Paper Currency. 



hibition to do any thing whatever with the currency which Congress 

 may have a whim to do, must be abandoned. 



And here my paper properly closes. But at the present time the 

 attention of the people is called to the question of a paper currency, 

 based on silver; and if you will bear with me for a few moments 

 longer, I will say a few words in reference to that matter, promising 

 to condense my remarks as much as is possible. 



The law of February 28, 1878, known as the Bland bill, was 

 passed over the veto of President Hayes, and coinage began in March 

 — the month following the passage of the bill. Its provisions required 

 that the silver dollar of 412| grains, standard weight, should 

 be coined at the rate of at least $2,000,000, and not more than 

 $4,000,000, each month. 



The people have not taken very kindly to the silver dollars, on ac- 

 count of their great weight and bulk; and a large proportion of them 

 have been stored away in the government's vaults. They are the 

 basis of, and are represented by what are known as " silver certifi- 

 cates," a paper currency issued by the government, which resembles 

 other national currency; and probably a great many people do not know 

 the difference between a silver certificate and a legal-tender note. 



Just why there should be a law compelling the purchase of silver 

 and the coining of at least $2,000,000 each month, for no purpose ex- 

 cept to store them in government vaults, is more than I am able to 

 explain. According to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, 

 on the 1st of November last (1889), there had been coined $343,638,- 

 001 ; it being understood that the government has not exceeded the 

 minimum amount. (By adding two millions for each month since 

 then, we can ascertain about the total coinage under the act.) 



Of this amount $60,098,480 had been put in circulation. The larger 

 part of the 283,539,521 silver dollars in the vaults of the treasury 

 will probably remain there permanently, unless they are brought out 

 for the purpose of being sold or recoined. The most persistent advo- 

 cate of silver does not claim that any large amount of these dollars will 

 be used in business transactions. If a man has a tender to make, he 

 will use gold or legal-tender notes; because if he used silver, for every 

 thousand dollars he had to pay, he would have to carry fifty-nine pounds 

 of silver. The coinage of every silver dollar costs the government about 

 two cents; and if the government must purchase the products of the 

 mines, why is it necessary to incur the additional cost of useless coin- 

 age when it could be so much better stored in bars. For every hundred 

 million manufactured, the cost of coinage is $2,000,000. In view of 



