94 BULLETIN OP THE 



will receive. Under that assumption the law is undoubtedly- 

 universal. But as the Bland-Allison law now stands the option 

 is practically reversed. The creditor who presents a draft at 

 the treasury is left to choose, in greatest part, whether he will 

 receive silver or gold, and of course chooses gold. Probably 

 this is the first time in the history of money where an attempt has 

 been made to put an inferior currency into circulation without 

 forcing the payee to accept it. Furthermore, the treasury re- 

 ceives back without limit the silver which it pays out in small 

 sums. If the law seriously means to put silver into practical 

 circulation it is evident that it must pay it out forcibly, and 

 rigorously limit the conditions upon which it will receive it. 

 Persons who exact payments from the treasury will take all the 

 gold the treasury will give and leave the silver. They do so 

 because they prefer gold (or equivalent greenbacks). They 

 prefer it because silver is sixteen times heavier, and thirty-five 

 times bulkier; because gold is worth quite as much in the form 

 of bullion as in coin, while silver is not ; because it will pay 

 foreign debts at its nominal value, while silver will not, and 

 because it is intrinsically more valuable than silver of like nomi- 

 nal amount. This may be all wrong, a mere prejudice, it may 

 bespeak a want of appreciation, etc. etc., but there is no account- 

 ing for tastes in this world, and the preference is shared by ninety- 

 nine men out of a hundred who use money. The use of paper 

 certificates helps the matter somewhat, and the fact that they are 

 receivable at the custom houses helps it a great deal, but the 

 objection in part still remains. No man handles a silver certifi- 

 cate without thinking of the kind of coin in which it is redeem- 

 able, and he thinks also that he would prefer it if it were re- ' 

 deemable in gold. There is but one way to circulate them, and 

 that is to force them out and keep them out 



It is evident that the Bland bill does not meet the purpose for 

 which it is designed, and if is to become operative some addi- 

 tional legislation is necessary. Members of Congress are begin- 

 ning to perceive this. They attribute the failure to produce the 

 expected results to sundry causes, one being the discrimination 

 made by the banks against silver which they regard as contuma- 

 cious and actuated by a Wall Street prejudice. 



But surely a little reflection ought to show the gentlemen who 

 make this charge, that the prejudices of the banks and bankers 

 have no more to do with their action in this matter than their reli- 

 gious or political convictions. It is the business of banks to ad- 

 vance money, and the particular kind of money which customers 

 want. Customers prefer greenbacks to silver certificates. If they 

 cannot get just what they want from the National banks they will 

 get it somewhere else, provided they can do so on more satisfactory 

 terms. It is not the banks who primarily give effect to the dis- 

 crimination, but people who receive money from the banks. Any 

 attempt to compel or persuade the banks to do otherwise, would 



