Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-01-26
uNREAsoNINe GoLp BUGS.
Relative vnine Of cold ana siircr. Past and
preaeut

Present.
FoGr WoHrn. Tx, Jan. %, lSs8.
To tho Editor OF the Gazette
When Calico disputed the dictum "
The Aristotolians that "b0dics falling
through space fall with veiocities proper
Tomato 20 their weight he was looked
upon by the seli-assGmed philosophers OF
that day with contempt. he tired 20
reason with them but IN vain they simply
quoted the authority OF Aristotle. Calico
appealed from the authority Of the dead
philosopher TO common sense and practl-
cal experiment. lie took them to the
leaning tower OF Pisa and from !ts sum-
init let fall simultaneously two bodies
Que OF them many times the
weight OF the other They fell
and struck the ground simultaneously
Did they accept the evidences OF
their own sense? Not at all. They
turned away, quoting the au-
thority of the "stagerite." So with our
friends, the gold mono-metalists in con-
gress. They stlll cling to the goldite
theory, though the silver men have proved
its absurdity from undisputed facts and
universal experience. Morrill, and Mac
Pherson seem 10 be equally oblivious Of
the reasoning and the facts adduced by
Beck and his brother bi-metalistS. They
simply re-echo the Anticipated inamties of
the goldite theory with the same old smll-
ing assurance. The oft-eXploded assump-
ton that the continued coinage OF silver
will drive gold ont of the country and
reduce business TO a silver standard, is
again advanced with the same stOlid
ehrontery in the very presence OF its con-
tinual practical refutation. OF course
thinking men know that the more money
of other kinds people have the easier 1t
is for them to obtain and retain gold; on
the other hand, the less money OF other
kinds they have--in O word, the more de-
pendent they are on gold-thc harder it is
TO obtain and retain IL, the greater Will
be It's tendency To hide away in holes and
fec the country. But let us assume, for
the sake of argument, that gold would
fee the country and we were reduced to a
silver standard This Is the greatest
danger they seem TO dread for the con-
tinued coinage. What harm would ensue?
Would not the silver standard be
Just as good as the gold standard?
II only one of the two, then
silver is preferable. According to the
United States monetary conference of
1877 there are 770,000,000 of people who
use the silver standard, while only 9S,0o0,-
900 use the gold standard
Another important consideration in
this connection, the nations using the sill
yer standard are the ones with whom we
may hope TO obtain the most trade in the
exchange of surplus products, while those
using the gold standard have about the
same productions and follow about the
same industrial pursuits as we do, and
consequently trade with them is always
uncertain, generally Improbable and
often useless. No use in trad
ing Pennsylvania coal for that
of Newcastle; Lake Superior iron
for that of Lancanshire; or Connecticut
cutlery for the Sheffield make. Ship,
ping California wines to tbs valley OF the
RhS-, or American cotton goods to
England, and receiving cotton goods in
return--merely "swapping Jack kniyesn-
advances neither progress nor prosperity
in either country. That millions Of such
useless bArtering Is done annually is well
known. But we need the products of
Mexico and the tropics and the guano OF
Peru; the teas of Japan and China aud
the raw silk and saltpetre Of India, the
coffees of Brazil and spices OF Java. etc.
Those countries require our peculiar pro-
auctions, and the Interchange would be
profitable To both. These countries are
naturally the complement OF ours
in production, and these people are natu-
raj allies in trade. VIII we strike "a deadly
blow at our own interests and their
standard of value by striking down sill
yer, and at the bidding, and dictation Of
our natural trade rivals, the gold standard
countries. Answer that, you gold mono
maniacs. Must self-interest be sacrificed,
common sense be silenced and the Ameri-
can people vote themselves idiots by such
actions?
Another dire calamity which the goldites
predict as result of silver coinage is that
our money win deteriorate and depreciate
in European markets. Terrible thought
Horrible possibility
The truth is our coins, silver
and gold, have always been at a
discount In the London and other
European markets, and yet no harm
has resulted therefrom. Let us ex-
anime this question from the facts as his
tory presents them. Prior to the adoption
of our constitution money of account
was instituted, an ideal dollar declared
by congress TO be equal 10 four shillings
and sixpencc English currency. That the
English pound sterling should pass In
America for S4,44 l-9. There was no
such real dollar, but a mere imaginary
money OF account on April 3, 1892, con-
gress fixed the value of The American sill
yer dollar at "the value oil a Spanish
milled dollar, as the same is now cur
rent" In 1894 the first American silver
dollar was coined In accordance with the
law Of 1892 1t was 1851 664 fine, containing
8Tli grains fine silver. As the CONNER
cial value of the metal II contains was less
than the monetary yalu Of the imaginary
dollar Of account in prior use, II was OF
course at discount when judged by the
English pound sterling, II fell to a q
per cent. discount in relation to that
standard, BY act of Jan. is, 1887, the
commercial value OF the gold dollar was
changed, and the weight and ineness OF
both gold and silver dollars changed
silver dollar from l4S5-l6Gi line and the
gold dollar from HIP iine--both to 9.lC
fine. The silver dollar still contained the
same amount OF pure silver, STA grains
merely some Of the alloy being taken out
The gold dollar now sunk to a dis
count of ~ In the London mar
kets by the pound sterling standard
Thus we see that both our coins have been
a.