, 1881-02-12
4. A Plea" for the Doable Standard
waLLA wALLA. ". T., Dec. 7th, 1880.

greSsnlans s constituents naQ the notiou,
that it would be advisable for the govern
meut to endeavor to sustain si;Ter, wa
construed to be an endorsement OF silve
monomet allism; and that, having frs
so construed it, an effort had been made
so to construct it, by very inappropri
ately heading it, "A plea for silver a.
against gold" II is not quite fsir to an
swer me by mistaking my propositions.
1t is not courageous or great triumph tc
attack and overthrow 4 scare crow of one
own construction. Ny sole point wss :
That as a nation, producing more than
half the annual yield Of silver OF the world,
we should endeavor to sustain its value.
In this ! am simply an advocate OF the
supreme law of hat lGe-self preservation.
There were many other points that l
might have made, but, as l said, ''they
-~us,f ~ -----il - -
fined myself to on- simple statement 1
used but the gum of an out posi-, WHICH,
to dislodge, you first try strategy, and
then move up all your available artillery;
seldom brought into action except oy a
leader entering general engagement on
the metallic currency question. Ihis
involuntary compliment to the strength
of nv one gun is praise indeed left my
hat. Since you have extended the line OF
hattie am constrained to bring up my
reserves Inscribed on their banners, Is
their cause: Bimettallism You say,
.'Now, in fact, silver has its value by law
which is wholly above our legislation NO
LEGAL enactment can add to or detract from
that value" Let us see il this " fact Is
not rather romance. One of the fundai
mentals in finance, is that rdlHe IS born cf
demand aud supply Supposing we should
demonetize silver, Except for subsidiary
coins) would not "our legislation detract
from its value |" But so long as we have
proof by trial let us avoid conjecture
Five or SIX years ago Germany demone-
tized silver. Mark the result of legisla-
ton It's offer Of S35, 900, 900 of that
metal created such a panic on tn, Eu-
ropean bourye that the value of 1t dropped
20 per cent in less than 30 days, and 1t
hasn't yet entirely recovered l might
multiply illustrations read in your ar
ticle: "In the next place silver Is sub
ject 20 fluctuations 90 violent that It
should not be made the basis of circula-
ton. Gold is far steadier, and therefore
gold or currency based on gold, IS the
better measure of values" | think that
if we take a look at statistics we Will find
tnat they do not sustain you IN this state
ment, but on contrary, show, that prior
to 1873, the price of silver had been less
subject to fluctuations than gold. In
ISis there was such a panic because OF
the fall of gold that one of the most emil
nent English tinanciers OF the time, DE
Quincy, expressed '.astonishment That IN
telligent persons could still retain any con-
fidence that gold could long retain value
and character as a precious metal In
1867, gold got another tumble Cheva-
Iier wrote 4: "In no direction can new
outlet be seen sufficiently large to absorb
the extraordinary production Of gold which
We are now witnessing The Vienna
coin convention, in 1857, because OF the
instability Of gold, established an exclusive
silver currency for all the German states,
Including Austria About the same time
Holland demonetized gold, and 50 also
did Belgium.
The English in England then outlawed
GOLD, and in haste that would BE- con-
sidered bad faith with debtors now In
brief, from 1S4s to 1861, geld was subject
to such unexpected fluctuations that all
the nations Of Europe were panic stricken.
1t recovered itself in this way: Belgium
was induced, by the urgency Of the com
mercial and industrial, and in defiance OF
the opinions Of the theorists, to remone-
lie gold. Other countries, one after an
other, followed suit, and now, in ridlcule
of their action of 81, (or does the first ac-
tiou. and its outcome, ridicule the seeondl)
they demonetized- silver. That is the
past-The best Of prophets Of the future
is the past,-say Byron This little
glimpse at history discovers to US that
gold is not more stable than silver,-and
il teaches us that nations following the
fluctuations in the value of precious me
tails keep their finances in a continual up
heaval, and are, forever, strangely enough,
buying gold, because 1t is high, and selling
silver. because II IS to,r, or rice rersa-
While it is possible that this sea-saW per-
formance may be fun for the theorizer and
speculator, it is certain that it Is severe
on the national treatury, and is death to
the mercantile interest and debtor class
These financial gymnasts are blind to the
lessons of the past "Af.er US the deiuge
is the spirit Of their legislation. But,
greatly to their dismay, itnot unfrequent-
ly gives birth to what Is neither IN the
sn;ri. or letter Of the act, namely, feel
ing among the business and d''tor oaa"
and the laboring community that the mis-
erv ob,iterating deluge had best not pro-
crastinate.
You affirm that, "The true place OF sil-
yer in auy currency is a secondary one
The majority of the nations OF the earth
do not agree with you in that dogma
Germany is already weary of 50 consider
ing it. "The s.oppage Of gold payments
in Hamburg and Bremen is sufficiently
significant. L, need surprise nobody
should Germany be forced to resort to
silver everywhere as legal tender =
London Times, September lst-
81 hear from excellent sources that
leading German statesmen are highly
favorable to bimetallism- Correspondent
I.Iax Ne,r. Anril 27 1880