The Elk Mountain pilot., 1882-06-22

Tat creations Ci wealth ana measures
Of value and all the chaos of contra
dictions as to What money is, will
ctystali4e at last into thi, one great
need Of world wide, universally ac-
cepted and uniform measure Of values
and medium of exchange.
The world is becoming homogene-
Gus, and so must all the mediums of
intercourse. the thought and trade in.
tercourse of the world are the most
powerful factors, and here all should
be free of vexations, limitations and
friction, and just so long as there is
an absence of an international none
tary system, so long as ene-halt of the
world treats silver as a commodity,
and the other half as money, in short,
just so long as the world refuses to &C.
knowledge the universal function Of
silver as medium for simplihng its
trade the same as gold, we shall have
chaos and isolation in the mercantile
world.
English .publicists and fnanciers
are turning their thoughts to the great
question of an international monetary
agreement and some very important
conversions have already taken place
among the foremost defenders of the
single gold standard. Now that
France no longer stands as CLEARING
house for English merchants in their
trade with the silver using countries Of
India and China the question has
been brought home to them ia such
practical way that the monometal
thero;sts can no longer carry with
them ths business community land the
necessity Of receding from her posi-
ton as gold nation is acknowledged
by some of her ablest financiers, and
the adoption of an international
arrangement whereby the two metals
shall circulate in mass with an eStab-
lished ratio, Is being strongly urged.
1t is falacy to look upon gold and
silver SIMPLY as commodities, as ere
wheat and corn, they are strictly such
in so far only as used in the arts. The
world has from time immemorial seen
fit to employ these metals as meas
ure Of value and medium of exchange
to simplify its barter. Had not the
world so employed these metals, but
left them to their value purely as COM
mcdities, it is likely that the present
production and supply would have
made then, Of little value. 1t doc;
not follow tha. they are commodities
simply because 1t so happens that
their production represents actual
value in labor and capital. 1t Is be-
cause of this and because of the limit
ed supply that the world has found
them to Ec the best and most con
venient Measures Ct wealth.
1t follows .l1en slaat legislation has
more to do with the price Of gold and
silver, rllltiye to the worlds commo-
dities, then the cost of their produc-
ton and their usefulness as a commo-
dity, and 1t resolves itself into this,
that a simple international agree
ment will restore silver to IT'S proper
ratio of1514 to I, instead Of its pres
ent commercial value Of r8 to1. Its
present ratio is due solely to legisla-
ton and the immense sales Of silver
by Germany.
There is not sufficient gold to TO
the business for half the world at the
present basis of values, and a universal
adoption of the single gold standard
would result in wide spread CONNER
cial disaster.
Silver must necessarily constitute a
part of the circulating medium of the
world and the only sensible and just
thing is to come to an international
agreement, whereby the two metals
shall circulate in mass with unlimit
ed coinage Of silver and an established
ratio, and that ratio should be 15H
to /.
The United States, producing as it
does so large a percentage OF the
worlds silver, has an immense inter-
est in bringing about this happy con-
dition of affairs, and Colorado as a
GREAT silver producer must agitate and