Wanawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 1892. The Silver Question.

Manawatu Herald, 31 March 1892, Page 2

Wanawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 1892. The Silver Question.

Our American cousins are very much interested in the silver question, or in other words, free trade in the coinage of silver. As silver is at present in circulation it may seem to some a peculiar idea to urge permission for its more general coinage, but this is jiist the poinfc where arguments, for and against, have been most serious. Silver has been found very generally scattered over the face of the earth, America holding the premier position in regard to ( the richest mines, those in Nevada excelling all others. Before their discovery the mines of Mexico yielded the most abundantly, they being situated on the back and sides of the Cordilleras. In South America, the Chilian mines on the western slope of the Cordilleras are the richest. In Peru the .principal mines are in the districts of Pasco, Choto and Huantaya, and in the latter the mines are noted for the large masses of native silver they afford. Then there are the Potosi mines in Buenos Ayres, and the European ones in Spain, Norway, Saxony, Austria and

Russia. Thus silver is nofc a very I precious? metal. The Americans having a very large capital involved in the silver mines find that fchey cannot obtain the price per ounce for their metal, as is represented in their silver coins of the same weight, and they urge, as other distinguished financiers have done previously, thafc there should be two standard metallic currencies in a country, gold and silver, fondly hoping that this wonld increase the value of silver all round. Tbey are now endeavouring to induce the United States Senate to pass a bill to give effect to their wishes. At present their efforts have had a contrary effeefc, as silver has fallen to 40 7-16ths pence an ounce, and ifc is stated likely still further to fall to 80 pence. It has been deoided by the Courts fchat the right to regulate the coinage and paper money of a State is part of the sovereign prerogative recognised by the law of nations, which is part ofthe Common Law of England, therefore such rights would, be protected by the courts of the oountry. To show the position the Americans are placed, in we will give a few facts aboufc our own laws relating to coinage whioh have guided all countries using gold as the standard value. Before 1815 the use of silver was unlimited, but in that year an Acfc was passed which enacted thafc " gold coins, only should be legal tender in all payments of moi'e than 40 shillings." In 1878 the unrestricted, coinage of silver was suspended in the countries termed the Latin Union. Since then the Bi-metal-li-ts, that is those favouring the two standard metallio enrrehoips in a country, have been busy urging its adoption, and in 1888 they held an important meeting afc Manohester, A Royal Commission was appointed in 1886 "'to' inquire 'into the depreciation of Stiver, ' relative value of precious metals, &c," and in their final report, issued in 1888 the Commissioners were greatly divided in opinion as to bi-metallisra, a paper currency and other questions. Freetrade in silver coining, or the coining by the State of an unlimited quantity of silver would appear to be bound to result in the depreciation of the value of the present silver coins. The average price in London for silver in 1845 was 59d an ounce, and 1880 it had tumbled down to 52 l-Bth pence. The introduction of gold coinage in Germany in 1876 was considered the cause of this fall in value. Since then it has fallen one penny an ounce, till in 1889 ifc was only worth 42 18-lCfchs pence per ounce, and in the following year it rose to 48 11-16ths pence. The only standard of value ,is gold, ahd if a dealer sells a hat for one sovereign he knows that a sovereign does not depend, like a pound note, on the solvency of the issuer, bufc thafc ifc has got value pufc into it by costing as much labour and skill in bringing it into existence as the hafc he gives for # ifc. The silver for making twenty shillings is a good deal less valuable as a commodity than the gold in a sovereign, and in the same way 240 pence, which are as money equal to a sovereign, only make a percentage of it in value as merchandise. The convenience of their use for small transactions makes up for depreciation in value of coins of the inferior metals, when gold is the standard, and. to prevent incidental abuses the law limits the extent to which they are a' legal tender as good money. It would certainly appear most probable that if silver was coined unrestrictedly,, ifc would require more than twenty silver shillings to purchase one gold sovereign, and that if a law was passed to require silver to be accepted as a legal tender in .payment for aruarfcicle, . which is the purpose of the uojv before the United j^fcaJe/J .Senate, lihe* selling nnce'of tKa^ ftrti^e wopW. be raised to meet the value of the' 'depreciated •coinage, sq^asit,is.har < *. ,to g ee in , what mapper, holders of silver stook would gain. Itis known that gold has its value, as it costs the value put upon it to obtain* and therefore cannot cheapen, unless new mines and enormous deposits were discovered. With. silver, the mines are mosfc numerous and the cost of obtaining the. metal much less than the accepted value in coins, in fact the cablegrams say that Chili can produce any quantity at one shilling. This would mean that the twenty shillings supposed to be equivalent value, to a gold sovereign now, though actually of only sixteen shillings value would fall to four shillings ! We therefore hardly expect that the bi-metallists will be successful in piloting their bill through the House of Representatives or the Senate.