The two Houses of Congress have not quite agreed upon
the details of the new Silver Bill. All parties would accept a Bill ordering a minimum coinage of £900,000 worth of silver a month, to be held by the Treasury against an equivalent amount of certificates redeemable in the same metal. The silver party desire, however, to make the certificates redeemable in "lawful money" of any kind, at the discretion of the holders of certificates; while some extremists wish to " remonetise " silver at once, by compelling unlimited coinage at a fixed ratio to gold. It appears that the silver-producers, always powerful, have been joined by a great body of Western "Inflationists," whose declarations are that there cannot be too much "money," that they will make money cheap, and that if the New England representatives continue obstinate, they will abolish the protective laws which enrich that section. No doubt is entertained in business circles that a great addition will be ordered to the coinage of silver, and large speculations are going on in silver-mining shares. A remarkable feature in the movement is that President Harrison wholly distrusts the advocates of silver, and if their Bill is too immoderate, will veto it at any risk to his popularity.
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