218 



CONGRESS. (PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



construction of vaults for its deposit. Against this 

 Litter amount there are outstanding silver certificates 

 amounting to about $93,000,000. 



Every month two millions of gold in the public 

 Treasury are paid out for two millions or more of 

 silver dollars, to be added to the idle mass already 

 accumulated. 



If continued long enough, this operation will result 

 in the substitution of silver for all the gold the Gov- 

 ernment owns applicable to its general purposes. It 

 will not do to rely upon the customs receipts of the 

 Government to make good this drain of gold, because 

 the silver thus coined having been made legal tender 

 for all debts and dues, public and private, at times 

 during the last six months 58 per cent, of the receipts 

 for duties have been in silver or silver certificates, 

 while the average within that period has been 20 per 

 cent. The proportion of silver and its certificates re- 

 ceived by the Government will probably increase as 

 time goes on, for the reason that the nearer the period 

 approaches when it will he obliged to offer silver in 

 payment of its obligations, the greater inducement 

 there will be to hoard gold against depreciation in the 

 value of silver, or for the purpose of speculating. 



This hoarding of gold has already begun. 



"When the time comes that gold has been with- 

 drawn from circulation, then will be apparent the 

 difference between the real value of the silver dollar 

 and a dollar in gold, and the two coins will part com- 

 pany. Gold, still the standard of value, and neces- 

 sary in our dealings with other countries, will be at a 

 premium over silver ; banks which have substituted 

 gold for the deposits of their customers may pay them 

 with silver bought with such gold, thus making a 

 handsome profit: rich speculators will sell their 

 hoarded gold to their neighbors, who need it to liqui- 

 date their foreign debts, at a ruinous premium over 

 silver, and the laboring men and women of the land, 

 most defenseless of all, will find that the dollar re- 

 ceived for the wage of their toil has sadly shrunk in 

 its purchasing power. It may be said that the latter 

 result will be but temporary, and that ultimately the 

 price of labor will be adjusted to the change ; but 

 even if this takes place the wage-worker can not pos- 

 sibly gain, but must inevitably lose, since the price 

 he is compelled to pay for his living will not only be 

 measured in a coin heavily depreciated, and fluctuat- 

 ing and uncertain in its value, but this uncertainty in 

 the value of the purchasing medium will be made 

 the pretext for an advance in prices beyond that jus- 

 tified by actual depreciation. 



The words uttered in 1834 by Daniel Webster in 

 the Senate of the United States are true to-day : " The 

 very man of all others who has the deepest interest 

 in a sound currency, and who suffers most by mis- 

 chievous legislation in money matters, is the man who 

 earns his daily bread by his daily toil." 



The most distinguished advocate of bimetallism, 

 discussing our silver coinage, has lately written : 



'I No American citizen's hand has yet felt the sen- 

 sation of cheapness, either in receiving or expending 

 the silver-act dollars." 



And those who live by labor or legitimate trade 

 never will feel that sensation of cheapness. However 

 plenty silver dollars may become, they will not be dis- 

 tributed as gifts among the people ; and if the labor- 

 ing-man should receive four depreciated dollars where 

 he now receives but two, he will pay in the depre- 

 ciated coin more than double the price he now pays 

 for all the necessaries and comforts of life. 



Those who do not fear any disastrous consequences 

 arising from the continued compulsory coinage of sil- 

 ver as now directed by law, and who suppose that the 

 addition to the currency of the country intended as 

 its result will be a public benefit, are reminded that 

 history demonstrates that the point is easily reached 

 in the attempt to float at the same tune two sorts of 

 money of different excellence, when the better will 

 cease to be in general circulation. The hoarding of 

 gold, which has already taken place, indicates that 



we shall not escape the usual experience in such cases. 

 So if this silver coinage be continued we may reason- 

 ably expect that gold and its equivalent will abandon 

 the field of circulation to silver alone. This, of course, 

 must produce a severe contraction of our circulating 

 medium, instead of adding to it. 



It will not be disputed that any attempt on the part 

 of the Government to cause the circulation of silver 

 dollars worth eighty cents, side by side with gold dol- 

 lars worth one hundred cents, even within the limit 

 that legislation does not run counter to the laws of 

 trade, to be successful must be seconded by the con- 

 fidence of the people that both coins will retain the 

 same purchasing power and be interchangeable at will. 

 A special effort has been made by the Secretary of 

 the Treasury to increase the amount of our silver coin 

 in circulation ; but the fact that a large share of the 

 limited amount thus put out has soon returned to the 

 public Treasury in payment of duties^ leads to the be- 

 lief that the people do not now desire to keep it in 

 hand ; and this, with the evident disposition to hoard 

 gold, gives rise to the suspicion that there already 

 exists a lack of confidence among the people touching 

 our financial processes. There is certainly not enough 

 silver now in circulation to cause uneasiness, and the 

 whole amount coined and now on hand mignt after a 

 time be absorbed by the people without apprehen- 

 sion ; but it is the ceaseless stream that threatens 

 to overflow the land which causes fear and uncer- 

 tainty. 



What has been thus far submitted upon this sub- 

 ject relates almost entirely to considerations of a home 

 nature, unconnected with the bearing which the poli- 

 cies of other nations have upon the question. But it 

 is perfectly apparent that a line of action in regard 

 to our currency can not wisely be settled upon or per- 

 sisted in without considering the attitude on the sub- 

 iect of other countries with whom we maintain inter- 

 course through commerce, trade, and travel. An ac- 

 knowledgment of this fact is found in the act by vir- 

 tue of which our silver is compulsorily coined. It 

 provides that ' w the President shall invite the govern- 

 ments of the countries composing the Latin Union, 

 so called, and of such other European nations as he 

 may deem advisable, to join the United States in a 

 conference to adopt a common ratio between gold and 

 silver for the purpose of establishing internationally 

 the use of bimetallic money and securing fixity of 

 relative value between these metals." 



This conference absolutely failed, and a similar fate 

 has awaited all subsequent efforts in the same direc- 

 tion. And still we continue our coinage of silver at a 

 ratio different from that of any other nation. The 

 most vital part of the silver-coinage act remains in- 

 operative and unexecuted, and, without an ally or 

 friend, we battle upon the silver field in an illogical 

 and losing contest. 



To give full effect to the design of Congress on this 

 subject I have made careful and earnest endeavor 

 since the adjournment of the last Congress. 



To this end I delegated a gentleman well instructed 

 in fiscal science to proceed to the financial centers of 

 Europe, and, in conjunction with our ministers to 

 England, France, and Germany, to obtain a full 

 knowledge of the attitude and intent of those govern- 

 ments in respect of the establishment of such an inter- 

 national ratio as would procure free coinage of both 

 metals at the mints of those countries and our own. 

 By my direction our consul-general at Paris has given 

 close attention to the proceedings of the congress of 

 the Latin Union, in order to indicate our interest in 

 its objects and report its action. 



It may be said, in brief, as the result of these efforts, 

 that the attitude of the leading powers remains sub- 

 stantially unchanged since the monetary conference 

 of 1881, nor is it to be questioned that the views ot 

 these governments are in each instance supported by 

 the weight of public opinion. 



The steps thus taken have therefore only more 

 fully demonstrated the uselessness of further attempts 





