DEBATE OF DECEMBER 21, 1887.Subject: "Resolved, that the immediate cessation of the coinage of the silver dollar is necessary in order to avoid disastrous results to the monetary system of the United States."

Brief for the Affirmative.H. W. Hervey and W. M. Willet.

Best single reference: Jevon's Investigations in Currency and Finance, pp. 307-316; Laughlin's Bi-metallism, chaps. xiii. and xiv.

I. The coinage of the silver dollar should be stopped because-

(a) Its continuance will bring the country to a silver basis with all its attendant evils; (b) gold will disappear; (c) the credit of the United States will be impaired; (d) the people, both laborers and capitalists, will suffer; (e) international trade will be carried on with great difficulty.- North American Review, June, 1885, Oct., 1886; Jevon's Currency and Finance, pp. 305 and 306; Nation, vol. 40, p. 172; vol. 41, p. 374; vol. 42, pp. 69 and 185; vol. 43, p. 172.

II. The surplus has thus far prevented these evils. The surplus is about to be reduced. The crisis is at hand. Therefore the immediate suspension of the coinage is necessary for the safe of our country.- Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for 1887; Laughlin's Bi-metallism, pp. 210-214.

Brief for the Negative.R. T. Paine and H. S. Sanford.

I. The growth of the country calls for a constant increase of the currency.

II. The amount of free gold in the treasury has largely increased during the coinage of the present silver dollar.- Report of the Secretary of Treasury, 1886, Table H, p. lxxx.

III. The country is now absorbing, largely through the agency of silver certificates, more than the annual coinage of silver dollars.- Report of Secretary of Treasury, 1887, pp. xxx to xxxiv.

IV. Facts do not justify fear of disaster due to the coinage of standard silver dollars, much less do they justify fear of immediate danger from that cause.- Laughlin's Bi-metallism, ch. xiii and xiv; Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 1, p. 326; North American Review, Vol. 141, pp. 491,-507; Vol. 143, p. 99.