeeming outstanding out-standing Treasury notes under the law of the issue of notes To use this asset for the relief of the Treasury is a totally to-tally different proceeding from buying bullion and should not be permitted to become confused in the public mind With the cowardly makeshift of 1890 Turning an idle stock of silver into available money is good business The Nashville American XDem is in the same mind it says I There is no valid plea under which I any Democrat can oppose the bill pending before Congress for the coinage coin-age of the belgniorage In the straits into which the United States Treasury has been plunged by Republican mal administration more than 50000000 which the seigniorage would yield would be a vast relief |
